Communication and crisis

Priorities.

That is the first thing that comes to mind when faced with a crisis situation. To a critical situation. What do we prioritize? The answer is simple in its first line: life. The following are the complex ones.

If people's lives are fundamental, the survival of our business project would be aligned with this priority. And that is when we define what to do to achieve it.

Reconversion, searching for new lines of business, locating new opportunities, orienting expenses to the most pressing needs... these are always the first ideas that come to mind when we try to face a critical situation. But all of them should be centered around one: Communication.

It is key at this time to have the capacity to be able to tell the market, to "our" particular marketIf we are restructuring, what new solutions we are selling; if we are entering new markets, we will have to inform this new target that we are there and what we are selling. And even if we wait for everything to come out of lethargy without changing our commercial policy, we will need to remind our customers that we are still there.

Because if we cease to have a presence in our particular market, whatever it may be, if we stop communicating, stop talking about ourselves, our sector, our products, our initiatives, our personnel, our vision, what we can contribute; we will simply disappear. When "everything returns" to the "new normal" it will be as if we had never existed before, we will have to start from scratch.

Communication is always the basis of a business project.. If you do not communicate with your customers, direct or indirect, if your brand is not known, if you do not make a place in the minds of those you need to survive, any other effort will be in vain.

Memory is limited. We all forget, more easily than we remember. Hence the constant need, especially in crisis situations, to maintain and strengthen our brand, our commitment.

But how to communicate in times of crisis.

FirstWe know what our customers think. McKinsey & Company has conducted a study on consumers' perception of the evolution of the economy during the pandemic. In Spain, 14% of consumers are optimistic, 47% are uncertain and 39% are pessimistic. On the shopping front, in the short term, spending has increased on essential items, such as food, while non-essential items, such as travel and hospitality, have plummeted. At the same time, home entertainment, logically, has been boosted (streaming services). The online channel, also logically, has become the favorite choice, and it is thought that this behavior will continue in the future. Thus, those who had already foreseen this channel as one of their distribution legs, have been able to withstand the blow of the closure in a better way. In reality, however, this channel can only work if there is demand for our services.

The next step is to "know" what to communicate.

If consumers are concerned, we must take this mood into account, so as not to be condescending, nor go around waving messages all over the place. Mr Wonderful. Empathize and understand customers. Readapt messages to the new social reality and seek naturalness. We have to connect the brand with the customer. At the same level. Neither above, as a father, nor below, as a son. On an equal footing.

The above is a video montage that summarizes how the big American brands have acted. They have all sent the same message, copying even the piano soundtrack, and nailing the same message. copy of each piece. The result is vacuumimages, images from the back of the closet, texts with as much emotional empathy as a condolence at a funeral. Repetitive empty words because you don't really know what to say.

Focus on what matters now. If there is less overall investment, we will have to focus communication on those products, solutions or targets where we see that there is greater potential demand. Not only now, but also in the future. From our catalog, we will look for what may be of most interest at this time, and we will focus on disseminating it. This means being aligned with current events, with the day-to-day, and reacting accordingly. This is not the time to plan for the long term, it is the time to:

Strengthen your brand. Admit that your customers are not by nature loyal, they will change brands according to their convenience and promotions that may arise. That's why being attentive to current events and reacting in time is so important. At this time, managing communications quickly can ensure you get into your customers' decision-making process. But be careful with this reaction. Remember what we talked about before, this is a sensitive time. Analyze, contrast information and think about the reactions. Being aggressive, appearing to take advantage or, on the contrary, paternalistic, can be just as counterproductive. Empathy, a one-to-one relationship with the customer, is essential for your brand to be strengthened and not damaged.

It is time to give value to loyalty. The programs of loyalty are always wrapped in an aura of Jedi mysticism, with words such as partner or partner on cards, communications and messages. It is a disguise, it is the way we in marketing give the customer the impression that our relationship is not one of customer-seller, but of business partners, because in the end, in everyone's psyche, in the sales process there is usually a certain line of distrust that must be bridged. Thousands of loyalty programs basically seek to keep a customer buying from a supplier thanks to a level of discount, promotions or gifts. These programs are nothing more than commercial actions to keep the customer loyal to the brand, but in exchange for incentives. It is time for those grandiloquent words you use for your program, as a partner, to be reflected in reality. How you react to your customers during the crisis, how you communicate with them, will define the impression they will take away from your brand, positive, neutral or negative, for years to come. Now is the time to build true loyalty with new customers and strengthen relationships with existing ones.

Finally, be aware that there is a turning of the wheel.

We are immersed in the transition to the new normal. This means that you must be glued to current affairs as we have seen before, but also attentive to the changes that are going to occur.

We are all convinced by now that the pandemic has brought with it a series of alterations in society, at levels we do not yet know how to discern. As always in the history of mankind, certain events have brought about singular and staggered changes in society, the economy, markets and personal relationships. We are all more or less aware that we are at this point in time. hallway that will give us access to a new normality. It is therefore essential to observe the changes in consumption and be attentive to the new consumer needs. And any paradigm shift brings with it both destruction and the generation of new opportunities, which leads us to:

Don't be defeatist. If we look up the definition of crisis we will find that is a juncture of changes in every aspect of an organized but unstable reality, subject to evolutionthe crisis of an economic crisis, especially the structure. In short, it is a change, an evolution, a restructuring. And that, as we all know, can be an opportunity for new businesses. Innovating and adopting new channels, facing new ways of doing business, maximizing the resources we have and communicating effectively can help us reach new markets. New opportunities.

But only if we know how to communicate it.

Cover image by Volodymyr Hryshchenko at Unsplash