LAB Group’s Reflect Digital Launches Crisis Calendar to Help Businesses Adjust

Reflect Digital, part of the LAB Group of agencies, is helping businesses to adapt their marketing in these unprecedented times after figures show marketing budgets have fallen for the first time since 2009.

The coronavirus outbreak, which has infected people in 185 countries, has left businesses around the world counting the costs.

However, marketers appear confident of a speedy recovery, with a significant number of businesses forecasting budget growth this year.

In light of this, the digital marketing agency has released a crisis marketing calendar in a bid to help companies offer value to their customers throughout this global pandemic. It comes as the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said he understood concerns from business-owners who were impatient to end the lockdown.

Reflect Digital’s revamped marketing calendar gives advice on a phased approach to marketing during and after the Coronavirus lockdown.

The three key phases are:

Survival

This is advice for any business that is still running at a reduced capacity or output as a result of the Coronavirus restrictions implemented by the Government. In reality, this applies to all businesses whilst the Government has enforced rules around travel and social behaviour.

We all have a duty to remain sensitive, supportive and tactful in this time. However, we recognise the challenge that we still need to keep businesses operating for survival.

Emerging

If you are fortunate to be in an active marketing position during the Coronavirus pandemic then this section of advice is for you. As opportunities present themselves and markets begin to re-awaken this advice is also for you. We are here to help you navigate a very delicate situation.

Active

We appreciate this is a largely unknown space for all of us but we felt we had to include it so that you can differentiate where your business and marketing plans fit within all of this. This is assuming a business as usual or a new normal has been established. These activities or approaches are for when we need to be full steam ahead, driving sales and engaging new prospects.

CEO, Becky Simms, said: “Businesses have had to pivot drastically over the last month with their business strategy and some businesses have had to take the difficult decision to pause altogether. There is no doubt many of us have been hit hard in a number of ways and now we have a better understanding of where we are, it’s time to start looking forward.

“Integral to all communications during the current climate is sensitivity in light of the current situation and offering value. It’s a confusing time and these are unprecedented circumstances so how do you market to a world that has changed so drastically and so quickly? We’ve taken our popular marketing calendar and re-looked at our advice with a lens of the current global pandemic.”

Becky adds: “Nobody can know exactly when businesses will be able to re-emerge from this crisis or exactly what that will look like. But it’s important to focus on the right type of marketing activity at the right time. As with any advice in a guide like this, you must still ensure you take your own business and market conditions into consideration before crafting campaigns and messaging.”