71. [LIVE] Should you promote your business during a pandemic?
It’s a scary time to be a human being, and it’s a scary time to be a business owner. We’ve never gone through something like this before, so it’s impossible to know what’s “right” when it comes to your brand during a pandemic. In this special edition live recording of Brand Therapy, Phil and Lauren tackle one of many questions on people’s minds: Should you promote your brand during a pandemic? The answer isn’t clear, but together, we make some strong conclusions that might help give you direction.
This episode is sponsored by PATLive.
Episode transcription
Phil
Hey listeners. Before we dive right into this episode, I want to acknowledge that the world is kind of upside down right now. So we made this episode for anyone who is feeling the stress of uncertainty, creativity and community. Get us through these tough times of struggle. And I hope that this little episode alleviate some of that, at least reminds you that we are all in this together. I also want to thank our sponsor, PATLive. Did you know that 76% of customers hang up if they don't reach a live person and 85% of customers won't call back after an unanswered call. When you're building your business, it's not always possible to shift focus and answer every call, so PATLive answers when you can't. 24/7 live answering services open 365 days a year with all US based agents. They handle message taking call screening and transfers like a personal receptionist at a fraction of the cost. PATLive is the best-in-class answering service offering you flexibility and expertise you need to grow your brand and delight your callers. Visit PATLive to learn more about how live answering services can help you improve your businesses productivity and profitability. Make every call count with PATLive. Now onto the show.
Phil:
Hello, everyone, if you're seeing this, you're probably watching the replay. We're gonna have a few live people join in in just a second. So we've got, oh my gosh, we’ve got Facebook, we’ve got LinkedIn, and we've got Instagram to talk about something super important. We are as many places as we can be right now to have an important conversation about you, where you're at your business, all of these kinds of things. I said a second ago on my Instagram story. That you don't need to hear from me or from Lauren to wash your hands or to stay indoors. Hopefully those are things that you're doing. We think we have something to contribute to the world to this conversation, particularly for people that are really struggling right now.
Lauren:
Yeah. So obviously, we're not medical professionals, like we can't help in that area. But we do want to create a forum where business professionals can come together and figure this new territory out like what is it appropriate to market your business? Is it not? If it is, how should you be potentially doing that and work through it together? Because any marketer who says that they know they don't, they've got a hunch, but no one really, really knows. And I want to preface by saying, we don't know the answers either. So we're hoping that by bringing people together, we can at least make some headway and open, you know, have a really healthy discussion about it.
Phil:
That's great. So you and I have a few things that we want to at least dive into at the very beginning. If you have a question that you want us to answer, the best place for you to ask that is going to be Facebook. Keep in mind, we will also keep an eye on the Instagram stream. As well, I'll open up LinkedIn in a second. That's the trickiest one for us to see comments. So certainly Facebook will be right in front of our eyes. But you know, hopefully within the few minutes we spend together might be roughly half an hour, you get some ideas on how to tackle this.
A few days ago, I sent out an email Monday with no hyperlinks, no promotion, because honestly didn't really feel appropriate to be promoting something that I was going to sell, when there are people in the world that have absolutely no idea when or how they're going to make their next dollar. I simply said to our list is my list is our list, Lauren, because we write those emails together. I said, How can I help you right now? is there is there a question I can answer or can I give some ideas on something related to your business or your brand. And a lot of people responded.
One of those people is Anna Kate. She had a great question. And this question represented a lot of the questions that people are asking. So I wanted to read it with her permission. She said, should I try and fill my pipeline with prospects, or would my time be better spent gearing up for this to blow over? I think a lot of people are wondering how can we continue to move the needle and of course be sensitive to what people are going through? I'm not sure this is the right time for pushing our services or advancing on those who are in panic mode about their own businesses. So Lauren, I think let's tackle this question first, because a lot of people are wondering it.
