As we enter our second full month of drastic changes to our daily lives, it’s important to keep perspective. First off, we watched hoarding and panic become rampant. These are poor responses that neither serve a need nor solve a long-term problem. And they surely aren’t a flattering impression of one’s ability to think ahead, be in control or remain calm. As we watched certain products (some laughably) fly off the shelves, it was easy to quickly pass judgement on the people buying them, and be a little jealous of those companies getting an infusion of cash from this worldwide global disaster. As this has extended, those early days seem so far away and I’m sure we’re all feeling a bit different now. But if you’re not looking at this through your brand, company or product line’s lens and considering how-to better position after the pandemic, you should be. And we can help.
Current State
The markets most of us rely on for our revenue haven’t been the strongest or seen terrific growth over the last few years, but they have been steady as of late. I think many of us had seen a nice little uptick to start the year—and after a couple years of maintaining or small declines, this was great. It was great for morale, confidence, finances and several other related factors. It probably even had us investing or ready to invest in the future. But then WHAM! This pandemic hit hard and now we’re staring at a path that is completely unknown and continues to lead us to uncharted territory.
With this uncertainty comes some realities. First and foremost, we know spending gets cut immediately and every expense goes under the microscope. This is both understandable and accepted. We also want to point out that we fully understand the personal and professional stress that comes at times like these—and don’t take the prioritization or decisions required in these times lightly. However, let’s not be the business version of the panic buyers, the hoarders or the “doomsday is here” people, either. If you plan on being in business 2, 5 and 10-plus-years down the road, we have to address and navigate these times immediately. And doing so together can help.
What to Do Now? Plan and Prepare
We know this sounds like a “topic that would have been better 6 weeks ago,” but hear us out. Right now, no matter what role you have in the business, you need to be taking the pulse of your brand, your customers, your consumers, your partners, your competitors and your industry—and taking notes. You need to diagnose the environment. What might be triage and emergency medicine today will quickly go to essential care and rehabilitation. Then it will be back to building strength and setting goals for the future. And it’s the rehab/strength building that we all need a plan for. Again, these times are unprecedented, but here’s a three-step plan to get your business and brand back to where it needs to be.
Get Control—Easier said than done, maybe. But the situation is here and the best we can do is weather it. After essential business functions are stabilized, ensure you have resources aligned to get sales going and generate positive revenue immediately. As hard or abrupt as this may be, do this immediately. Examples of this include: eNewsletters, eCommerce sites, affiliate management and social media sales. Include retailer/dealer/distributor promotions, incentives and programs. Yes, we understand your sales force won’t be calling on customers and securing orders from most of your retail accounts today, but you need to be ready. That’s where your owned assets come in. Consumer priorities are different now, so don’t be tone-def or desperate, but do make sure the avenue is open if/when people want to buy your product. So, maintaining regular offers/features/promotions via email, social and web offers is essential. Again, just make sure they’re acceptable to the current environment (which changes rapidly of course).
Remain Calm—I admit, the first few days of this pandemic was very tough. And a little panic was probably present for all of us—but again, hopefully so was the calm. As this has dragged on, what have you felt? How have you reacted? And more importantly, what actions have you taken? We know those answers vary wildly for everyone reading this, but calmly analyzing options, actions and doing so with awareness is imperative. Let’s make sure we’re using some regularities from “normal” business time periods to force a little calm or create some at the same time. Examples include the aforementioned outreach, brand messages and promotions. But they should include new items like regular digital meetings with your team, new ideas or tactics to implement/test and learn from now—as well as many other actions and input from your team.
Think Ahead—No one knows when things will begin to shake free, when travel and personal restrictions will ease and when the economy will really “be back”. But for the sake of our businesses and brands, we need to think, act and manage like these times will come soon—and have the sense of urgency and the vision to prepare our resources accordingly.
This means that we need to have adjusted seasonal or periodic promotions, offers, incentives, launches and other “new” drivers for our business to be ready to go immediately. This doesn’t mean spend money or spin up resources without purpose, but it does mean having conversations, building assets and crafting messages during this down time so that everything can be turned on whenever it’s needed. Examples include—building out calendars, getting images and fine-tuning text for social campaigns. It can also mean reaching out to partners or individuals and having discussions to get aligned on goals, execution and timing surrounding any co-branded offers, promotions, sweepstakes or similar items.
In conclusion, these times are as trying for us as individuals and businesses/brands as many of us have ever witnessed. But these are far from “worst case” scenarios and in the scheme of things, should still be pretty navigable. We know this call ebbs and flows rapidly—sometimes by the hour. But by getting control, remaining calm and thinking ahead, we can all come out of this in a positive manner. There won’t be any magic “switch” or a clear-cut time to “hit send” in the near future. But those of us who are ready to turn things on, listen and watch as things begin to flow and then speed things up quickly when the time is right should be able to achieve momentum and position ourselves for short term success and long-term growth.
If you or your team want to schedule any time to discuss these items, or have questions that need to be addressed, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly via email (tim.brandt@murrayroadagency.com) or phone (763-291-9044). The team and I are standing by to assist however needed and have the capacity expand our input and/or contributions.