Even as 2021 promises to be the year of new beginnings and the world has begun to slowly reopen, businesses should stay on high alert for the next shut down that may grip their areas. After all, if the advent of the novel COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 taught us anything, it is that businesses should come to expect the unexpected!
And researchers are suggesting that viral outbreaks and pandemics may be the norm for years to come. So it is important to learn how to maintain vital customer connections from a distance! It could mean life or death for your business. Here are some surefire ways to keep client connections strong under quarantine conditions.
Stay Relevant
With the deluge of information that hits your audience every single day, you need to make a daily commitment to differentiate yourself in your market space. Keep in mind that your customer sees thousands upon thousands of ads each day without even recognizing each individual advertisement as such.
This sort of prolonged exposure over time contributes to something known in the industry as “banner blindness,” wherein customers and potential clients begin to unconsciously recognize and eventually filter out advertisements. This is just a natural function of the human brain. After all, if we were to stop and really process each and every thing we see each day each and every time we see it…well, we would go mad! Nevermind, we would be exhausted.
So, keeping this in mind, make sure your information is actually worth stopping their doom scrolling to process it.
Extend Empathy
Normally, you should prioritize keeping a professional distance from clients and potential converts alike. However, you should consider whether there is a question of extraordinary circumstances calling for extraordinary times.
And certainly, a pandemic should qualify as an extraordinary circumstance above all else, no? So do not shy away from keeping an honest and empathetic tone when interacting with your clients. Little human touches like personalized envelopes, cards, mementos—these affordable, little trinkets or freebies show clients they are at the forefront of your mind.
Stay Available
Replying to emails in a timely manner is the best thing you can do to reinforce your devotion to great service. Regardless of the industry, this holds true.
While you do not want to set unrealistic expectations by responding out of hours or by stretching yourself too thin by sacrificing “off hours” or, tha tis, hours off the clock, you should find time each day to respond personally to even the most trivial of inquiries.
You never know what connection you may be solidifying that will pay off down the road! Worse yet, you do not want a silly reason like sluggish response time to be the reason you lose an account.
Be Transparent
In the same vein of maintaining a consistent availability for your clients, you should also be transparent with your customer base concerning any delays or interruptions in service. Especially those conundrums related to the pandemic, your customers will understand and will be appreciative of being kept “in the know.”
Relaying honestly your business ambitions, your concerns, and your qualms concerning the economic landscape helps your customers relate to you on an intimate level. It humanizes both you and your business in the eyes of even the most detached of readers.
Maintain Your Messaging
Even in the icy grip of a pandemic and quarantine conditions, keeping your messaging at the forefront of your customers’ collective consciousness is important. Even as you humanize your business, even as you reach out under extraordinary circumstances—you should maintain your messaging, and keep your cool. All in all: stay on brand.
Why?
Keeping a cool head under pressure is the mark of a good businessperson. Your customers and clients want to feel as though they are in good hands. If they get the sense that you are going to crumble under pressure at any moment, they will not feel comfortable investing their business in you! It is that simple.
Keeping a cool head under pressure assures your audience that you can be trusted in high pressure situations. It lends itself to a somewhat “business as usual” type tone without being flippant about the tragic human cost of the pandemic.
Keep Establishing Authority
Even as your business may slow, you can establish authority in your space. There is no shortage of digital marketing opportunities to take advantage of during the pandemic. In fact, more users globally now more than ever are turning to the internet for hours upon hours a day for entertainment, resources, and just general doomscrolling.
You can see that there is plenty of space, so take advantage of it! If your business has been shut down or has slowed, you can still participate in content marketing, or other digital marketing efforts to keep your brand at the forefront of the conversation.