Lauren:
Yeah, I think this is a really tough question. And again, no one knows the answers. I certainly don't know the answers, but I do have a lot of thoughts that might at least help steer us in a direction where we figure it out together. I will say I do strongly. believe that it is inappropriate to be pushing your business on someone right now, honestly. And I just think it's ignorant to not acknowledge the fact that everyone is emotionally strung out right now. Everyone is scared for so many reasons business, health, family, whatever it is. And so I just, I don't know, I honestly, I feel like it's really inappropriate to promote. That being said, that doesn't necessarily mean that you should abandon your pipeline. But I think that right now is the time where we need to emphasize human connection and reaching out to people, because you want to help them not because you want to add someone into your pipeline. Pipeline is it's gonna be a happy development months from now, when people remember how you made them feel and how you helped them. What do you think?
Phil:
I think it's valid. I think there's something to be said business to business about us using potentially this downtime productively. So if we want to look at this in a positive way, well, first of all, let's look at it in a negative way. Is your bottom line going to be hit by this? Pretty much everyone unless you sell cans of soup, or face masks or Amazon, right? So the reality is, is our bottom line going to be hit? Yes, I think everyone's going to experience that at different levels. So the positive side is, that maybe now instead of spending your time commuting or doing things that you might have otherwise done as part of your routine, you're at home. You're working quietly on things might not necessarily be a client deliverable, right or in person if you're selling something or working in retail, for example. So can you use this time quietly, to build your pipeline, not to start reaching out to people in the next week or two, in my opinion, but to actually start to build your plan to be ready to pounce once this blows over.
And we don't know when that's going to be but I think we can all relate to the fact that there are things that we've been wanting to do for months, but we spend so much time doing checking off our to do list every single day and just trying to get through it probably not getting through it that actually now is the first time that people are quiet with their thoughts and actually can start to think about themselves, their goals, the next move for their business. It's quiet time that I think a lot of us might benefit from. That's my opinion.
Lauren:
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree. And while we don't know what's gonna happen, and when it's gonna happen, we do know that eventually things will get better. That's what happens with every recession, things will get better. So I just think that now is not the time to say hey, join my program. Hey, my discount coupon ends tomorrow hop on this quick. That's to me like, I don't know. It's just a from a human standpoint, it is insensitive. Totally, totally. So we've got an example. We're going to be sending a proposal to someone for a brand identity right before a pandemic was declared. And instead of following up saying, Hey, here's the proposal for X amount of money, we're sending an email saying, hey, business aside, things are really sideways right now, how are you doing? And what can we help you with right now. And that doesn't necessarily mean that we would be quoting for it or you know, billing for that.
It's just again, thinking about how another person might be feeling and how you can help that person no matter what.
Phil:
That's a really good point. And a good opportunity to segue into my next observation this week that I thought was really cool. Mark Cuban from the show Shark Tank, posted something that went viral on LinkedIn a few days ago. He said, I'm going to do something a little different here. You have a small business that you run our own. You have questions about what to do now, I'll try and answer some of those questions. My preference is going to be helping small businesses trying to avoid layoffs and hourly reductions.
And I encourage everyone to go to LinkedIn and look at this post. Come through the comments and see where he's replied. Some of his replies are short, some of them are longer. A lot of the questions people are asking, are questions that we are all wondering. And I actually really loved his insight on some of these. He said, In times like this, it's your job to make people's lives better. Be considerate, be compassionate, the best sales happen when you put yourself in the shoes of your prospect. And one of the people who was engaging with them said, wow, you never see this kind of accessibility ever.
And I think, for those of you that do have audiences, this is the time I'm not telling you to shut down your business or stop selling completely. I'm strongly encouraging you to put the needs of others first. If you have free content, or free resources, or blog posts or podcasts, resurface those for people. Resurface those four people so it's easy to access.
One of my favorite examples of this as a client of ours, Julie Bauer of paleOMG. All week has been resurfacing onto her Instagram story, at home workouts. Okay? Yes, she has a program that she actually discounted and continues to sell, but she's not gonna give her program away for free, because, you know, I'm not going to give brand audits away for free. But guess what, there's a good chance that all of us have some kind of resource that we can share with other people. And now is the time to put those at the forefront. That's my point.
