5 Ways Brands Can Show Up for Their Stakeholders Right Now

Photo: Retha Ferguson for Pexels

Brands across the globe are in the midst of deep values recalibrations due to the COVID-19 crisis. Voluntarily or involuntarily, they’re being challenged to look at why they exist and who they exist for in order to find ways they alone are positioned to serve.

It’s crucial that brands recognize that what matters has little to do with simply incorporating giveback missions and promoting sales and is more about providing what your core stakeholders (customers, teams, suppliers, etc.) need while being mindful of context, tone, and transparency. The brands that double down on their values in order to add value are most likely to find their way through the painful decisions they’ll have to make during this and any future crisis.

While the opportunities to contribute are endless, below are a few ways brands can think about showing up, strengthening loyalty, and building toward the future.

Through Information

Every individual with access to the internet is inundated with information at the moment, even without beginning to consider paid marketing. At a time when anxiety is running high, misinformation or poorly timed information can be damaging to your brand. Sometimes showing up means saying less.

Here are questions to ask: 

• How does your brand currently contribute to the spread of information? Is this information timely or necessary to share?

• Can your brand contribute positively by distributing sound information that’s useful (ex. resources, guidance, activities, recipes)?

• Do your paid ads feel disingenuous? Can you adapt the tone for relevancy? 

Through Compassion

With empathy taking over the marketing lexicon in the past couple of years, now is the opportunity for brands to truly put it into action. Ditching a need for polished perfection in preference for vulnerability can bring your brand closer to all of its stakeholders.

Here are three questions to ask: 

• Which of your stakeholders is most affected at this time? How can you support them?

• Is it possible to be honest with your customers about where your brand stands and how that’s evolving as time goes by?

• How can you reimagine your services, adjust your pricing model, or launch campaigns to serve your audience where they are?

Through Action

We’ve seen brands around the world pivot almost overnight to digital offerings, transform their factories, and more. Taking what’s core to your brand mission into account and then expanding that reality to continue to adapt is paramount. There’s more opportunity for experimentation and iteration than ever, but brands need to be willing to take their audience along for the journey.

Here are three questions to ask: 

• What’s a single action would your brand regret not taking right now?

• Can you reformat your offering to help on a macro level? Who can you collaborate with to touch new people and spread awareness?

• What content and experiences can you create that your audience is craving at this time?

Through Ideas 

It’s no surprise that innovation comes in times of deep pressure. The uniquely human capacity for imagination that’s born out of constraints is what’s allowed us to evolve and survive for thousands of years. More than ever this is an opportunity for our biggest ideas to emerge to help us navigate the seismic shifts appearing in our world today.

Here are three questions to ask: 

• What can you do now that has never felt possible before?

• Can you serve an additional audience that you may never have thought of reaching?

• What can you begin creating now that the world will continue to need when we emerge from this? Who can you collaborate with to bring these new ideas to life, in order to maximize impact?

Through Optimism 

Our strength as a global community relies on our ability to stay determined and hopeful that we can guide ourselves out of this. That doesn’t mean we should approach reality with a sense of naiveté or pretend we aren’t going through a global crisis, but it does mean we need the determination and faith that something brighter awaits in order to forge forward.

Here are three questions to ask: 

• What silver linings have appeared for you and your brand? How can you galvanize around them?

• What problems have appeared that your teams can dream up ideal solutions for?

• How can your brand cultivate and share messages of hope without undermining the gravity of the situation?

There’s no certainty in how long this pandemic will last, or what the true impact on our global community and economy will be, but the more determined brands are to keep asking tough questions the more new ideas will start to appear. Commitment and courage from every leader in sharing ideas out loud—first with themselves, then to colleagues, to audiences and the world will allow us to shape and enhance the evolved reality we want to live in. It’s the only thing that ever has.

About the Author: Lori is the founder of a big idea, a home for thoughtful brand building based in LA, where she works with emerging and growing mission-driven brands. She has a decade of experience working with legacy brands, media companies, startups, and social enterprises to develop and optimize marketing strategies. An idealist and a builder at heart, she began a big idea with a desire to give identity to the undeniable ideas we all have inside of us and create new brands that are built to last generations. She's currently offering free 1:1 strategy sessions to brands affected by COVID-19 - you can schedule by reaching out at lori@abigidea.com.

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