By Nabitali Victoria Bbosa
COVID-19 crisis management tips will help you think of the big picture and consider how your brand can position itself to help people through this crisis. As a result, you will also help get your business through this crisis.
The beginning of 2020 has been challenging to everyone all over the world. COVID-19 is a big threat to people and businesses. The World Health Organization declared it a pandemic.
Governments have come up with measures to try to stop the virus from spreading. Some of these measures; social distancing, travel restrictions, self-quarantine, among others have negative impacts on offline and online businesses.
COVID-19 crisis management tips put in place by Governments around the world include; businesses increased workplace regulation and travel restrictions, reduced customer spending, delayed investments, disrupted supply chains, and uncertainty in financial markets.
It is true that COVID-19 crisis has affected almost all sectors, but thinking from a positive point of view, there are many sectors that are thriving even in this crisis for example; Pharmacies, Medical Equipments, Grocery stores, Telephone companies, Softwares, Food delivery apps, Online Education, Gaming Companies and much more.
So there is always business in some way or the other, the only thing is that you have to find out the right niche at the right time.
Bellow are COVID-19 crisis management tips for brands;
- You can start streaming live shows via facebook live,
If you are a musician you can stage a live show to raise funds to help the vulnerable people affected by COVID-19 crisis. As the most popular social media platform in the world with more than 2 billion monthly active users, facebook provides a range of ways for brands to engage and interact with their audience.
This should be one of the COVID-19 crisis management tips as it is an exciting opportunity to showcase who you are as a brand and what makes you unique.
Tools like facebook live give brands the capacity to showcase the ‘behind the scenes’ elements of their process, to portray the human element, which is important when looking to connect via social networks
2. Encourage physical and mental health.
Remind employees to exercise at home and host online video hangouts to mitigate the consequences of isolation, including burnout. It is a great time to invest in long term channels.
Particularly if you can shuffle your marketing budget in that direction. The world is noisy and uncertain now, so outbound tactics can probably be shifted to building out inbound assets, like your blog, and sales enabled materials.
3. Go digital
One of the COVID-19 crisis management tips you should not ignore is going digital. Find the digital version of whatever offline work you were doing. Conferences become webinars and sales meetings become Zooms, but you can get creative as well.
For example, yoga and dance studios around the world are now doing virtual classes, gyms offering private virtual home training, and many businesses creating online education products to span the gap until the real world opens again
4. Invest in an effective time management and time tracking tool.
You can streamline the organization process by using the right remote tools for remote workers. If your team members are in different time zones, they might have to work when you are asleep or at odd hours of your day.
In that case, a time tracking software will help you to keep track of how much time each team member spent working on specific projects and tasks. The best time tracking tools have features that allow you to generate timesheet reports to prepare your payroll and billing information.
Time tracking tools like Clockify combine inbuilt screenshot monitoring and chat monitoring features. These features solve the problems of lack of accountability and transparency which are prevalent in remote work, employee monitoring features help you keep track of employee activity and employee productivity during work hours..
- Invest in digital marketing.
If you are spending ads on various mediums, I think it is best to cut short all and invest only in Digital Marketing. This is because Facebook ad conversion rate is now high due to COVID-19 crisis.
- Take internal measures to protect your employees.
Invest in required online collaboration tools to allow them work from home. Inform your clients of the decisions taken internally for improved service quality during these challenging moments.
Companies will have to identify alternative working arrangements while also complying with local labor laws in a way that puts first the health and safety of employees. Complement these efforts with relevant and timely communications, and employee support programs.
- Offer discounts
Offer discounts, free services and other special considerations to new and existing customers. When communicating with relevant stakeholders, consult with legal teams for advice on potential liabilities. Consult also with business units regarding how to manage communication around ongoing breaches and collection of proofs, if any.
- Invest in email marketing.
Some businesses have not been paying attention to emails from existing clients and customers. This is rather the moment to improve and reinforce your customer service department so your customers do not feel any gap.
- Follow COVID-19 guidelines.
Ensure guidelines from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Governments are closely followed. Preventive measures are established in workplaces, including the appropriate directives and capacities to promote and enable standard COVID-19 prevention measures in terms of physical distancing, hand washing, respiratory etiquette and, potentially, thermal monitoring. Teleworking, staggered shifts, and other practices should also be encouraged to reduce crowding.