Lauren:
Yeah, for sure. And if you are a consultant, think about things that you could provide that really wouldn't cost you that much in the long run, but would make a whole big difference for someone else. Like as an example, maybe you normally call or would charge for any minute that you spend on the phone. This probably is not the time to enforce that. Instead getting on a 15 or 20 minute phone call to help someone work through a problem with and not charging because you genuinely care about their success and the success of their business, I think that's the right thing to do.
Phil:
I completely completely agree. Not everything you know, some of this is really just your time, right? It's dedicated your time so I took a screenshot of something and posted this on Instagram as well. This really was so incredible when Chandresh, who's a past client of ours posted on Facebook so selflessly, he said any older adults or senior citizens living in LA that might need help. You know, is anyone feeling alone or helpless in a follow up post offering to people to jump on FaceTime to talk through things. That might seem everyday to you to pick up the phone and call someone, but honestly, these are the things that help people in the moment. And they're also the things that people remember when it comes time to get back to doing business as per usual, right. These kinds of selfless, memorable acts that actually improve the lives of people, this is what people remember. And now is the time to lead with serving others.
Lauren:
When I've seen some people promoting their services and their business right now with what what strikes me is a lack of sensitivity. It makes me think differently about them. Like it actually makes me want to buy less. Which is just so interesting.
Phil:
I feel that way. Yeah, I think, let's talk about what we know, which is branding, marketing, advertising, social media, for brands, and people that have got launches that are still running social media, ads, launching books, these kinds of things. Let's talk about some ideas for those people.
We’ve got two examples that I want to share. Let's start with our dear friends and clients, Mary and Sean. Did you see this post and what did you think about them?
Lauren:
I did.
Phil:
Talk about why.
Lauren:
Well, what I love about it, so Mary and John have been working on a book for months, like quite literally, it's probably been actually more like a year. And it's a cookbook. And they've got a lot at stake with the success of this book, I'd say because they've been putting so much work like hard work into it. And what I love about the way that Mary promoted it is to say that they're doing pre sales, she starts off and says, well this feels weird. Today's the day we're supposed to start our official marketing plan. Yeah. So what I love about that is it's acknowledging what everyone else's would be thinking, beating them to the punch, and acknowledging that maybe I don't feel totally right about this, but in case you're interested because I want to make bring some happiness to your day, this is what I've got for you. And I think just positioning it that way is perfect, honestly.
Phil:
Just be honest, off the hop if it feels weird, say that. We often talk about talking about branding, content is what you say. personality is the unique way that you deliver that information, not content. And in this case, Mary said how she felt. And I think that all made us go, Ah, you know, and actually be happy for her. Are we all looking forward to something beyond the news story that we're all inundated with every day. This post did really well, and it should have done well because we're actually really happy to have a nice diversion.
Lauren:
Yeah. And I love that she also acknowledged that they approached the publisher to push the date, and it's not going to happen. So they're giving us a real, almost a sneak peek into what was going on behind the scenes.
Phil:
Let's talk about one more, which was an ad we spotted recently on Instagram.
Lauren
Yes, so Everlane came up in my feed as it always does, and saying that all damn week damn good denim just $50 so they bought jeans on sale right for the whole week. But what I love about this is in the caption, they preface it by saying because we can all use a little good news right now, and I feel like again, they're acknowledging the state of the world. And that's the key thing here is acknowledging this might feel weird, or you might be unhappy, or we need some good news because everything on the news is terrible, and so this is how we're contributing how we can.
Phil:
Yeah, now is the time we're going to open it up to some questions. So we've talked a little bit about putting the needs of other people first resurfacing freebies that you have free resources for people who really can't spend money right now, not saying you need to not sell or take some of your premium offerings and give them away, that's not what I'm saying. I am saying it's your obligation as a human to resurface resources you have available to people, even if it's your time. Even if it's your time to hop on a phone call.
