With the end of the coronavirus pandemic still far from sight, most businesses have little choice but to ride out the storm and wait until things stabilize a bit, or a “new normal” is established. Until this happens, brands will do well to work on protecting their reputation during these trying times.
Looking after your brand is crucial during this particularly challenging period since you need to keep your reputation intact and polished once the crisis is over. Several companies, including large, well-known ones, have already committed mistakes that have made them examples of what not to do in their industry.
Although these companies have time to repair their reputation before things normalize, doing so requires additional investments — resources that could have been better used in other areas and processes of the business.
And even if these businesses put a lot of effort and money into repairing their blemished reputation, there is no assurance that consumers will forget and forgive the mistake and go back to being loyal customers.
With all these in mind, while you wait for your business to open or fully operate again, use the free time to work with your team to establish strategies that will help you protect your brand during the pandemic.
We have rounded up below five of the best tips you can follow to protect your brand reputation during the COVID-19 crisis:
1. LOOK AFTER YOUR EMPLOYEES
Your employees are your top brand ambassadors. As such, your company’s reputation will enjoy a boost or sink, depending on how you treat your workers during this global crisis.
The most important step you have to take to protect your brand reputation now is to keep your employees safe and healthy. Make sure they are doing well and can weather the storm, so to speak.
Keep in mind that today, the last thing you want to happen is for your employees to start speaking badly about a lack of work safety and how your company never looked after their welfare. If your workers air out their grievances or bad experiences, your current and potential customers may soon find out.
Once these bad reviews get out, you will be hard-pressed to take them back and provide a good explanation as to why you took such actions.
Before you take other steps to protect your brand, look after your employees first.
2. GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR SUPPLIERS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS
If you work with suppliers, delivery service providers, and other companies to conduct your operations, find out if they will remain open or shut down during the pandemic.
If your business partners do not have any plans of closing, ask if there are changes in their operations. They may only deliver supplies or provide services during certain days of the week. Make sure you get all the pertinent information you need that may affect your business and customers.
In case your suppliers and service providers are temporarily shutting down, you have to find alternatives as soon as possible. To continue having a good relationship with your current partners, inform them that you will work with other companies for now so that you can sustain your business.
You will also do well to discuss with your new partners that you may continue to work with them in the future, even if your current vendors and service providers resume their operations.
By maintaining a good relationship with your current and new business partners, you can build and maintain a good reputation within the industry. Moreover, it will help you sustain your operations and continue fulfilling your customers’ needs.
3. CREATE CLEAR LINES OF COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS
Even though certain restrictions can prevent customers from doing business with you, it doesn’t mean you should ignore or neglect them.
Continue responding to your customers’ questions or concerns you receive on social media, your website, and by email or text messages. Let them know that you still value them even in times of crisis.
Additionally, use your website to keep your customers up-to-date regarding your business. Consider adding a dedicated COVID-19 page which will give visitors the latest information about any operational changes you make, such as opening and closing times and order timeframes.
Continue being active on social media as well. Don’t forget to pin your COVID-19 page at the top of your account so that visitors can click on it if they want more information about your operations.
Lastly, check information about your business on other sites and apps, including Google My Business and Foursquare. Make sure the key details are up-to-date so that you won’t confuse your customers.
Your ability to provide the correct, latest information in a timely manner will help you protect your reputation in more ways than one.
4. KEEP YOUR EMPLOYEES UPDATED
Aside from sharing all important information and updates with your customers, don’t forget to keep your employees in the loop, too.
Establish a clear line of communication with your team members as well. Make sure they know your plans and any changes you need to implement at this time.
Inform your employees what channels you will use to communicate with them or the tools they can use for group messaging. Additionally, if you will send any important missive, advise them beforehand that they need to open and read the emails they received.
Moreover, when circumstances change, work with your team to ensure everyone is prepared.
This step will also help you get your team on your side and working on protecting your brand reputation.
5. KEEP TRACKING YOUR BRAND
During this global crisis, going easy on your marketing and branding campaigns should be the farthest thing from your mind. Removing brand tracking from your strategy, therefore, is something that you shouldn’t consider doing.
Brand tracking allows you to have a clear picture of your sales funnel and other affinity metrics. It also gives you insights regarding the condition of your brand health as a result of your marketing efforts.
These two help you understand consumer behavior and habits better, which you should use to improve various parts of your business.
If you stop tracking your brand, you won’t know what steps to take to improve your marketing and branding strategies once the crisis eases up. Keep in mind that new habits or preferences for brands may have formed, and some of these may stick.
You have to know what these are so that you can keep up with these changes and know how to reposition your brand. This will not only help your business, but will also ensure that you keep your company’s reputation intact in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Whether your business is still open or you have temporarily shut down operations, use your free time to follow these tips to continue protecting your brand during the COVID-19 crisis.
