Day 6489 of what seems to be 2020. Happy June 1st. And happy life after lockdown, and to what should feel like a new normal. Not sure what to expect in the upcoming weeks, but hoping for the best, as so many other people I know.
Okay, straight into the subject. Now what marketing? Now what communications? F&B, hospitality and lifestyle?
If you’ve been ahead of your game, an early adopter and have been engaging the last so many weeks with your followers, customers, brand friends etc… well I’m glad you didn’t lose touch. But you’re now going to need to look at matters differently. And for those who have been laggards, well, it’s time to do something. A lot of people due to so many circumstances and uncertainties, didn’t push their branding and marketing the last couple of months. Maybe understandable, but I don’t specifically think the smartest of ideas.
Anyways, I’m not here to judge brands decisions on the past, it’s time to make it through the new normal.
- Engage. Don’t stop. With daily updates on rules and regulations, you’re held responsible as a brand to inform your customer base about all updates that you carry. Create a transparent platform for people to ask you questions, to find answers, and be proactive with giving away all your updates. Update your website, update your social profiles with messages, posts and stories, send an emailer to your database, create some sponsored ads with fresh news and CTAs, or send the message out with your deliveries. People are craving information and are all ears and eyes with the new changes.
- Be Proactive. With your offerings, your deals, your way of thinking and your messaging. Create a landing page with the new info that you have, might be easier to update every now and then and also easier for people to check as it’s more precise. It’s all trial and error at this point, be the first to come up with ideas that push boundaries, will create a social word of mouth and get you remembered and talked about off social too. People are not afraid to try, people want to be assured and re-assured about safety and the brand’s precautious measures.
- Create Content. Always. Keep the content growing. It has been a phenomenal phase with digital and video content being produced online the last couple of months. And I’m not talking about expensive content, as basic as short clips and videos that have been popping and trending through TikTok and other social channels. People have been digesting video content so fast over the lockdown and quarantine period. Tiktok was downloaded over 500 million times globally over the last 5 months, and Q1 2020 *saw the app accumulate the most downloads for any app ever in a quarter. So that’s how much importance video content and video creation is at this point. And if you haven’t been into it, well guess what, you need to jump on the bandwagon.
Said I’ll keep it short today, so there it is for now! Midway through the year, all marketing plans and calendars down the drain, marketing and operation teams should observe and document. Trends have been changing on monthly if not weekly basis, so you can’t really compare and contrast to create the perfect mix. On the upside of a downward spiral (as Train sang), we get to monitor these trends and create ones of our own to look back to.
Stay Safe
Dee xx
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