I can tell you every single person that texted me yesterday saying, hey, my friend, Sarah, how is this affecting you? I mean, what a great question. Amber, my friend said, are you doing okay? You know, like we can all think of those people that have already taken an initiative to just show up, and people remember that, right?
They might not turn into a customer today or tomorrow, particularly, if their business has been affected heavily by this, but guess what? They're gonna remember it when it comes time to doing business again. And this blows over, which it eventually will we don't know when we don't know how. But let's open it up to some questions.
Here's a great question, Lauren. Adelaide says, with the current climate changing so much, how much of a strategy plan should you have as a 1-3 person business? I'm also wondering, what do you do? You know, how do you prepare, if someone in your company gets the virus or more, what do I do? You have any thoughts on this?
Lauren:
That's a really good question. Okay. Always just be honest. For me personally, I am working as hard and as fast as I can to get caught up and get ahead because I'm assuming at some point, I'm not going to be feeling well, or maybe just some point, I might need a freaking break, because it's so heavy. So my recommendation would be yes, plan. Yes, have contingency. If you have clients which Adelaide I know you do, send them a little note, send them an email saying again that you recognize things are not really normal right now. And that you're willing to be flexible. If they need to get in touch with you by phone or email or if they're just not feeling up for a call, that's okay. And that you'll be also keeping them in the loop with how you and your team are doing in case there are any unexpected changes there. I think by being transparent that way in advance people will be really understanding.
Phil:
When we came on this call, the first thing we said is we don't have all the answers. So you know, I don't think anyone has all the answers for this but to highlight your point and highlight your question Adelaide, communication. So I think that's the best thing I can do is actually just improve how we communicate with one another end of story, communicate, when things are going well communicate when things are not going well, let's just communicate to one another and just do our best. So great question.
I want to read a few more comments. From Sarah with this new way of living, even temporarily, artists streaming all of their content, do you think there will be a new wave of economics for artists? If so, what do you think gig workers will come up with? Will they come up with something new for the current times? That's a big question, but and Lauren, you've actually worked in the music business, so I am curious to hear what you think.
Lauren:
I believe if you look back at art over in all forms over the past hundreds of years, beautiful things come from dark places. So I feel like people are at home more. They're probably listening to more music, probably reading more books. I know I certainly am watching more television. And so yes, for artists, I feel like maybe there's an opportunity. I've seen some artists will do live concerts, which is cool. I know John Legend's doing that. But I've seen like, even up and coming artists do it, which is like, so awesome and just creates a sense of community even if we're not together. So I am optimistic.
Phil:
I'm also optimistic for all of the friends of mine that have said, I'm so jealous, so you get to work remotely and work from all these different places. My employer won't let me maybe now maybe now your employer is going to see just how productive you are working from home if you're lucky enough to still be employed, right? If you're one of the lucky ones, and then prove to your employer that you can work well from home prove a point they might let you work remotely. You know, I mean, a big part of our job is like Lauren, you and I are together when we record the podcast or when we're on client calls, but we see each other maybe once or twice a year physically, which is always a strange alien, like experience.
Lauren:
Riveting.
Phil:
So who knows maybe the positive side of this is that some of you that are not allowed to work from home now might be allowed to in the future.
We have some good comments coming in. Comments/questions, Rose on Facebook says with all this downtime, I think that it's time for people to get personally empowered for yourself and your business. So if you have a business that offers solutions, I think it's okay to share. I agree, Rose, I think it's okay to share as long as you're sensitive to what the heck is happening in the world right now, honestly, you know. To not even change your ads or revise the positioning of your content, I think it can come across in a negative way. So the fact that you just for a second say, I know times are tough, I'm here for you. Boom. Then go into whatever it is you want to talk about. Do you agree, Lauren?
Lauren:
Totally. And just like you said, saying, I'm trying to help how I can, this is what feels right to me.
