How to Succeed in This Time of Crisis

These are clearly exceptional times. With the spread of the Covid-19, those of us in the technology sector are staying home to work in numbers never before seen. The economy is slowing and people are starting to panic. In light of that, it’s important to remember what Henry Ford once said:

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”

People are going to be home, they’re going to be using their digital devices. Now is the time to embrace a more robust digital strategy to protect your business from uncertainty. 

It’s important to treat every crisis differently. The special circumstances present today necessitate unique solutions. Namely:

• Embrace remote work

• Double down on digital strategies

• Position yourself for the rebound

• Be flexible with time off

If you work hard to make these strategies your reality, your business should be able to weather the storm. Let’s dive in. 

Embrace remote work

Jordan Digital Marketing is uniquely situated to handle office closures because we’re already fully remote! If you have been slower to adopt a flexible work from home policy, here’s how to kick things into gear quickly:

Get your tech stack in order. Make sure everyone has access to Slack, Zoom, Google Calendar, and Google Drive (or your alternatives of choice) before setting them to work. Without quick and easy tech support, it’s important to make sure all work is backed up and communication is easy. 

Schedule some time to blow off steam with your team. This one is important generally, but especially with how stressful everything has become in the last few weeks. Have people give tours of their work spaces. Play games with each other. One of our clients (Morgan at Blueboard) is a certified yoga instructor and led the team in morning stretches yesterday. Anything that can build camaraderie and keep people motivated and happy is worth doing.

Double down on digital strategies

With social isolation orders in place, a lot of people are going to cut billboard, tradeshow, and print budgets. That doesn’t mean that it’s going to be impossible to get your message out there. People are going to be stuck inside for the next few weeks at least, and those people are going to get bored. In 2020 a bored person is a person that’s on their phone or some other digital device. 

Digital marketing, especially on paid search and social platforms, is going to be absolutely crucial to weather the economic storm. If your business isn’t the kind that is going to make a lot of sales or people can’t access your product now, get them interested now for when the crisis passes. Get them engaged with your brand. 

Some industries may even be able to succeed in spite of the tribulations we’re facing right now. In the last 7 days we've seen one of our fintech clients see a 33.79% improvement in competitor focused CPA. Hint: it’s important to protect your brand and continue bidding on brand terms. You don’t want a competitor to drink your milkshake. Every down turn provides a ton of opportunity; it's up to you to seize it.

Position yourself for the rebound

Sometimes it’s not the best time to position yourself on the court to take a shot. Sometimes you’re on defense. In those cases, it’s more valuable to guess the trajectory of the ball so you can make the rebound. If you’re in an industry that requires people to go outside and interact with each other, this is one of those times! 

To extend the metaphor, we don’t quit playing basketball when the other team has the ball. Get creative with your brand positioning and your advertising. Don’t get too edgy: people are sensitive and you could easily turn them off. Do engage with the situation and offer value and help where you can.  Get them engaged with your brand. Sympathize with them. Any way you can position yourself in front of a bored user will see a payoff after things stabilize. 

Take this example: this local taco shop sent out an email with the subject “Stay Home and let us do the cooking.” It references the situation, but specifically calls attention to the benefit of the company and the product. There are lots of ways to make the best of this bad situation if you have the wherewithal to pull off a great idea.

Be flexible with time off

Now is not the time to be stingy about time off. There is a crisis. Things are difficult to get in grocery stores. If employees need to take a half hour during the day to get groceries at an off hour: let them. They’re your employees because they’ve proven to you that they can get their work done without babysitting. If they haven’t: you have bigger problems than we can fix with this post.

Needless to say, we hope none of your employees or their families get sick, but if they do they should be given as much time to recuperate as they need.

 We’re confident that you can pull through this. We all can. If you think you need help, please reach out to us and we’ll help get your marketing on the right track.