We’ve all been inundated with coronavirus talk over the past week. Some of it has stoked fears, while some has made us feel better about humanity. In the midst of all the chatter, many brands are left wondering about their place in the conversation. Not only that, they’re concerned about how the pandemic will affect their bottom line, their workforce, and the economy at large.
In tough times like these, good companies look for opportunities to remain relevant in the proverbial winter so that when spring comes, they’re ahead of the competition.
We’ve developed four critical themes that we are working with our clients to execute:
- Pay extra attention to your external communications. This is the time that brands show their true selves. The keys are transparency and authenticity. We’ve all received one too many emails that miss the mark. It’s not about you, it’s about empathizing with your customers.
- It’s time to reallocate resources. This does not mean cutting budgets or careening into panic mode. It means being smart about what marketing channels to leverage and how to best deploy your sales team. Scrap the original plan, and focus on what’s optimal in this new environment.
- Accelerate your digital transformation. How can you do more commerce online? This is applicable to both B2B and B2C companies. What are you doing to capture, qualify, and nurture leads for your sales force? What are you doing to motivate customers to place orders online? How are you maximizing e-commerce conversion rates?
- Learn how to work from home effectively. This is a chance to experiment with new ways of operating. Who knows? You may find a new model that attracts more talent and lowers your real estate overhead in the long run.
We’ve curated the most helpful content on each of these four dimensions. Click below to read the round-ups that are most relevant to your current state:
Managing Your External Communications
Reallocating Sales and Marketing Resources
Accelerating Your Digital Transformation
This pandemic has created a lot of worry and uncertainty for many, both in their personal and professional lives. Particularly for those in the US and Europe, as the virus continues to spread in these areas, people are concerned. However, Harvard Business Review offers some hope in the form of a look at what’s happening with the Chinese economy at present.
China, who was first hit by the pandemic and is now seeing incidences of new cases starting to wane, is already experiencing signs of new growth in their economy. Real estate transactions are on the rise, and people and goods are beginning to move after remaining still during the crisis.
Right now, it’s important for those of us in other regions to stay nimble, stay calm, and keep the focus on our customers and our team.
About the Sterling Woods Group, LLC
The Sterling Woods Group’s mission is to help clients make sense of their data to predictably grow sales. We apply data science to help you optimize your sales funnel, improve your marketing ROI, launch new products successfully, and enter new markets profitably.
We use a hypothesis-driven, data-supported methodology to discover insights that no one else is paying attention to. Then, we help you assemble the right sales strategies, marketing plans, technologies, and resources to seize this opportunity.
About the Author
Rob Ristagno, founder and CEO of the Sterling Woods Group, previously served as a senior executive at several digital media and e-commerce businesses, including as COO of America’s Test Kitchen. Starting his career at McKinsey, his focus has always been on embracing digital technology and data science to spur strategic growth.
Rob is the author of A Member is Worth a Thousand Visitors and is a regular keynote speaker at conferences around the world. He has been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and Digiday.
He holds degrees from the Harvard Business School and Dartmouth College and has taught at both Harvard and Boston College.
Rob lives outside Boston, MA with his wife, Kate; daughter, Leni; and black lab, Royce.
