Brand management, even in “normal” times, can be quite a challenge. The coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has created completely new conditions on the market. Actions taken by the company’s management always depend on a specific industry, competition on the market and many other factors. In this article, you’ll learn about managing brand during pandemic.
The global economic shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many companies to change their brand management strategy. While some companies, or even entire sectors, struggled with serious problems, others achieved huge profits.
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What is your business’s current situation ?
In the event of a crisis or emergency, it is important to properly assess the current situation. Thanks to this, you will know how big the possible losses are and where to focus your attention in the first place.
Periodic sales reports will be very helpful. With them, you can easily compare the turnover in the same quarterly or monthly periods. However, brand management is not only about maintaining an appropriate level of sales. With the economy completely shutting down, this can be very difficult.
However, a proper assessment of the company’s financial situation will allow for a broader insight into the company’s activities. It is important to create an action plan, short term and long term. You should also very honestly assess the situation and take decisive steps if necessary. Sometimes even a decision to change the business profile or simply to close the company.
Managing brand during pandemic on Internet
During the global pandemic that began in early 2020, much of the economic activity shifted to the Internet. Due to the closure of most industrial stores for weeks, we have seen increased activity of various types of online stores.
Courier companies also experienced a real boom. Both, stores offering sales via the Internet and all companies delivering the purchased goods achieved a large turnover, and thus greater profits.
The temporary closure of many companies forced employees to stay at home. Unfortunately, not every company could switch to remote work and many employees simply did not have any job for many weeks.
Brand management on social media
As it usually happens in life, what is a problem for some may be an excellent opportunity for others. During the global pandemic and the temporary economic shutdown, the number of Internet users increased significantly. This was especially noticeable on social media.
Numerous users surfing on the Internet is a great opportunity to build or maintain the so-called brand awareness. A company profile in social media should constantly maintain contact with users, despite the temporary shutdown of the company.
Regular social media posting about the current situation and the expected resumption of business is a great opportunity to stay in touch with your customers. Downtime can also be used to run an additional advertising campaign on social media or the Google Ads advertising network.
Managing brand during pandemic, know your target market
During unusual situation such as the current pandemic, everything you knew about your clients might to be out of date. In difficult times, customer requirements, habits and purchasing power can change. Expecting a reduction in income, people are no longer willing to spend money, they try to save it for worse times.
Therefore, it is very important to constantly track the consumers’ behavior. The social media are great for this. By using the appropriate tools, we can record mentions of our brand on internet forums. By taking an active part in the discussion, we often have an influence on its course. Thanks to this, we are able to create positive opinions about our products or services.
By following blogs and social media, we will learn about:
- What users are currently most interested in
- What goods and services are they looking for
- About the main problems and pains of users
- What could solve these problems
- Which communication channel most people use
- What most people afraid about the future
By answering these questions, we can identify current trends and predict market and consumer behavior in the near future. This work should not be difficult, it only requires knowledge of public communication and an appropriate level of empathy.
People usually remember who supported them during difficult times. As entrepreneurs, our job is to make our clients feel that we are with them all the time. Even if we are currently unable to provide services, we keep in touch.
Read this article in Polish: Jak zarządzać marką w czasie pandemii.
