The personal touch

Ironically, the one thing missing from our lives during lockdown is the one thing marketers are striving to achieve - the personal touch.

As a marketer, the last 8 weeks have proved an incredibly tough challenge. The rule book is out the window, normal practice is impossible - time for creativity, which for many is easier said than done when you're confined to your home.

'Salesy' messaging is clearly not the way forward right now, businesses have been mindful of this. But, just because a direct sales message isn't advisable, that doesn't mean marketing needs to stop, far from it. Now is the time to reconnect with local communities, your target audiences, your existing customers, to help them, inspire, educate and inform.

Beyond the content, the tone has also been widely adjusted. It's long been said that people buy from people, I'd argue now, more than ever, this is true. For the first time in a generation we've all lived through the same conditions, we may not be in the same boat but we're weathering the same storm. This commonality allows for greater empathy than ever before - both the news and social media feeds are flooded with causes and acts of kindness, people want to be bonded by this, it encourages fellowship and a "we're all in this together" spirit that our nation is known for.

Marketers and advertisers have jumped on the bandwagon, like me, you may have noticed a spike in the "Here's to the" adverts. We've all seen/heard them, "here's to the lorry drivers, the home teachers..." combined with the "zoom" style adverts. Whilst these approaches may not be your cup of tea, they are using this 'shared experience' mentality to connect with their customers.

At the end of the day, whether you're the business or the consumer, you've lived and are living through an alien time, kindness and human empathy is now a form of currency, so my advice would be to bring this into your marketing, adjust your tone of voice accordingly.

Remember that communication is king, but what you say today will be remembered for a long time to come. My advice would be to keep producing content - be that blogs, social posts or direct mail but seriously keep in mind who you are talking to, what they want to hear and how you can help them - from customer support to a friendly chat.