According to Paula Sartini, founder and CEO at BrandQuantum, many marketing departments are questioning whether they should continue with the planned advertising campaigns and risk being seen as insensitive to the current situation, or go dark when customers are looking for familiarity and stability.

History shows us that companies typically opt to go dark during times of crisis to avoid positioning the brand negatively. However, this approach does more damage than good. Rather those companies that continue with their marketing campaigns are viewed more positively and survive a crisis better than those that don’t.

People have a personal connection with the brands they use regularly. During uncertain times they rely on these brands to continue with their marketing campaigns and keep communication channels open to maintain a relationship of trust. This is supported by a WARC study, which found that during the Covid-19 pandemic, only 8% of consumers expected brands to stop advertising.

The relationship that customers have with brands is about more than a transaction and during a crisis or pandemic, customers are looking for an indication that the brands they support will continue to exist beyond the current challenges. Engagement with customers at this time should go back to three fundamentals: brand, strategy and customer.

YOUR BRAND PURPOSE MATTERS

Branding at its core is about connecting with people and this remains true during a time of crisis or pandemic. At this time, it is most important for companies to live their brand purpose and for their customers to see this. The brand purpose reinforces the brand’s reason for being and is the reason why customers connect with the brand on an emotional level.

It is also important that companies remain true to their brand values and use this time to add value to their customer’s lives. According to research findings from Opinium, during the coronavirus pandemic, people are looking for brands to keep communicating about topics other than the pandemic and provide escapism through topics that are relevant to the brand. For example, Opinium found that customers want business updates, advice on dealing with the crisis and products and services that may be useful. However, beyond this, customers want to know that the brands that they trust are making a difference to the lives of the broader community, including their employees.

SHARE YOUR STRATEGY

Your strategy is important to your company and your customers. This is particularly true when they are surrounded by uncertainty. At this time, customers are worried about job security, illness and poverty and are looking at brands to share insight into how they are dealing with the pandemic and what they are doing to get through the crisis.

People are looking for good news stories amid the worry and want to know that companies have plans in place to protect the organisation, its employees and its brands. Customers want stories about new innovations, are looking for inspiring ideas from your brand and want to know how companies are making a difference in their communities and within the organisation.

According to Opinium, during at this time, customers want to hear from the CEO (30%) and frontline staff (37%) as they seek information about company strategy and want to know that the employees are being taken care of. This is supported by Fabrik Brands stating that customers want to see that you care about their needs as well as your employees and they are looking for evidence that leaders of companies are putting the needs of their employees first too.

CUSTOMERS WANT TO CONNECT

Branding is about connecting with people and building a relationship of trust. While the way we currently do business has changed how we connect with people, the connection still remains key for customers. With budgets being cut and customers being inundated with information about Covid-19, companies need to find cost-effective ways to connect with their customers through the clutter.

Customers are looking for sincere, authentic brand communications from the brands they trust. While budgets might be tight at this time, connecting with customers doesn’t need to be expensive. Simplicity and consistency in communications are sufficient to keep connected with customers, providing certainty and making customers feel secure during these uncertain times.

With many customers moving to email and online platforms to engage with companies, it is important that branding and messaging are delivered consistently at every customer touchpoint, from the email signatures and banners to the attachments included in email communications.

While marketing departments strive to keep brands connected with their audiences, automation technologies can ease the process and deliver consistent, on-brand communications in every customer interaction to help build a relationship of trust with customers that are looking to maintain a connection with their go-to brands.

At this uncertain time, when businesses are cost-cutting and marketers are being tasked with reassessing their marketing campaigns, many marketing departments are questioning whether they should continue with their planned advertising campaigns and risk being seen as insensitive to the current situation, or go dark when customers are looking for familiarity and stability.

History shows us that companies typically opt to go dark during times of crisis to avoid positioning the brand negatively. However, this approach does more damage than good. Those companies that continue with their marketing campaigns are viewed more positively and survive a crisis better than those that don’t.

People have a personal connection with the brands they use regularly.  During uncertain times they rely on these brands to continue with their marketing campaigns and keep communication channels open to maintain a relationship of trust. This is supported by a Warc study, which found that in this period of the Covid-19 pandemic only 8% of consumers have expected brands to stop advertising.

