Day 18: Pandemic Marketing

Day 18 of 30. I wanted to put this out there- and trust me this is not meant as a hot take. I’m not trying to cause waves, I’m not trying to be edgy or anything. I just wanted to talk a little bit about marketing in the time of covid.

So, covid might last a little bit longer than everybody expected (It’s already lasted twice as long as everybody expected by the way). It might even go much much longer, and regardless of when it ends, it has and will change the world. Hard stop.

It’s going to change the world. 

So one thing I wanted to point out is that your official covid statement on your website is not as critical as you think it is. Think about it, are you reading all of the covid statements that everybody in the world puts out? I get probably 12 a day, and that’s actually a slow day from when it started. Everybody put out a new covid statement saying roughly the same thing- “we care about your health, we’re all taking precautions, we’re in this together.” But keep buying from us was kind of the implication. We know, right?

Instead, I want to encourage you to focus on your core service, your core offering. Speak to the core needs of people. What is it that you’re trying to do in their lives that you’re improving, helping, or offering? Regardless of covid, you need to be doing that work. The basic underlying principle of business has not changed. See a need, fill a need, to quote a children’s movie. You can still speak to the concerns and fears that you know people are dealing with. You can speak to their aspirations and desires.

If your product or service actually has covid implications, of course mention it. But your new stain remover, your new sheet metal fabrication, all of that’s not going to solve covid, right? I just wanted to encourage you to ask yourself,

“Am I putting this out there because I feel social pressure to put this out there or is this actually relevant?”

Don’t waste people’s time. Don’t waste your real estate. Don’t waste your energy on things that just feel like you ought to do something. Be proactive and actually meet people where they are. That’s what people need right now.