A Pivotal Strategy
The world is not the same. It doesn’t mean that it won’t be again, and it doesn’t mean we have to be held to a “new normal”. Change is inevitable, and we’ve already seen an enormous surge that can overwhelm and strengthen one all at once.
The intruder (COVID-19) that besieged our lives and turned "business as usual" upside down, in the long run, will not have a leg to stand on by the grace of ingenuity.
I began writing this with the thought that the pandemic brought us a significant and precious gift…time. Time to think. Time to slow down the hustle. Time to evaluate priorities. Time to see if Plan A is on point. While all of that is true, what struck me is how the end goal for any business remains.
A business is a chamber in the heart of society. It keeps pumping to keep society alive. It has a purpose for the creation of goods and services in which society desires with value.
Businesses connect and are the lifeline for their people…employees, customers, and suppliers.
A business can’t slow the hustle in times like these. Time is playing with them and against them. For every day of business loss, it’s slowing the heartbeat of our world.
The world doesn’t always play fair and go according to plan. As marketers, where budgets are often the first to be cut, we know change drives ingenuity. It gives us the ability to pivot toward a new direction. It allows for new avenues of communication. It changes the landscape of how you connect with your employees, customers, and suppliers.
So, during unprecedented times like these, evaluation becomes swift and ingenuity begins to take over.
What do marketers do?
Create a Plan B. It’s essential and smart. However, once you have it, consider it the fallback plan. Put it to the side for safekeeping. Research indicates the negative effects of thinking about a backup plan deters from the primary objective.
So, stick with Plan A. It’s still the end goal. Pivot and strategize to meet Plan A and focus on the potential benefits. Your communications strategies will be altered, no doubt and that's okay. Augment the new with the old to reach the end goal.
Remember the saying: It doesn’t matter where you go, it’s how you get there.