Marketing Agility in the Time of Crisis

It’s a tricky time to be a marketer or freelancer with new challenges and uncertainties arising each day. It’s a balance between acknowledging the current pandemic with empathy while giving thought toward the future. Marketing teams can continue to provide value as the direct line of communication to the public and continue to produce by staying agile.
What does it mean to “stay agile”? It is finding short- and long-term solutions to immediate challenges. Remarkably this can be a huge opportunity to innovate and act with purpose.

Ways that your business can stay agile:

Think Long-Term: While reacting to the most immediate challenges facing the business, make sure to focus on the long-term plan too. There are always opportunities that emerge from seismic shifts in the market. It is hard to predict what the exact outcome will be, but there are ways to hypothesize potential scenarios so when we finally get to the light at the end of the tunnel, we are ready to build off what we know.
Evaluate Tech Stack: Moving to remote ways of working and continuing business behind a screen is a chance to identify where technology helps the immediate short-falls. There can be fear of adopting new technologies, but when rolled out properly, tech can streamline processes, help with fragmentation, save time and money, and offer visibility into production.
Build Digital Marketing Channels: Digital marketing matters for businesses regardless of the size and will help communicate directly with your audience, thus keeping your brand top of mind. Exactly how do you get online and optimize? First, join free platforms and have your partners promote that presence. Next, research your industry and tools to get your messaging out there. The benefits are clear and your customers are definitely online. Odds are that your competitor is too.
Reinforce Existing Relationships: Relationships are more crucial than ever. This is the time for marketing teams to reach out to those we work with internally but especially, external relationships including freelancers, industry partners, vendors, and technology providers. Reach out and connect with them not only on a professional level, but personally as well .
Develop Content: Everyone is consuming content. Content includes written, images, and videos that can be shared across digital and social channels, giving your brand a place in the forefront even if production is stalled. Build and fortify your thought leadership perspective, while showing why your products matter to people now and in the future.
As our “new normal” continues to shift, agility will remain as one of the most important assets companies can promote. Allowing for continued communication with employees, customers, partners, and the world. Agility will allow adaptation as departments are stretched thinner. By thinking long-term, evaluating your tech stack, building digital marketing channels, reinforcing existing relationships, and developing content, your company can respond to the immediate challenges while strategically planning for the future.
Learn more about remaining agile and productive in StudioNow’s eBook Being an Agile Marketer: Producing content during uncertain times.