We are in unprecedented waters, regardless of what country we are based it’s likely that people are in isolation at home.
This means people will be turning online more than ever, keeping up to date with the news, keeping in touch with friends and of course using the internet to be entertained, educated and inspired.
I for one am missing travel, scuba diving and being outside. So I’m using social media and online content to keep my spirits up and inspiring me for when things are back to normal.
What does this mean for your brand? You have a huge audience to engage with
Delving into history for a moment Stork Margarine did just this. During WW2 Stork Margarine was heavily advertised, even though it could not be bought with ration coupons. Many brands and products were forgotten during the six-year war but not Stork! they had no difficulty in making its comeback.
You might not be able to sell or provide your service/product right now (although you could look at pivoting to online training – see our free webinar but you need and should keep engaged with your existing and potentially new audience.
I’ve seen some great examples of brands, influencers, authors and B2B organisations creating great content and thought I’d share these with you as well as sharing some ideas I think could be used.
Chester Zoo – a wildlife charity and place for people to visit
Not being able to visit the zoo has a huge implication on them. Keeping their brand front of mind is absolutely critical. Tapping into their target audience virtually is a fantastic idea. This ticks all the right boxes for me; its bulding their awareness adn audience to perhaps people who’ve not visited before, its helping parents keep their children educated and entertained and hopefully when things get back to normal it will be a great thing for people to then actually visit.
Aldo Kane – Former Commando and extreme adventurer on TV
Aldo has dialed into his audience by having a virtual pint and chat. He’ll be doing Q & As on all his recent adventures, which if you are a fan of his is a great opportunity to get behind the scene info, planning, what he loves most, least etc.
Chris Ducker – successful business owner and to go leader for helping businesses grow
Chris has always been extremely active on social media with very strategic but also very human posts to engage his audience. He’s pivoted his content very well as he knows his audience need and wants even more support right now. He’s been doing
Simon Sinek – International author – B2B example
Simon’s a very well known author and inspirational speaker on the business circuit. Given that we are stuck at home we are all likely to be reading more but how can you make that more engaging? A book club with the author of course!
Benji Davies – Amazing illustrator and author
Benji has created a video with his daughter reading one of his books (and one of mine and my son’s favourite books) The Storm Whale. I’ve also seen libraries doing this too on Facebook.
The Marketing Meetup – Amazing marketing events across the UK and the USA – B2B example
If you’ve not had The Marketing Meetup and Joe Glover its founder on your radar you’ve been missing out. Joe has always been about helping marketeers and his latest pivot in having to move aware from physical events to online is no different. He’s created free webinars with some amazing speakers.
Mad HR – flexible HR support for businesses – B2B example
Mad HR have been very agile in reflecting their content to engage with their existing alongside new audiences.
Joe Wicks – fitness influencer
Joe created free daily PE sessions for children on YouTube.
These are just a small selection of examples I’ve seen, please do share examples you’ve seen in our comments below.
Ideas I have for some sectors I’ve thought about are:-
Garden centres – why not great content (video, blogs, and podcasts) on ‘how to’, FAQs, etc. People are spending more and more time in their gardens right now and even if people don’t have a garden people will be interested in how they can grow things, bring some greenery inside (and will want to know how to care for it!).
Dog(insert other pet here)-related brands – many of us are stuck at home with our beloved dogs (and thank goodness for that, they are really great company) but with only one walk a day it won’t be long before my dogs who are used to three walks a day get fidgety. So brands who have the right to speak to dog owners (dog food, treats, vets, pet shops, etc) why not create content in how to keep our dogs mentally stimulated at home. Maybe even teach them how to help with chores if you have lots of time on your hands.
Accountants and professional firms – No doubt these firms will be pretty busy right now but that doesn’t mean that they are not missing out on engaging with their existing and target audience. If you are an accountant there’s news breaking almost every day from Government in changes and support for businesses – turn this in to easy to understand content across blogs, video, and podcasts. Business owners are struggling to understand and digest what options they have, the easier and more straight forward you can share that information the more engagement and potential business you could be generating.
Travel brands – I know for one I’m really missing traveling right now. Travel brands could be doing blogs and writing content but I’d love a travel brand who could create podcasts to talk about locations and really bring them to life. Scuba diving brands could do this too – talk about some of the best dive sights in the world, what you are likely to see on them when to go, etc.
I know its difficult to think proactively at the moment as things change day by day but one thing is for certain, if you stop your marketing and content now and wait for the market to come back it will cost you a lot of time money and will be a huge uphill climb. The examples above are not just sharing and creating free content, they are building their audiences, their email lists, their market share and will be benefiting from this financially as the market comes back (if they are not able to create revenue streams now – which some of them do)
Don’t just put your content marketing into hibernation or ticking over, spend this time taking market share and grow your business ready for when people need your services and products again.