HOW ARE BUSINESSES LEVERAGING ONLINE PLATFORMS AND FEATURES TO KEEP CUSTOMERS INFORMED AND NAVIGATE CHANGE?
I feel deeply for businesses that are grappling with changes outside of their control and hope for the best outcome and safety for all.
As a creative person, I am also sparked with excitement as businesses innovate and leverage new tactics or channels to communicate with customers.
Below are some examples I have come across on how businesses are navigating the enforced changes to help minimise risk to the community and continue, where possible, with business as usual and provide products and services.
1. WEBSITE
With many now in lock-down globally and some people working remotely here in Australia, people are jumping online more than ever.
You may have already had to make some announcements but if you haven’t it’s an opportune time to review your online content, call-to-actions and think about any changes or modifications that are imperative to keep customers informed of changes or tailor to meet new needs or challenges. These could include:
- leveraging homepage banners, announcement bars or pop-up notifications with important messages, updates, new services or processes; and
- blogs or news articles for lengthier or technical information, links and call to actions.
Brands big and small are utilising the above features to promote timely updates about supplies, trading hours and changes on their websites.
Image sources: Woolworths , The Good Gift & Co , Qantas , Qsure
If you are offering delivery or have just added the service like sustainable, luxury greeting cards and wrap curator, Kinshipped, add a message box as part of your online ordering process to enable customers to include a personalised message which I’m sure will be warmly received by the recipient!
Image source: Instagram/Kinshipped
It is also empowering to see people helping others with new online platforms. Today, I came across Saving Plates who have created a new website to help connect diners with the local hospitality industry in an effort to promote takeaway meals from local cafes, pubs and restaurants, and known and popular institutions such as Gelato Messina.
If you do not have an online presence, and there are still some, now is a pivotal time to think about its role in your business and create a website or have a presence on relevant social channels to provide an alternative for your customers and drive sales.
There are many online applications where you can build your own but as time is of the essence and likely you have other pressing priorities to keep your business thriving, reach out to freelancers and agencies that can help you get online as quickly as possible.
2. SOCIAL MEDIA, VIDEO AND ONLINE PLATFORMS
Like above, leverage social media channels and video to communicate key messages, updates and sell or promote your products and services. There are some great examples of how individuals or businesses are helping to stay connected or reinventing how they provide their service.
The Kennedy Center in the United States has had to cancel their performances however to stay engaged with their audience they have created Artist-in Residence at Home. New episodes are being posted daily at 1pm with Mo Willems in his studio for the next few weeks and published on YouTube.
Better Reading are leveraging their Facebook Page Group and increasing their What Are You Reading? Live Chat from fortnightly to weekly.
Entrepreneur and Collective Hub founder, Lisa Messenger, has been upping the ante daily on iGTV and live on Instagram collaborating with other business owners, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs tackling current business challenges with content that inspires and educates.
And law firm, Her Lawyer, has assembled a panel of professional legal, finance and business experts and leveraging a webinar format to help arm their clients with information and help small business owners make a plan during this time.
Image sources: Instagram/LisaMessenger , Facebook/BetterReadingAU and Her Lawyer
If people or businesses can’t come to you, like the examples above, find a way to get to them.
If you are or were holding a seminar or information session, if possible, engage a videographer or simply grab your phone, presentation notes and hit record. This can then be published on your website, shared on social media and distributed in an email to those who had already rsvp’d.
Don’t panic that the video output might not be as polished as you might want. As they say, authenticity is key but in times like this, people are not so worried about how or where, but rather that they are able to access information and provided with next steps.
3. EMAIL MARKETING
And this leads me to email marketing. If you’re like me, I’m assuming your inbox has exploded with relevant and timely communications from schools, organisations, extra-curricular activities, businesses and retailers all providing updates and changes or simply keeping up with business as usual.
Email marketing continues to be a great tool to provide information, products or services to a captive audience and drive action or simply create calm and inspire.
Hope you have found the above examples inspiring and ignite your creativity to address or adapt to challenges or changes outside of our control. Stay safe x
Please note: all examples listed are not-paid advertising or endorsed but examples Kite Creative and Co has come across through recent experiences or have seen promoted or shared on online channels by the individuals, their businesses or connections.