The relationship customers have with brands is about more than a transaction and during a crisis or pandemic customers look for an indication that the brands they support will continue to exist beyond the current challenges. Engagement with customers at this time should go back to three fundamentals: brand, strategy and customer.

YOUR BRAND PURPOSE MATTERS

Branding at its core is about connecting with people and this remains true during a time of crisis or pandemic. At such a time it is most important for companies to live their brand purpose and for their customers to see this. The brand purpose reinforces the brand’s reason for being and is why customers connect with the brand on an emotional level.

It is also important that companies remain true to their brand values and use this time to add value to their customers’ lives.  According to research findings from Opinium during the coronavirus pandemic people are looking for brands to keep communicating about topics other than the pandemic and provide escapism through topics that are relevant to the brand. For example, Opinium found that customers want business updates, advice on dealing with the crisis and products and services that may be useful. However, beyond this customers want to know that the brands they trust are making a difference to the lives of the broader community, including their employees.

SHARE YOUR STRATEGY

Your strategy is important to your company and your customers. This is particularly true when they are surrounded by uncertainty. At this time customers are worried about job security, illness and poverty and are looking at brands to share insight into how they are dealing with the pandemic and what they are doing to get through the crisis.

Consumers are looking for good news stories amid the worry and want to know that companies have plans in place to protect the organisation, its employees and its brands. Customers want stories about innovations, are looking for inspiring ideas from a brand and want to know how companies are making a difference in their communities and within the organisation.

According to Opinium, customers want to hear from the CEO (30%) and frontline staff (37%) as they seek information about company strategy, and want to know that employees are being taken care of. This is supported by Fabrik Brands stating that customers want to see that you care about their needs as well as that of their employees and they are looking for evidence that leaders of companies are putting the needs of their employees first too.

CUSTOMERS WANT TO CONNECT

Branding is about connecting with people and building a relationship of trust. While the way we do business has changed how we connect with people, the connection still remains key for customers. With budgets being cut and customers being inundated with information about Covid-19, companies need to find cost-effective ways to connect with their customers through the clutter.

Customers are looking for sincere, authentic brand communications from the brands they trust. While budgets might be tight at this time, connecting with customers doesn’t need to be expensive. Simplicity and consistency in communications are sufficient to keep a connection with customers, providing certainty and making customers feel secure during these uncertain times.

At this uncertain time, when businesses are cost-cutting and marketers are being tasked with reassessing their marketing campaigns, many marketing departments are questioning whether they should continue with their planned advertising campaigns and risk being seen as insensitive to the current situation, or go dark when customers are looking for familiarity and stability.

History shows us that companies typically opt to go dark during times of crisis to avoid positioning the brand negatively. However, this approach does more damage than good. Those companies that continue with their marketing campaigns are viewed more positively and survive a crisis better than those that don’t.

People have a personal connection with the brands they use regularly.  During uncertain times they rely on these brands to continue with their marketing campaigns and keep communication channels open to maintain a relationship of trust. This is supported by a Warc study, which found that in this period of the Covid-19 pandemic only 8% of consumers have expected brands to stop advertising.

The relationship customers have with brands is about more than a transaction and during a crisis or pandemic customers look for an indication that the brands they support will continue to exist beyond the current challenges. Engagement with customers at this time should go back to three fundamentals: brand, strategy and customer.

YOUR BRAND PURPOSE MATTERS

Branding at its core is about connecting with people and this remains true during a time of crisis or pandemic. At such a time it is most important for companies to live their brand purpose and for their customers to see this. The brand purpose reinforces the brand’s reason for being and is why customers connect with the brand on an emotional level.

It is also important that companies remain true to their brand values and use this time to add value to their customers’ lives.  According to research findings from Opinium during the coronavirus pandemic people are looking for brands to keep communicating about topics other than the pandemic and provide escapism through topics that are relevant to the brand. For example, Opinium found that customers want business updates, advice on dealing with the crisis and products and services that may be useful. However, beyond this customers want to know that the brands they trust are making a difference to the lives of the broader community, including their employees.

