Marketing Disasters: A Recovery Plan
Your company has been hit by a disaster, either a natural or a man-made one -how you respond to it could make or break your business. According to the disaster recovery firm Agility Recovery a shocking 90% of businesses will fail within 1 year if they have not resumed operations within 5 days of a disaster! While the type of devastation recently seen in Texas is rare; man-made disasters are far more common.
The best-case scenario, would be that you planned for such an event. You and your company spent time to look at possible disasters, put a marketing plan in place and can quickly implement it. However, if this was always on your “To Do” list, but never really got it off the ground, now what?
Your first plan of attack should be to take a look at your near-term plans. Look at what you already have in the pipeline scheduled to be released in the next few days and few weeks. If you had a blog scheduled about the wonderful management of your CEO and it was just discovered that he was misappropriating company funds, you will need to cancel it. Elementary, right? However, with everything that is happening, sometimes it is easy to forget about items you scheduled months ago; as example Air BNB sent an email1 out just 2 days after the devastating floods in Texas promoting a Floating World vacation. Look at what advertising is already scheduled with national and local outlets and will you need to pull back an ad?
Make sure to stay flexible in your messaging. After making sure that there is nothing scheduled that may appear inappropriate, next look at your marketing plan as a whole. Will the messaging still be appropriate? How will the public perceive the message? If your warehouse was devastated by a fire, your marketing plan focusing on a product that was stored in the now burned out warehouse might need to be adjusted. Can your current marketing plan shift focus to a different product or service?
Communication is key. Your customers will want to know if their orders will be shipped, far more then they want to know about a success story your company had recently. Write a blog about the company recovery efforts, use social media to keep customers updated on current happenings – make sure to keep communicating. Let customers know how long full recovery may take and the efforts that are being made in returning to business as usual.
Communication internally is important as well. Your employees need to be kept in the loop on what is happening, so that rumor does not become (false) fact. Make sure that there is one central point of contact that messaging is coming from. You do not want employee speculation to become front-page news! Let employees know who to contact if the media calls, how long recovery may take, and how they can help. Depending on the scope of the disaster, employees will be concerned about their jobs and future of the company; keep communication as transparent as possible – let them know that there may be issues that cannot be discussed with them, especially if litigation is involved.
Take time to look at the full scope of the disaster. Is this a long term or short-term problem? If your company has been hacked -the hack maybe a short-term issue, but what about the long-term effects? What information might have been stolen and how will you be able to deal with it. Start by making a list of all the possible ramifications, then narrow it down to the most likely issues. Using this list prepare your messaging and keep updating the message as new information becomes available.
The keys to disaster recovery are flexibility and communication. Keep your current marketing plan in place if possible, but be flexible to add, delete or update your message as needed. Make sure that the message that was on target yesterday is still on track in light of this disaster, if not update or change it wherever possible. Make sure to keep your stakeholders – customers and employees updated on events. Keep your communications as transparent as possible, do not over or under promise. Trust can be a key to your recovery, pretending as if nothing has happened, will not instill trust in you or your company, make sure to keep communications lines open and let the storm pass.
For more information on recovering from a marketing disaster, check out these posts:
- Communicating in a Crisis: Creating a Disaster Response Marketing Plan (BizFilings.com)
- How to Create a Disaster Plan for Your Business (Entrepreneur)
- Disaster Recovery Plan vs. Business Continuity Plan (Cron.com)
- Email Marketing Daily, August 29, 2017. “Airbnb Sends ‘Floating World’ Email Amidst Harvey Destruction”.
JMS Marketing Vetted by Google to Obtain Premier Digital Advertising Status
Northwest suburban marketing agency, JMS Marketing, is proud to announce that it has been recognized as a certified Google Partner.
Obtaining this partnership status signifies JMS Marketing uses Google’s best practices and allows the agency access to special events and training, industry research, product updates, and the Google Partners Community.
Partners meet rigorous qualification standards in order to become a Google Partner and are fully vetted by Google. The technology company completed its audit of JMS Marketing’s Google AdWords accounts by ensuring the agency is using Google’s best practices, checking if the agency is in good standing financially, and with clients and vendors. Google also confirmed the agency is continuously improving results for its clients by updating its accounts with the most up-to-date features within the platform.
“In celebrating our 25th year in business, JMS Marketing is making a concerted effort to evolve with the ever changing marketing landscape,” said President, Jean Marie Saidler. “Last year we established a digital marketing division within our company and have seen impressive results for our clients. Becoming a Google Partner is just another way we are ensuring our clients have the most relevant marketing initiatives to stay ahead in their industries. We look forward to utilizing this partnership to bring further value to our clients.”
Every year, JMS Marketing employees are required to take and pass at least one of the Google exams. Currently, JMS Marketing employees hold Google Analytics, Google AdWords, and Google Video Advertising certifications.
By becoming a Google Partner, JMS Marketing allows clients access to advertising on the Google Search Engine Results Page, Google Display Network, and on YouTube. The agency also offers a wide range of traditional marketing opportunities ranging from graphic design, advertising, trade show marketing, public relations, marketing consultations, and web design.
Can 70% of trade show attendees find you?
Trade shows and event marketing account for twenty percent of B2B companies’ average annual marketing budget according to a 2014 Forrester Research study. With one fifth of a company’s budget going toward an events like a trade shows, conferences or seminars, and the explosion of programmatic digital advertising and mobile devices, it is vital companies implement state-of-the-art marketing technologies into their arsenal.
There is no doubt that traditional tactics work. Utilizing pre-and post-show emails, inviting clients, writing press releases, website landing pages, purchasing flashy new exhibits and staffing booths with intelligent, outgoing employees is a must. But what else should you be doing to outshine your competitor in booth 103?
To answer this, ask yourself: what is my potential client is doing before, during and after an event like a trade show? The answer is: Research on the internet. And the best way to place your company in that research is through search engine marketing (SEM).
Seventy percent of event attendees plan out who they will visit before and during the show. According to AdWeek, eighty-one percent of consumers conduct online research before they make a purchase, and sixty percent of those consumers start their research on a search engine before heading to a specific website. Although some of this data relates to consumer purchases online, combining these statistics helps us understand how attendees behave. It makes the most sense strategically to place ads on search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and their network partners where attendees will be conducting research. This is a perfect storm for digital trade show marketing.
The ability to advertise your company, products and presence before a trade show is of tremendous value and a new, effective way to stay ahead of competitors. But you might be asking yourself, how can SEM help me during the show? How do I drive potential customers to my booth?
Since we know consumers conduct online research before visiting a booth and/or making a purchase, and with the advancement of the search engine marketing (SEM) platforms, companies have the option of targeting ads to within a mile of a specific location. With other location based optimizations in place within your account, you can be confident attendees searching for you keywords on a mobile device or desktop at a trade show are served your company’s ad. Seeing that sixty to seventy percent of viewers prefer search engine ads targeted toward their immediate location, and that thirty-two percent of viewers who were served location-based ads visited a specific store/location made a purchase (Search Engine Watch), this tactic is sure to increase visitors to your booth.
Utilizing search engine ads allows attendees to find your company before, during and after a trade show or event. But most importantly, placing these ads where your customers will be searching drives traffic to your booth, and serves as one of the most efficient ways to bring value to the largest expense in your annual marketing budget.
