Email marketing amidst COVID-19 outbreak

The fallout of the coronavirus outbreak has affected global markets and businesses. During such times, it is very important that everyone should  take care of themselves and strategise their business plans in such a way that it does not bring down years of hard work and investments.

Crises like these have a long lasting impact on customer relations as well as internal relationships with employees. Therefore, it becomes important that you not only handle work sensitively but also make sure that your market value is not overlooked. Email marketing is a boon when it comes to communicating to a bulk audience and initiating engagement. But if not used in the right way, it can hamper your business.

Read on to know how you can maintain effective communication in these tough times through email marketing.

Tips on email marketing during a global crisis

Communicate apace

Information passed on during times of crisis is always a form of ‘Chinese whisper’ or ‘he said she said’. It is very important that you do not spread misinformation or panic by believing unreliable sources. By doing so, you not only lose credibility but also worsen the situation for everyone.  Damage control for your brand, during a global crisis is something you wouldn’t want on your plate, right? Many email marketers, in the quest of spreading awareness, make the mistake of misinforming, confusing, or spamming their subscribers with content without verifying the facts.

Moreover, during such situations, your customer support or client interaction should be as smooth as possible. They would remember that you stood by them during difficult times, thereby paving new avenues to build a long-lasting rapport with them. Making your audience wait during such a time would add to their stress levels and have a negative impact.

Be sensitive

You should try to empathise with your audience and be compassionate. Avoid insensitive marketing campaigns which otherwise would have been thought of as humorous content or mockery. Never joke about the situation as it might hurt people’s feelings. Avoid contests, overpricing, and coupons which might make you look salesy.  

Tell them how you’re dealing with the crisis

When you inform your client about your struggles with overcoming the situation, you not only empathise with them but you also let them know that no matter what happens, you are going to be there to offer them support.

Take a look at this email sent during the COVID-19 outbreak. Base Paws is a pet services company which has sent out this thoughtful and effective email. Maintaining a serious note, they have explained that they care about those who are affected and how they are dealing with it. They have also provided information on how pet owners can take care of their pets during the crisis.

Offer to help

You never know what your audience might be going through. Make sure they know that you are going to be there for them. Don’t wait for your customers to reach out to you, keep reminding them that if they need anything at all, your organisation would get it done. Let them know you genuinely care about them and their well-being.

Be consistent on your brand values

Your audience should never lose their trust, especially during such times when they are already vulnerable to many other stressors. Therefore, to make it easy for yourself and your trusted client base or your future prospects, never lose your brand value. Just because other brands are following a particular marketing trend, which might contradict your own brand value, do not get into that trap.

Tips on how to prepare for your marketing activity during this pandemic downturn

Don’t lose your active customers

Sending out contextualised and personalised emails to your clients through automation is the best practice where you can also save your resources and get your desired outcome. Make sure these emails are tailored for your target audience, rather than blast emails that might come off as spam. Tactical marketing campaigns are incomplete without dedicated content production. Share content that will make you stand out from the rest of the competitors from your industry.

Engaging with your existing customer base requires less effort than generating a new lead. So, take care of them and hold on to them. Make the most of your social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Maybe creating a low cost plan to reach out to customers who are reviewing your products or trying to exchange views on your service can improve your social media presence.  

Increase visibility among your prospects

We all know that visitors are drawn to the website and convert into sales when you build on your brand awareness and get more visible. The more you expose your product to them, the more familiar they will be with your product. The mere exposure of it will eventually drive them to your website and encourage them to make the purchase. 

Leverage the authentication of your customer testimonials and what leading industry veterans have to say about you and get noticed among your prospects. At the end of the day, what others say about you is more important than what you say about yourself.

Invest in the right marketing spend

Mismanagement of resources can end up dripping a lot of money down the drain for no reason. Therefore, to manage your resources, you need to measure and plan where and how much you want to spend. For instance, setting up your goals correctly to configure Google analytics can help you shape your strategy with all the free data that Google Analytics is giving you.

During such a crisis, it is advisable to pause on social media spends. However, before you make that decision based on your assumptions, you need to assess how social media is contributing in terms of profitability, engagement, and visibility.   

Tips for marketers working from home

Be positive

The transition to working remotely might not be smooth keeping in mind the factors under which such workplace changes are being made. While these situations are overwhelming for all of us, we need to keep our calm when it comes to dealing with clients and colleagues. No one wants to fuel anyone’s paranoia or create more negativity. Lift one another up and understand that you can never know what the other person might be going through.

Manage your office operations and household chores

While working from home, there might be a time when you get a little carried away. Managing the workflow at the same pace, as it was when you were working from your office should be the new normal. To get there, you need to follow the same schedule as you were doing while following while at work. Dress up like you are going to the office and assemble a small office like set up where you can at least spend the entire day without getting distracted. Do not get tempted to take breaks to feed your cat or do your laundry. Create timers and check them off of a to-do list to keep track of how much work is getting done in assigned time. Women can add a pop of lipstick to get into the work mode. 

Keep communicating

Miscommunications are bound to happen in the first few days when you work remotely. For offices which are experimenting with working from home for the first time, it might seem like a challenge at first. Setting up specific times for lunch and taking breaks at proper intervals can help you stay focused and connected with your team.

Don’t spend the whole day working from bed

One of the biggest challenges of working from home is that you might be tempted to use your bed as your desk. This will not only slow you down, but it might also give you a bad posture. Keep a different location to do your work, preferably a well lit room, and a different location for breaks.

Wrap Up

While this situation has changed our lives drastically, all of us are in a whole new world all of a sudden, be it professional front or personal walk of life. Your clients are going through the same obstacles that you are going through. Your employees and business partners are all walking in the same brand of shoes, some a little comfortable and lighter than the others. As we make sure to keep our businesses afloat and revise our marketing strategies, we also understand the importance of all the health measures and regulations our governments are taking. We will strive to ensure the safety of our employees as we continue to offer flawless services to our clients.  This too shall pass!