4 Instant Impact Coronavirus Marketing Strategies

We are in the midst of a really crazy time with COVID-19 and its impact on the world. Everything seems to be different. And, like you, emotions over the last few week were just crazy. They were up and down, of course.

Personally I had been through 2008 so I was full of confidence and comfort that we’re going to make it through. I turned to gratitude…I’m home with my kids and we’re safe. But honestly, I would also have moments of total fear about the gravity of the situation as well.

I’ve been on a personal meditation and calmness journey since late last year (thank goodness!) so I spent some time just learning and kind of watching.

I think one of the most important things that came out of last few week was seeing how so many business owners were basically going to just pause for a bit and wait things out to see what happened.

As I thought about it more and more, I actually got nervous (where’s my calmness now) and I just had to take action and keep moving. I got the feeling that the world can’t just sit by and pause during this crisis.

Bottom line…we have to understand if you’re a marketer or you’re an entrepreneur & you’re running your business, you shouldn’t stop. You cannot stop doing what you’re doing.

Over the last several weeks, we have received a ton of questions from customers asking things like, “What do you think? Should we stop? Should we just quit doing our marketing for a while? Should we pause all of our sales communication? Should we cancel all these future plans that are six months down the road?”

My entrepreneurial instincts made the answers very clear…

“HECK NO!”

To start today, I’m going to give you four strategies to continue marketing through the Coronavirus crisis. And, hopefully, they help you understand what it is you can be doing, how you can pivot, and how to make things happen for your company.

1) STAY IN COMMUNICATION

I’ve talked about this already but if you haven’t done this…do it now. Tell them how you’re going to manage this crisis by preparing a crisis message. Tell them how you’re going to manage through the Coronavirus issue. This is not only for your customers, but also the people who might read your content or listen to you for advice. If your clients are impacted by the Corona virus, tell them how you’re going to mitigate that impact and give them hope through it. One thing you most certainly cannot do is go “quietly into the night” then just show up when this is over and start selling to them. Be out there and present, and start by drafting your “Corona message.” Post this as the top of your website with a link to the message.

2) GIVE. PERIOD.

What can you do quickly and immediately to help people? Everyone has a few extra hours in their day. Give them something valuable to digest or create high value, low cost services you can give for free. We need to lock arms here. You can easily write a few blogs really quick and get them out. Maybe you’ve been talking about doing a podcast for a long time. That time is now! You’re not asking for money. You’re not asking them to buy anything. You’re just being present and you’re ready to give.

3) ANALYZE YOUR MARKETING PERFORMANCE

Admittedly, I’m a huge “Self-Improvement GEEK”.

Now is the perfect time to work on yourself and your business, and evaluate what you need to do to increase performance. You are likely never going to have another time in your life where you are required to be isolated and required to slow down. I’ve noticed in the past few weeks, this has been awesome! I’m so productive and present.

Do this…See if that marketing audit, you know, the one you’ve been meaning to get to for the last six months is worth doing now? Talk to all your marketing partners (eh…hm. YooHoo! ☺) and see if they can do an audit for you. It makes sense for you to evaluate your own marketing data, analytics, and return.

4) PIVOT & BUILD SOMETHING BIGGER

Start to ask yourself… “What can I do to generate and nurture better quality leads?” The answer is likely easier to spot than you think.

Consider hosting an online workshop, or an online virtual conference. You can have keynote speakers give presentations from their front porch, and involve the community in a Facebook Group. You can do zoom workshops with 15 or less, and have people opt in to be a part of these special learning experiences.

Maybe your sales team has 15 or so prime targets they are working. Why not invite all of those to a free workshop where you guys breakdown the 3 biggest mistakes [insert your buyer persona’s job title] are making in their industry? It is a great way for you to build tons of value while easily making content from home.

The beautiful thing is, these are not things that have to go away. You may find that they actually work even better for you as time goes on. For example, my wife owns a Pilates studio. Due to Corona…she went virtual training for her clients. Now when we want to spend a month on vacation in another part of the country, she can still provide services. Start building something greater that’s more long term and see where it goes!

GET TO WORK

I know this can be a scary time. Yeah, it’s scary. Yeah, there’s a ton of unknowns at this point. But you are not going to let that overwhelm you because you have to make sure that you are constantly progressing.

Keep Going!