Every business faces crisis at some point or the other. Either internal or external, as we have seen recently. Deciding not to react, keeping quiet, continuing as before: Bad idea. On the contrary, you need to position yourself and communicate with and around this crisis. Which isn’t always easy, I grant you. This article will help you avoid getting stuck in a rut…
Why do you need to keep communicating in times of crisis?
You know the principle: If you don’t speak, others will speak for you. If you don’t take over the land, others will take your place.
And this is also the case with your editorial strategy.
Please note: There is no question of making money on the misfortunes of others. An advertisement for an umbrella brand while a flood ravages a country, and surfing the event would be highly undesirable.
But if you don’t talk about the topics that permeate all social networks, your silence can quickly become questionable. In the minds of your customers, it won’t always be about your sobriety or your respect… but rather the fact that you haven’t positioned yourself and who knows, you don’t care what’s going on. , However, this is not the message you want to deliver.
choose your tone carefully
As we said above, it would be in very bad taste to capitalize on a crisis outright. Unless yours is hallmark humor, even black humor, and then that’s what your followers will love.
In most other situations, the audience will expect you to be empathetic and prepared. It’s not worth trying to make people cry at the cottage or show that a topic is important to you if it isn’t: it will be seen and this opportunism will rip you off (brands that offered free masks in a big way during the lockdown) But dispensable orders have been scouted by their customers (the same way drama is used to promote a book).
So the most important thing is to respect your general editorial line, both in terms of tone and themes. You can express your compassion or your support for an event or disaster, even your commitment if the situation gets you there… but not more when it’s an external thing to you. be about.
Use Crisis for Your Business
Let’s talk about this capitalization problem again. Because we’re not here to lie to each other: If you have a content strategy, that’s good, because at the end of the day, you want to sell. Except that in times of crisis the key word is “finally”.
The communications you do in times of crisis will not have an immediate impact on your business. But it will always serve you later. Because your customers, just like your prospects, will have seen what you wrote or posted. And that they’ll remember later, when the time comes to buy. In your opinion, between a brand that says nothing and one that expresses itself correctly on a topic, which one will have priority?
remain active
Every day there are crises of different types and magnitudes. It could be a public transport strike like an ecological disaster… so you will often have topics on which you can express yourself.
If you often talk about dramatic plastic levels in the oceans, everyone will expect you to share as new facts come on the subject (because yes, let’s not forget the climate crisis, too).
So being proactive means talking about some topics that are dear to you before the crisis strikes.
But it is also able to adapt to the unexpected. No one could have expected two months imprisonment. On the other hand, once this is confirmed, it is always welcome to offer customers other ways of existing as a brand. You should never wait for a seizure to end because you have no idea how long it will last.
An editorial line is favorable at all times. In times of crisis like when everything is going well. It is not fixed, it gives a general direction, a tone, a type of material. But we must accept material that corresponds to a given moment, and which may not be reusable indefinitely. Knowing how to live with the urgency, as in the long term, is one of the strengths of a vibrant editorial line (and that of a company).