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We’ll always have room for discussion on the negative implications that COVID-19 has left brands with but, are there any positive ones?

To opportunists, there’s an advantage to every crisis and this pandemic presents an unprecedented list of opportunities for all sorts of businesses that can be acquired with the help of PR and marketing.

In this article, we’re going to share with you tips in PR and Marketing that can elevate your brand’s status: 

1/ Establish stakeholder trust

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Trust is the foundation of all relationships and it stems from being transparent. After all, PR and marketing are all about establishing trust with your customer. With that, if you found out that a store you’ve been buying from closed without any notice, wouldn't that make you feel sad and prevent you from supporting them in the future?

In addition to transparency, earned media, which falls under PR, is an effective way for you to gain customer trust. As opposed to advertising which might seem forced and could be costly, earned media comes from the public. It could be in the form of blog mentions, media coverage, social media sharing, product reviews, and open dialogue about your brand and campaigns within online communities.

Now, imagine yourself as the owner of a virtual reality company. You have the expertise and knowledge to create creative VR applications that you can use to benefit schools in your community. After much research, you conclude that your competitors haven’t explored this idea which gives you the advantages of standing out.

Because of that, you come up with a corporate social responsibility campaign titled “Elevating The Quality of Remote Learning with VR!”. Through this CSR campaign, you decide to donate VR headsets and create fun applications to make distance learning a fun experience. 

By utilizing the right communication channels to advertise your campaign then showing the positive impacts you’ve had, not only you’d establish a good relationship with your customers, but you’d also stand out as a company that brings values to the community and society. 

2/ Going digital will keep your brand relevant

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In addition to establishing trust with your customers, maintaining your brand’s relevance will strengthen your relations with your customers. Since most communication channels are now digitized, going online is your best option for maintaining your relevance. 

According to the e-Conomy SEA 2020 report by Google, South East Asians spent an hour more online due to lockdowns and with that being said, businesses have a great opportunity than ever to establish and grow their online presence. 

Therefore, with the help of PR and marketing, you can come up with interactive marketing campaigns and content to update on the latest happenings in your organization, supportive messages and sharing info about the latest developments.

Image from Facebook

Delivery Hero, the company that owns Foodpanda is a great example. Since the latest lockdown that started on the 1st of June 2021, they’ve been actively utilizing their online communication channels and they constantly send out updates to their customers. They also shared the latest updates with the media houses.

By positioning themselves as an essential part of their customers’ lives and concentrating on their communication channels, their orders increased by 80% in the first quarter of 2021!

3/ Great storytelling builds credibility and brand trust.

Image from China Briefing

According to this research, if people love a brand’s story, 55% are more likely to buy the product in the future, 44% will share the story, and 15% will buy the product immediately but how do you tell a great story?

A good story has to be authentic and the best stories are the ones where companies give back to their community.

One of the best examples is Archie Rose, a Gin distillery in Australia. Due to the lockdown, they were forced to close their bar and instead of succumbing to the pandemic, they switched production from spiritual drinks to hand sanitizers. Their brave decision led them to gain global media attention which resulted in higher brand recognition. 

With such a great achievement, we can’t help but analyze their business success through our A.I.D. formula and this is what we’ve come up with: 

Analyzing: When Archie Rose began analyzing their company’s resources and competitors, they figured that they could utilize their distillery to create sensitizers since it contains ethanol that’s found in hand sanitizers. 

Identifying: As soon as they identified their brand’s unique selling points, core strengths and target audience, they had the upper hand as they were the first in Sydney to proceed with this idea.

Determining: Once they’ve established everything that’s necessary for them to move forward, Archi Rose chose the best channels to sell their brand and vision. In this case, they utilized their online communication channels to advertise and market their product and made it available for pre-orders which proved to be a great strategy as they sold 4,500 units in an hour.

Whether in monetary assets, expertise, production lines, every company has its potential however, without competitor analysis, understanding its audience and targeting the right communication channels,  the chance of it capitalizing on its potential slims down.  

All in all, their story proves that even in times of crisis, there’s still a high chance for you to elevate your status and if done right, you can take your business to heights where it’s never reached before!

If you’d like our help in PR & marketing, don’t hesitate to drop us an email at info@xaviermah.my.