March 20, 2020

Review messaging. All existing copy and potential creative should be assessed in light of the current climate to avoid coming across as opportunistic. What may have worked yesterday may appear tone-deaf today. Also: be sure to account for local differences between countries, states and even cities.

Establish maximums for efficiency metrics. Marketing should be equipped with and operate under modified target KPIs (e.g. CPA, CAC, ROAS) taking into account down-funnel changes or estimations like decreased success rates.

Measure daily leading indicators. With regulations and sentiment changing daily, your teams or agencies should be monitoring their campaigns closely. Keep in mind that different regions of the world are on different timelines, and lagging metrics like revenue may not yet be affected.

Seize the opportunity for brand building. Consider how your brand can uniquely provide value or help others. Bain & Company suggests that during a crisis, consumers most value things that reduce risk, reduce anxiety or increase affiliation and belonging.

Conduct incrementality tests. If the decision is made to suspend spending in certain channels or cut back in various areas, take advantage of the opportunity to measure impact and try to determine incremental lift.

Review offensive as well as defensive strategies. While many are hunkering down, it’s important to consider if there are ways that your company can invest in opportunity areas, whether that’s a certain segment, geography, channel or product.

Communicate effectively to internal and external stakeholders. Be clear, be honest, be human. Some guiding principles: consider your audience, be as clear as possible, address potential concerns upfront, foster a collaborative approach, communicate regularly and be consistent. If you think you are over-communicating, you are probably communicating just enough.

Love your leads and your customers. Pipeline velocities are starting to slow in many businesses, as is net new lead generation. Consider reallocating resources or strategies to better help existing leads and customers weather the storms.

While every business faces unique challenges, we all must adjust to a rapidly changing environment. This new dynamic pushes us to be nimble, creative and innovative. To break the status quo. And above all, to lead with empathy.

We are in this together. We’ll get through it together.