It’s a stressful time for businesses. Everyone is feeling the pressure and trying to keep the wheels of enterprise turning. Honest Communications has put together some top tips to help small businesses keep their marketing efforts ticking along.
Holly Daulby from Honest Communications, based in Derby, said: “It’s more important than ever to keep communicating with customers, and to maintain visibility to make sure you and your business stay in people’s mind. If you’re a small business owner and you’ve no idea where to start, these tips are hopefully for you. They are simple, actionable things that anyone can do with just a little time. Hopefully they will make communicating with your customers a little easier.”
- Firstly, do you need to communicate at all?
If all you have to say is the same as government advice, then you probably don’t need to say anything at all. You don’t have to offer a statement and comment on things. You can continue with business as usual and carry on with your normal social posts – that’s ok, people will welcome a distraction! But if you are going to use the C word, remember your customers will want to know how they will be affected, and not what government advice is. They’ll want to know if and how you are contactable, if you are still operating and to what extent.
- What do you need to say? What is your communications purpose?
Just because this is a crisis, doesn’t mean you don’t need a plan, a strategy and a purpose. Don’t just type and hit send.
Generally, there are two categories crisis communications are falling into right now. The main one is offering business updates to communicate how and when you are contactable; what you are doing about order fulfilment; letting people know if appointments still stand or if they are now going to be by video; confirming if your team are working from home or if you are operating on minimal staffing?
The second is to offer advice. If your line of work means that you have skills, experience and knowledge that can help others in this time of need, then do so. Help others to understand what is going on and how they can protect themselves and their businesses.
- Be clear, be transparent, be honest
No one knows what is going on, or what the future holds so don’t try to predict things. Now more than ever, it’s ok to hold your hands up and say “we don’t know… but here’s the current state of play”. But make sure you are appropriate, is it the right time to launch a new sales promo campaign? It still might be, so you needn’t ditch your plans, but just consider things first.
- Which channel is best to use?
If you’ve got a lot of info to convey then consider a newsletter but remember to keep it simple. If you’ve not created a newsletter before, Mailchimp is easy to use. Even better, it’s free!
If it’s just a quick update you need to give then use social media. Think it through, word it carefully, and amend the post for each channel. You can also pin the post to the top of your profile on Facebook and Twitter, so it stays there and doesn’t get lost in future posts.
Facebook live streams and Instagram stories are a great to communicate with people too and are far more personable – which will go a long way in these times of isolation.
Social media is also a good way to keep in touch with customers during quieter times. Remember it’s meant to be social and created with conversation in mind so talk to people!
- Check any prescheduled social media posts!
Scheduling tools can be an amazing time saver but it’s easy to forget about them and the last thing you need on your hands is another crisis to be dealing with. Check your accounts to make sure you know what is going out, and review to make sure it’s still appropriate in light of everything that is going on.
They can also be a great tool when your focus needs to be elsewhere. They will ensure that you still have content going out, and that you don’t have to be there to post it. It’s vital that you maintain a presence at times like these to stay at the forefront of people’s minds – then when all this has passed they know where to go to for your help!
All that aside, your communications at the moment needn’t all be around crisis and business. Share good news too! The past few weeks have been tough, and there are uncertain times ahead of us. Glimmers of good news really make a difference and will help those feeling cut off from things.
Be neighbourly and share other businesses’ social media posts, recommend each other where possible, shop as locally as you can and reach out to people (not literally obviously…) to just offer a sounding board, or to have a chat. Sometimes it can be the distraction needed to brighten up a dark day. Use technology to connect with people ‘face to face’, on FaceTime, Houseparty, Skype or Zoom.
Try to use these weeks as an opportunity to communicate sensitively, empathetically and positively with your customers – when all this is over, you’ll have a better relationship with them. If you’re struggling to communicate effectively in this time of crisis, get in touch with Honest Communications at holly@honestcommunications.co.uk or on 07961 205812.
