Episode 3-78: Marketing In A Crisis

Hey, what’s going on? Hey guys, this is crazy. We’re in the middle of the coronavirus crisis and on this podcast I want to talk about marketing in a crisis. The dos, the don’ts, the mindsets. Let’s dive in. All right, so the first thing to remember, as a business owner, don’t stop marketing. Now, there are do’s and don’ts with this. Don’t use the coronavirus as a hook. It’s ugly. It’s a huge turnoff. But don’t stop marketing. We need to stay in the conversation with our clients and we need to do it in a way that’s relatable and human. Go old school and call people. They’re at home right now. Get on the phone, call your past clients, see how they’re doing, and see how you can support them. Make a game out of it.

Marketing does not have to be high-tech. It doesn’t have to be cutting edge. Marketing in its purest form is staying in the conversation so that people remember who you are. You don’t need to sell something right now. You could. I mean, I’m not closing down my business, but I’m also being very cautious. Maybe cautious isn’t the right word. I’m being very mindful of the fact that there’s a lot of people that are hurting right now and so I first look at how can I serve and support the person on the phone and then if there’s an opportunity to serve them where me and my team are able to do work for them, then I’ll make them an offer. But first I listen and then I give a proposal and that proposal may be, “Just stay in the conversation with me.” That proposal may be, “Let me send you some free resources or a book?” Or my proposal may be, “You know what, based on what I’m hearing, I believe I can help you and here’s what that would look like.” But don’t stop marketing.

Relate to your customers. I got an email the other day and it actually really, really touched me. It was an email from a big marketer and he was just sharing about how much this sucks right now. He’s got some health issues and he was just saying, “This is what’s going on with me.” And at the end of the email, he had a free thing that he wrote just kind of on a whim. And it was some marketing tips and it was cool but really what stood out to me was how honest and upfront he is through all of this. And I really appreciated it. The other thing as you’re looking at this is I want you to plan for a post-crisis bump in the economy. This is not the end. This is a cycle. We will get out of this. We will get through it, we will thrive afterwards. But what can we do until then?

Well, prepare for the post-crisis bump. People are going to want to get out of their house. People are going to want to get back into business. They’re going to want to go back to normal. So how can you help them in that? How can you be one of the people that they celebrate with? How can you and your business be one of the people that they call when this whole thing is lifted? You know what can you do? Plan for that post-crisis bump. The mindset to think about with this is, this is a downward cycle that is going to lead to a slingshot of business. In a slingshot, you pull back and boom, the farther you pull back, the farther it goes.

So if this is going on a little bit longer than maybe you had planned on and it’s starting to hurt, just imagine how great it will be when all of this is over and there’s a slingshot towards normalcy and past even where we were into a new prosperity, which I believe is going to happen. So, for you listening right now, I know this podcast is short, but I would encourage you, don’t stop marketing. Go old school. Pick up the phone and talk to people, text them. Relate to your customers. Ask them how you could help. Maybe something small. You may be the only person calling that individual and they may need some help picking up groceries. I’m not saying you help grab groceries for every single person, but look for opportunities to serve, whether that’s you getting paid or you’re doing a good deed.

I know a lot of people that are just hopping in their car because they’ve got time and they’re helping out neighbors and past clients. Look for that. Plan for the post-crisis bump and remember this will all be over soon. Don’t lose hope. Don’t lose faith. Spend time with your family. Look for the blessing in all of this. I’m excited to be working with you guys. I’m excited for this to be over. Be safe, be healthy, stay indoors, you guys.

EASY SHARE TOOLS: 

[addthis tool=”addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pmgv”]

[addthis tool=”addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pmgv”]