By Paul Mwirigi Muriungi

No one knows exactly when we will be able to return to the normal ‘business-as-usual’. This has made many brands sit back in a wait-and-see mode.

However, this doesn’t have to be the case from a marketing communications perspective; here are a few tips to make the most of this downtime for your brand:

1. Talk About The Positive Work Your Brand Is Doing During This Crisis: Have you recently given a donation towards COVID-19 efforts? You can share a brief press release with some photos to the media or share an online post so that your internal and external stakeholders who bond with the brand can be informed about it. You could maybe write a blog using keywords that are relevant to your business. If you want to gain traction and don’t know how to go about it, hire an seo service provider who could do the job for you.

2. Brush Up Your Teams Skills: Use this downtime to boost your teams marketing communications capabilities. With less activity keeping your team busy, you can run an online training program for your team and equip them with the necessary skills and competencies to be used in the future once this crisis is over.

3. Build Your Online & Offline Marketing Communications Muscle: Now is the best time to work on your marketing communications collateral. Whether it is your website, company profile, product offering brochure, or service offering, there is no better time than now to refresh it. You can redesign your brochures and flyers, prime them up using printers containing sensory coating equipment for instance, making them an experience that engages all the senses. You can update your website, add some cool new features or try to make it more user-friendly. Try to use everything at your disposal, from social media to sip calling, to help get your name out there.

4. Customer Feedback & Research: This could be a perfect time to find out what your customers and the market thinks about your brand. This strategic marketing investment can help your business adapt quickly to changing customer demands post COVID-19.

5. Create & Review Your Strategic Marketing Communication Plans: It is best to work on something critical when there is not much happening around you. Take some time to review your strategic marketing communication plans in light of the fact that things will not be the same again.

6. Develop New Marketing Products and Delivery Channels: Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customer requirements profitably. What new products or delivery channels can your team come up with during this time? The use of podcasts could be one of them. If you’re not sure how to sell your product or brand using podcasts, you could seek assistance from companies like Lower Street.

7. Communicate: Yes. Your customers and key stakeholders need to hear from you. Marketing communications is one of those operations that can keep running even when other departments are not.

Paul Mwirigi Muruingi is a marketing communications professional and Managing Director at Capital One Group.