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Anti-crisis PR: how to communicate business in a pandemic
https://pro.rbc.ru/news/5e987ff79a7947faad6814e0?from=related_materials

The active spread of coronavirus, the introduction of strict restrictive measures by the authorities and the departure of citizens to self-isolation lead to serious economic losses for enterprises. To avoid even more serious financial consequences, in these difficult circumstances, business needs to act quickly. What exactly to do, how to prepare your company for possible problems when the current forms of interaction have become irrelevant, how to minimize losses and protect yourself with anti-crisis PR-tools?


Think about your customers


During the crisis, people and companies, due to panic, begin to focus more on themselves, forgetting that their well-being depends on the client. At this moment, it is necessary to focus on the needs of the customer, to become for him a source of solutions to problems, and not a burden and another expense item.

Сommunications 


During the crisis, the need for society in custody increases, people want to see that they are not alone, that someone empathizes with them, shares their problem, expresses their solidarity with them. The role of companies in this situation is to foster a sense of community and offer support to those in need, to help people deal with the life problems associated with the pandemic. It is important in this situation to be present in the information field and to openly broadcast your actions in response to the pandemic.
As, for example, HP did this by providing medical facilities with critical products printed on their 3D printers or the Russian integrator LANIT-Integration, which launched a system pilot to remotely coordinate the actions of physicians and reduce the risk of infection in the famous City Hospital No. 40 (Kommunarka) led by Denis Protsenko. You can also recall the joint project "AliExpress Russia" and "Russian Post", which purchased 1 million medical masks and 50 thousand antiseptics to protect couriers and post office employees.
Similar examples inspire confidence among partners and investors, employees and customers. In addition, such a reaction of the brand to the crisis will have a huge impact on consumer loyalty and the likelihood of its purchase in the future.

Leader role


Leading media outlets provide information from official authorities, but people increasingly trust what business leaders say. Therefore, in a crisis, their role increases, people begin to listen more to the opinions of experts. They expect company leaders to lead their employees and not hide their heads in the sand. Therefore, it is important for bosses to be at the forefront of information, speak out about a problem, convince customers or employees of their active participation in the war against a pandemic or support partners in fulfilling their obligations, etc.

Online promotion


The world will no longer be the same; communications are finally going online. What tools should be used in the fight for your client?

  • Prepare an Internet promotion strategy
    The digital environment is very heterogeneous and is not limited solely to social networks, while consumer behavior in it also differs from the usual offline formats. Remind yourself who your target audience is, what its needs and interests are, try to model its steps on the path to buying your product, choose communication channels and the right messages.
  • Publish to online media
    The media maintain their position as one of the key sources of information for a society to which trust is held at a high level. Actively publish in online media, conduct special projects, choose industry, business or public publications. Remember, unlike content on social networks, such publications are indexed by search engines.
  • Write more on your social media pages
    Your page on social networks is a great tool for interacting with consumers. One reason is that you can completely control it. This communication channel has many advantages: a convenient format for presenting information, efficiency, the ability to get a reaction from users, etc. Take advantage of this, write about the current situation, how you are experiencing a crisis, how you act and help what your leaders and employees offer.
  • Collaborate with publishers, bloggers, and influencers
    In quarantine, attention to the content of opinion leaders is only growing, people are more likely to turn to the pages of bloggers, influencers or expert communities as authoritative aggregators of important, timely and useful information. You need to take this opportunity, organize a collaboration, flash mob, review, draw the attention of the audience to your activities through their accounts.
  • Make video content
    In 2017, Cisco predicted that by 2021, video would provide 80% of global Internet traffic. According to a Wyzowl study, 79% of consumers would rather watch a video to find out about a product than read a text. But coronavirus provided these volumes as early as 2020. It's time to use the video format to strengthen your online presence, to increase recognition among the target audience. Conduct interviews with executives, post comments of your experts in video format, organize zoom conferences, develop relationships with your audience.


Loyalty marketing


In traditional marketing, it is accepted that loyalty programs should shape customer loyalty to the brand. In the current crisis, this approach should be reviewed; now brands need to demonstrate loyalty to their customers, and not vice versa. If earlier, when making purchases, the client accumulated points and received buns for them, now the business needs to run after the client and constantly comply with his values so that he stays with him.


PR is more important now than traditional advertising


People want to see real facts that are trustworthy. It is important for them that brands use their power for support and training. Excited customers in this situation need to see that the business is on their side. If you survive the crisis, and at the same time your customers pass it along with you, their customer lifetime value will be much higher, and then, as in song: “After the rain, it will rainbow, after the rain.”

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