How to pivot your content marketing strategy during the coronavirus crisis
The coronavirus stats are sobering and they don’t half give you a sense of perspective. But it’s ok to admit that businesses need to keep selling (if they possibly can) for the sake of the people they employ and the global economy. And content marketing is perfectly placed to help – as long as you do it carefully.
The fact is that with many of us self-isolating or in lock down at home, people will inevitably be spending more time in front of their screens and on social media. If you play your cards right, some of that time could be spent consuming your brand’s content.
But as we keep hearing, we’re in the middle of an unprecedented and frightening global event. Which means it’s all too easy to get it wrong.
Here are some tips to help you pivot your content marketing strategy:
1. Recognise that the context has changed – completely.
And that means you can’t just merrily carry on with what you were doing before. You need to adapt your content marketing strategy – fast. Chances are your audience is worrying about their loved ones, concerned about what they’re seeing in the media, and the structure of their daily lives has probably been turned upside down. You need to respond to that.
2. Sense check what you’re putting out at the moment.
A lot of it is going to feel hugely out of step and some of it might be down-right inappropriate. Some of your upcoming comms might just need some gentle tweaking or an intro that acknowledges that coronavirus is happening. Or you might need to press pause on much of what you’re doing now and rapidly create some new content.
3. Understand your customers’ new pain points.
The overlap between what your customers care about and what your brand can talk about has always been the sweet spot for content marketing. Now that the ‘what your customers care about’ part has shifted, what you create needs to shift too. Your customers have new pain points, so find ways your offering can meet them. Above all, you need to be helpful and supportive – not salesy.
4. Find a way to help.
Find a way to be useful. If your software offers remote collaboration, share tips for remote working or case studies showcasing successful remote projects. If your brand can help people make their homes and gardens more enjoyable, focus on that. Or maybe what you can offer is a sense of community, a way to educate or entertain kids, or even a light hearted distraction from the crisis. Whatever it is, this is going to be your new unique selling point until we’re in a post-corona world (at which point it will shift again).
For some businesses, this might mean changing your offering completely. It’s a huge challenge, but the businesses who spot opportunities and are prepared to pivot will be the ones who come out on top.
Finally, if your brand can do something useful to support health workers and charities or solve a problem that Covid-19 has created, you should be doing it.
5. Change your content – not your personality.
What you say needs to change. Who you are shouldn’t. Staying true to your brand personality and tone of voice is important, especially if your content is shifting. Imagine your brand is a person, like a newsreader or a stand-up comedian. Then think how disorientating it would be if you comedian brand suddenly started talking like a newsreader in all your communications. Your coronavirus updates shouldn’t sound like they’ve been written by an automaton (or, worse, a committee).
Brewdog’s new ‘Brewgel’ hand sanitiser
I’ve seen some great examples of this flying around. My favourites are Brewdog’s new bang-on-brand hand sanitizer (which the brand is giving away to charities and the community. And then there’s Nike’s new ‘Play inside’ campaign, promoting the importance of social distancing. Both these examples perfectly preserve the brand tone of voice, even though the ‘content’ and the message has shifted.
Nike encouraging social distancing with it’s ‘Play inside’ campaign
6. Keep communicating, be clear and sound like a human.
There’s a lot of confusion out there already. Don’t add to it. We may feel like we’re being inundated with ‘Coronavirus updates’ from brands but it’s important that your customers understand what’s changing and how you’re keeping them safe in a rapidly-changing situation. Focus on giving relevant information clearly, sounding like a human and sticking to your brand tone of voice. Above all, be sensitive to the new context your customers find themselves in.