COVID-19 is here to stay. Pandemic details are beginning to blend into everyday conversations as we consider how to bring people back to work and to school safely — both in person and online. Although the disease remains vitally important, “COVID fatigue” is setting in.
Marketers now have a fine line to walk between situational sensitivity and information overload. In other words, we must redefine our content strategies to address COVID fatigue without sounding tone-deaf. But how do we create that balance?
The key is to evolve our content to acknowledge COVID-19 as a permanent part of the new normal, but without dwelling on it exclusively. We must make our conversations “COVID-adjacent” by weaving it in as “a” factor — not “the” factor — in ongoing business topics.
Here are some suggestions for developing “COVID-adjacent” communication strategies:
Assess your current messages. How is COVID-19-related language incorporated into your company communications — from signage, website content and social media posts to internal safety protocols? For example, how has communication about safety procedures been updated to include new processes, such as daily employee temperature checks?
Tip: Be sure you don’t push out COVID-19 messages just to try to remain relevant. Instead, lift your brand’s credibility by weaving in those messages only where it’s appropriate. Evaluate your content to see where you need to add COVID-19 information, as well as where you may want to scale back. Look at which messages worked — and which ones didn’t — during the initial wave of the pandemic. Integrate only those that resonated most and remain relevant.
Find the right communication channels. COVID-19 has significantly impacted the way people communicate. To engage your audiences where they are now, you must reassess channels based on current behavior.
Tip: Leverage a combination of earned, owned and paid media channels to produce maximum audience reach. In addition, rethink the channels you’re using to promote your messages. Channels that worked well before the pandemic may not now, and vice versa.
Ensure message consistency. Once you’ve determined your messaging position, make sure it’s consistent for each audience across internal and external communications. Although this is always important for creating a cohesive brand experience, it’s even more essential for safeguarding your brand’s community engagement and credibility today.
Tip: Evaluate your existing messaging, build on it in a way that’s sensitive to the current market, and check for consistency. For example, develop one cohesive communication plan that showcases externally all of the things you’re doing internally to help your staff, community, patients and/or customers evolve along with the changing times. Also, given the rise in digital communication sparked by the pandemic, make sure your digital messaging matches your website messaging.
Shift from news to thought leadership. Everyone was hungry for news in the early days of the pandemic. It made sense for organizations to serve as trusted resources and to convey their plans for keeping operations running safely. Now, however, it’s time to introduce forward-thinking content that builds your brand’s authority by highlighting its thought leaders. Healthcare organizations, for example, might focus less on announcing that they provide telehealth services and more on describing how they believe telehealth services will improve care delivery into the future.
Tip: Establish a content calendar that includes “placeholders” to accommodate thought-leadership content designed to address ongoing shifts as they occur in the healthcare, socio-economic or business landscapes.
Incorporate user-generated content. Little else builds a brand’s credibility and community like authentic, user-generated content. Sharing genuine and relatable human stories not only creates trust within target audiences, but it can also boost morale among internal staff.
Tip: Amplify diverse voices by giving people a platform through which to share their stories. Healthcare organizations may want to give voice to their patients and communities, while consumer-oriented businesses should feature unique user stories.
As the pandemic evolves, so must our marketing strategies. We’ll need to adapt to combat COVID fatigue and ensure that messages continue to resonate. A strong-yet-flexible content strategy will be essential, with messages periodically refreshed to incorporate the wider landscape of today’s markets.