The region is seeing more waves of COVID-19 happening. Alongside this resurgence, many Governments look to restrict movement and activities in order to minimise virus transmission. How can consumer brands signal to customers that they are open and available?
The Asia region continues to see a resurgence of the COVID-19 virus through the daily increase of cases in China, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand as well as the heroic efforts of healthcare workers in India working to reduce their load.
Alongside these ‘next’ waves, Governments look towards restricting movement as well as limiting activities that involve close contact. In the case of Singapore, the country will be closing schools and shifting to home-based digital learning as their clusters involves students from primary schools that socialise and mingle at tuition centres. In Japan, due to host the Olympics in weeks, the capital city of Tokyo and some other major cities, extended a state of emergency.
During such moments of high restriction, how can consumer-facing brands signal to customers that they remain open, and ready to support customers’ needs? Such brands can include F&B, retailers and service providers. We share a list of recommendations we have shared recently with clients.
Market to customers, not aggregated profiles or personas not supported by field data
We shared before that brands should not market because there is a pandemic happening. They should market regardless of the pandemic.
Identify customers through the data – visits, purchases, traffic to website, footfall onsite, surveys, polls, social media direct messages – and find out who these customers are as real people.
Who are these real people that are experiencing the current wave and what stage of readiness to purchase or procure are they? Are they parents having to handle elderly parents and young children? Are they single ‘pawrent’ dealing with responsibilities alone because family is a flight away? Are they retirees trying to connect with family but not confident of how or what tools to use?
What value is your brand offering to them in terms of realistic, practical use?
No one is going to buy a ticket for leisure travel to a country with a high number of cases. If you are in the business of selling a product customers cannot use at the moment, start pivoting and offer something they can use straight away. The Singapore Zoo created a video series last year for customers to visit virtually when they could not allow customers in. Singapore Airlines broke apart their First and Business Class packages to offer customers just the meal, and included tableware to recreate a partial experience when customers could not travel.
Think from the perspective of your real customer. Some of them have been impacted by the pandemic in ways that an entity cannot understand. Instead, think from their perspective as a fellow human and customer.
Revisit and refresh your positioning and messaging (again)
Make it clear, timely and authentic. Brands are not suffering in the pandemic. People are. The people behind the brands are when products and services are not being sold. So treat your customers as real people, and not wave some magic messaging wand.
Meet customer expectations.
Customers – as real people – are also judging the brands they buy from. Are the businesses prioritising the right things during the restrictions? Do the brands have a proper sense of reality – that customers are also hurting, and that brands have to prove value before the purchase.
Start with your fundamentals – mission, values, objectives – and find out where can the brand provide more value.
Show that the brand is looking after your own employees, providing assurance (and insurance) for healthcare and not putting them in high-risk situations. This provides customers with the confidence that the brand’s employees will deliver high quality service without taking short cuts that add risk to the customer. Singapore’s Sheng Siong Supermarket is a prime example of a brand that holds true to their value and prioritises their employees first. Investors have since rewarded the company for good governance.
Do digital well, and not treat it like an orphan for when offline/onsite is not available
Many customers have adopted digital and mobile-first platforms and tools. They understand the benefits and convenience of on-demand services. Importantly, they will never return to a world where they can only purchase goods and services offline or onsite.
This customer trend should not be a surprise anymore. Brands had the better part of 2020 to understand and explore digital solutions.
At the minimum, brands can incorporate simple digital and mobile tools into existing channels. For example, they can add chatbots to their website and chat apps, and e-commerce payment methods (shopping carts) to their website or online menu. In the backend, they can use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool to track customers, and offer more targeted promotions, offers or outreach.
Provide information
This is not a time to experiment with new initiatives expecting customers to do self-discovery or that current customers would have the mind-space to refer. Some might, many others will not.
Instead, relook at the brand’s current channels – website, social media, chat apps – and ensure that information is provided in an accessible manner. Ensure that what, how and when information is provided.
Provide information – in an accessible manner on your website or social media channels – about operations and changes that are being implemented.
Answer what, how and when.
Create and offer relevant information that adds value to the specific customer touchpoint or journey. This means no selling until the brand has proven to the customer they can solve their problem. The problem can be simple, for example, order and delivery of groceries or it can be challenging, providing child/eldercare services in a high-risk environment.
In conclusion, unlike 2020 when many customers were not in a buying frame of mind, 2021 customers are. They are also more comfortable looking to support brands as long as they derive good value from their purchase decisions. Brands can commit to engagement and adopt an education-based approach in providing information.
We are Brand Utility is a business consultancy. We work with brands in the corporate, professional services, retail, travel and technology spaces.
Our principal consultant is a registered management consultant, certified and recognised by the Institute of Management Consultants Singapore.
We offer strategy and tactics to support growth outcomes - revenue, scale, regional expansion and market entry – for our clients.
Areas of support include:
· Strategic communications: Approach to market, brand concept and map, positioning, messaging, story and narrative, thought leadership
· Marketing: Campaign/programme planning, story-based marketing execution, digital marketing, community amplification, content planning and production, go-to-market execution
· Lead generation: Digital advertising, social media advertising, social commerce, e-commerce
· Integration of marketing with business operations: We plan and execute as a seconded marketing and/or PR lead for your brand
Discover more about our services at our website or book an exploratory consultation through this link.
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