SHARE YOUR STRATEGY

Your strategy is important to your company and your customers. This is particularly true when they are surrounded by uncertainty. At this time customers are worried about job security, illness and poverty and are looking at brands to share insight into how they are dealing with the pandemic and what they are doing to get through the crisis.

Consumers are looking for good news stories amid the worry and want to know that companies have plans in place to protect the organisation, its employees and its brands. Customers want stories about innovations, are looking for inspiring ideas from a brand and want to know how companies are making a difference in their communities and within the organisation.

According to Opinium, customers want to hear from the CEO (30%) and frontline staff (37%) as they seek information about company strategy, and want to know that employees are being taken care of. This is supported by Fabrik Brands stating that customers want to see that you care about their needs as well as that of their employees and they are looking for evidence that leaders of companies are putting the needs of their employees first too.

CUSTOMERS WANT TO CONNECT

Branding is about connecting with people and building a relationship of trust. While the way we do business has changed how we connect with people, the connection still remains key for customers. With budgets being cut and customers being inundated with information about Covid-19, companies need to find cost-effective ways to connect with their customers through the clutter.

Customers are looking for sincere, authentic brand communications from the brands they trust. While budgets might be tight at this time, connecting with customers doesn’t need to be expensive. Simplicity and consistency in communications are sufficient to keep a connection with customers, providing certainty and making customers feel secure during these uncertain times.

South Africa is officially in lockdown in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19. While this means that many companies will have shut their doors during this time, others have implemented work from home strategies to maintain their operations and meet their customer’s needs.

Many businesses have developed business continuity plans (BCP) to mitigate risks and reduce the impact of a crisis. Further, they would have conducted a business impact analysis (BIA) to determine which functions are critical for the company to remain in business. However, the COVID-19 lockdown is the first time that many companies will be implementing a work-from-home contingency plan and putting their BCP and BIA to the test.

To equip employees to work from home, many companies have put fundamentals in place, arranging laptops, providing connectivity for employees and access to virtual private networks (VPN) to continue with business-as-usual. These are the basic tools that employees need to conduct their daily tasks and meet the business needs but employees will need additional tools and resources if they are to succeed in working remotely at this time.

INCREASED DATA THREATS

With many employees sent to work from home during the COVID-19 lockdown, this is a prime time for hackers to target businesses. Employees have been given tools and access to secure company data without the stringent security in place or necessary training to prevent data breaches. This is supported by various reports stating that hacking attempts surrounding the Coronavirus are on the rise.

According to Wired [1] , coronavirus phishing scams already started circulating in January, preying on people’s fears about the virus. This is supported by Cnet [2] which reported that the coronavirus is one of the fastest-growing tactics used for hacking attempts with phishing attacks and malware campaigns being the main categories of attack. 

While companies strive for business as usual, they need to have measures in place to protect their employee and customer data. Customers have taken precautions to safeguard their personal information and verify the companies they provide personal information to, trusting that these companies have measures in place to keep their data secure.

Whether employees are working from home or the office, customers expect them to keep their data secure at all times. 

SECURING DATA

There is no single solution to keeping data secure, particularly with a remote workforce as often homes have fewer security defences than that of an office. Hackers are aware of this. Further, they prey on the vulnerability of employees and customers that would be distracted by the circumstances surrounding them and more likely to fall for a scam.

To help prevent employees and customers from falling victim to these scams companies should incorporate layered security measures to boost security and add extra peace of mind. Many companies have VPN access as a security mechanism for employees to access company information. For companies that do not have a VPN or those looking for added security for their VPN, a cloud network should be used to keep company documents and data secure.

SECURE ACCESS TO RESOURCES

To perform their jobs effectively, employees will need quick and easy access to the most up-to-date company resources. They will also need relevant content that is consistently branded and compliant that can be shared with customers timeously.

This content should be housed securely on a cloud platform to allow easy access to relevant documents via the internet. Access should be restricted to those departments and individuals that need access to perform their job function. In addition, access should be tracked to monitor which employees access what documents and when.

All company documents should also be saved and managed centrally to allow for changes to be made and shared rapidly and easily with employees, ensuring that all employees use the most up-to-date and relevant documentation. To prevent non-compliant documents from being sent to customers and prevent possible fraud, no employees should be able to save documents to their desktops for future use as these can easily be tampered with or shared with employees that do not need access to them.