Phil:
Um Locksmith Sanford says, I think my favorite part of these businesses being open with all their struggles right now is it reminds me that we're not alone. That's actually I'm glad you brought that up, kind of feels like that, right? Like, we're all dealing with some of these challenges, but it's not just one of us, like literally, all of us are dealing with these challenges right now, some big some small, but we're all feeling it. We're all thinking about it. We're all googling it, or texting each other about it. It's kind of interesting that actually it's building a worldwide community that are facing similar challenges.
Lauren:
Yeah, even in emails I've noticed, you know, when most people would sign off with sincerely or best or, you know, talk soon, it's more like, take care, stay healthy thinking about you, your family. Again, I think that good things can come out of dark places. And I'm we're seeing that right now.
Phil:
I want to wrap Lauren with one question that's from Instagram from Lawrence Kerr. He says a big part of my business is event photography that has completely dried up. I also run a studio that people are reluctant to come to, how can he pivot.
Lauren:
I would recommend pull back the curtain and teach people how to set up their own studios and things at home. teach people how to get a basic backdrop teach people how to figure out good lighting, which obviously I need some help with. Teach people what cameras are worth buying for temporary filming, and then offer your editing services because people can still send you the footage to actually edit and then they'll be used to working with you. And then when this blows over, and they're looking for someone to get take their photos or film their content, they'll be thinking of you.
Phil:
Lawrence, you're probably so busy day to day in your studio and helping people and realize that even if less money or client work is coming in at the moment, take this time to think about opportunities that exist for you digitally. I'll be the first one to admit this is a huge, huge focus for us right now. Our business has been focused on branding people and companies for the last few years. We don't know yet how it's going to hit us but we're prepared to start to think about what we can be doing online in smaller, leaner ways that help people. So even this week, I'm filming courses. I never had time for this normally, because we get pulled in lots of different directions. But guess what? I'm not traveling to conferences this month. I'm sitting right here at the table in Mexico City where I can sell them. I've got not, you know, positive. I've got lots of natural light. Unlike Lauren. Use this opportunity to quietly think about where those digital opportunities that exist for you now more than ever. Build something that's aligned with one of your passions and get it out there. I said that was the last question.
There's one more that's really good. Lauren. I'm going to read this from Zoey. She says, What do you think about discounting products or programs?
Lauren:
I have a very strong opinion on that. I think yes. I think that accessibility right now is really important. If Mark Cuban can take time to answer LinkedIn questions, then we can all discount our programs personally. Because, again, if we think about creating opportunities to help people as much as possible, I'm not saying that you should give away your programs or courses for free, but I am saying that making things more accessible considering that some people don't know where their next dollar is coming from is the right thing to do.
Phil:
Yeah, that's great advice like if discounting it makes it more palatable for people. I think, why not? Right, now's the time to do it. I just saw an email blast go out for a service I'm a big fan of called Flytographer, my friend Nicole, the CEOs, had to layoff recently a third of her employees. They just sent out a promo code to get 20% off photoshoots to buy gift cards. So actually, you probably have seen this but buying gift cards for businesses that you use and support, honestly right now might make the difference for them staying in business or not. By giving them money now that helps them stay afloat for services that you can use in the future once you're allowed to leave home. That's an amazing thing that you could be doing right now to support local businesses.
Lauren:
That's true. And that's a good idea for Lawrence too with your studio, your in person studio and events. Sell kind of pre-packages that people can purchase now that are slightly discounted to redeem later. So maybe target people who are online content creators or past clients or maybe people who have upcoming weddings, whatever it is, offer something discounted, because then you're getting money in but also helping people in the future.
Phil:
Great idea. Well, thank you for hanging out with us for half an hour today. We didn't get a chance to answer your question. We'll keep an eye on the threads on LinkedIn, Facebook, and of course on Instagram. We're around. We're here to help. So if there's something we can help you with, send us a message. Thank you for tuning in everyone on whatever platform you joined us on. We really appreciate you and we're sending you good vibes, good energy and wishes for perseverance through this, frankly challenging time for everyone.
Lauren:
All right. Thanks so much, everyone.
Phil:
Thank you so much. We'll see you guys soon.
