Content in Times of Crisis

Tuesday 31st March 2020
box of free books

Specifically, The Current COVID-19 Pandemic

When the normal playbook gets thrown out of the window (right now, the playbook is also on fire) and businesses are forced to react to situations quickly, it’s easy for mistakes to be made with their planned and proposed marketing activities.

In times like these, the best thing that a business can do with its content is to follow the following mantra:

Altrusim, Not Opportunism

Give it away. Create new content that will help or entertain your followers. Dig back through your archives for past pieces that might be relevant to or helpful in the situation, or that were just plain old popular and worth revisiting. Explore new ideas and new channels. Adapt your content or products and prices for the greater good or to make them more accessible. Get it done and get it out there. Don’t worry so much about getting it perfect. If your production standards slip for the sake of doing something good and helpful, your followers will understand. If your business makes it through the crisis, that good will will be remembered and repaid. Because, you did the right thing.

Oh, and make sure to turn off, pause, or recall any scheduled advertising if you invest in that sort of thing, because a crisis is not the time for normal sales messaging and people don’t want to see it. At best, it’ll be considered distasteful.

To the brands and businesses that try to pivot a crisis into an opportunity, you’re going to need all the luck you can lay your hands on. Don’t think that people are so stupid as to not see straight through that. Just as they will remember the businesses that stepped up to provide help, advice or entertainment in difficult times, they will remember the ones that tried to turn it to their advantage or attempted to profiteer. And those businesses will suffer on the other side.

Be in that first group. Be generous. Be good. Be honest. Be in with a fighting chance when some sort of normality returns.