All those COVID-19 emails
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Last week, my inbox absolutely filled with COVID-19-related emails. It felt like every company I'd crossed paths with over the last decade or so was getting in touch.
A lot of these emails felt quite generic. They just gave general assurances (Ministry of Health guidelines came up a lot) and reminded me that they were open for business.
They weren't bad, but I can't imagine they were that effective either. They were just kind of . . . there.
But there were a few exceptions. In and amongst the (very large) pile of generic messages, there were some examples of great marketing.
The big difference between the great marketing and the generic messages was specificity. Most companies sent a vague email with some broad-brush details of what they were doing in the pandemic. But some outliers created much better content that specifically addressed the new fears, problems and anxieties created by COVID-19.
Today, I thought I'd work through two examples, and talk you through the value of their approach.
Take a look:
Giving specific information
COVID-19 completely changes the landscape. Customers care about different things now than they did a month ago. They have new, harder problems to solve. They have new (and heightened!) anxieties.
To really add value, you need to think a little bit further about what your contacts are going to want to know about you specifically.
Southern Plumbing- a Wellington plumbing outfit I hired a few times when I lived there - did a great job of this. Their COVID-19 email was largely focused around the steps they'd be taking to reduce risk of their staff spreading COVID-19.
It include things like not shaking hands, using the hose outside to wash hands, avoiding businesses cards and other merch and more.
An excerpt from Southern Plumbing’s email.
There were a few more things on that list, but you get the idea. Rather than give broad assurances about COVID-19 in general, they have listed the specific actions they have taken to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
This helps to allay those new anxieties I mentioned earlier. In January, the thought of your plumber getting your whole family sick would never have crossed your mind.
Now, that thought could stop you from hiring a plumber in the first place.
So if you're getting in touch with your customers, think about exactly what new anxieties or fears they may have that would stop them from doing business with you. Then address those fears and anxieties head-on.
(Also, if you need some plumbing work done in Wellington, give these guys a call - they're punctual, honest and fair-priced).
Creating a relevant offer
Storbie is a SaaS company that offers eCommerce software for pharmacies. On top of that, they help pharmacies get online in the first place by building and maintaining websites for them.
This means that a pharmacist who works with Storbie gets a website that is tightly integrated with his or her eCommerce software - which in turn makes it easier to do business online.
COVID-19 has created a bit of a perfect storm situation for Storbie. Not only are pharmacies set to get incredibly busy (if they're not already), they also need to minimise their in-person contact with customers. Getting online, quickly is a great solution to these two problems.
So Storbie put together a stripped down version of their website package. It has fewer bells and whistles than the usual product, but comes at 45% discount.
What's more, they aim to get the website up and running in two days.
(Full disclosure: Storbie are a client of mine, but I had nothing to do with this offer).
This offer is not just a discount that mentions COVID-19. Rather, it directly solves problems that COVID-19 is causing for pharmacists.
A pharmacist who is getting overrun by patients, and is anxious about being a vector for COVID-19, can now spend $1,000 on Monday, and be serving customers without seeing them by the end of the week. That makes for a very compelling offer.
This approach can be risky. You need to be ruthless about whether your offer is:
a) Actually compelling
b) Actually related to COVID-19
Storbie did a great job because their offer emphatically ticked both of these boxes. But if your offer doesn't, then absolutely do not tie your offer to the pandemic. People will think you're being opportunistic and callous - and they will be right.
And don't be afraid to press pause
Finally, remember that you're living through extraordinary times. It's the absolute opposite of business as usual.
The reality is that there may just not be demand for what you sell right now.
If this is the case, press pause on your marketing activity for a bit. It's better to do nothing than to throw good money after bad trying to sell people things they don't want.
Either way, things are going to be tough for awhile. If you can put together some great marketing that helps your customers, then by all means do so. But if you can't, then don't.
Most importantly, remember that this too, will pass.
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