SECURE EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS

Emails solutions used by the remote force should be designed with segmentation of risk in mind. This means the solution uses independent silos to safeguard the content of the email as the content is not associated with the context of the email. This is key to preventing security breaches and keeping employee and customer data secure.

To give the recipient’s peace of mind that the emails are authentic, emails should have built-in verification that allows users to verify the emails sent from one user to another with a pass/fail verification report. In addition, users can check if the content of the email has been tampered with when receiving replies to emails. To prevent false reports, emails should have email signatures and banner applied during the drafting of the email to prevent the need for system intervention as this could impact on emails reaching recipients and being flagged as spam.

By putting your customers and employees security needs at the fore, companies demonstrate their commitment to their customer’s safety, building brand trust and establishing the foundation for a long-standing partnership.

BrandQuantum develops software solutions to help companies deliver compliant customer communications and documents. BrandMail has been independently pen-tested and meets European security standards. The tamperproof email signatures that are sent out with every single email via Microsoft Outlook have built-in verification tools to give customers added peace of mind that company emails are authentic. The BrandOffice solution offers permission control to company documents so that only those employees that need access to documents have it. In addition access to company documentation and templates is tracked and audited to give companies line of site of document usage and overall documentation compliance.

According to Paula Sartini, founder and CEO at BrandQuantum, many companies have shut their doors during the lockdown time, while others have implemented work from home strategies to maintain their operations and meet their customer’s needs. Whether employees are working from home or the office, customers expect them to keep their data secure at all times.

To equip employees to work from home, many companies have put fundamentals in place, arranging laptops, providing connectivity for employees and access to virtual private networks (VPN) to continue with business-as-usual.

These are the basic tools that employees need to conduct their daily tasks and meet the business needs, but employees will need additional tools and resources if they are to succeed in working remotely at this time.

Many businesses have developed business continuity plans (BCP) to mitigate risks and reduce the impact of a crisis. Further, they would have conducted a business impact analysis (BIA) to determine which functions are critical for the company to remain in business. However, the COVID-19 lockdown is the first time that many companies will be implementing a work-from-home contingency plan and putting their BCP and BIA to the test.

INCREASED DATA THREATS

With many employees sent to work from home during the COVID-19 lockdown, this is a prime time for hackers to target businesses. Employees have been given tools and access to secure company data without the stringent security in place or necessary training to prevent data breaches. This is supported by various reports stating that hacking attempts surrounding the Coronavirus are on the rise.

According to Wired, coronavirus phishing scams already started circulating in January, preying on people’s fears about the virus. This is supported by Cnet, which reported that the coronavirus is one of the fastest-growing tactics used for hacking attempts with phishing attacks and malware campaigns being the main categories of attack.

While companies strive for business as usual, they need to have measures in place to protect their employee and customer data. Customers have taken precautions to safeguard their personal information and verify the companies they provide personal information to, trusting that these companies have measures in place to keep their data secure. Whether employees are working from home or the office, customers expect them to keep their data secure at all times.

SECURING DATA

There is no single solution to keeping data secure, particularly with a remote workforce as often homes have fewer security defences than that of an office. Hackers are aware of this. Further, they prey on the vulnerability of employees and customers that would be distracted by the circumstances surrounding them and more likely to fall for a scam.

To help prevent employees and customers from falling victim to these scams, companies should incorporate layered security measures to boost security and add extra peace of mind. Many companies have VPN access as a security mechanism for employees to access company information. For companies that do not have a VPN or those looking for added security for their VPN, a cloud network should be used to keep company documents and data secure.

SECURING ACCESS TO RESOURCES

To perform their jobs effectively, employees will need quick and easy access to the most up-to-date company resources. They will also need relevant content that is consistently branded and compliant that can be shared with customers timeously.

This content should be housed securely on a cloud platform to allow easy access to relevant documents via the internet. Access should be restricted to those departments and individuals that need access to perform their job function. In addition, access should be tracked to monitor which employees access what documents and when.

All company documents should also be saved and managed centrally to allow for changes to be made and shared rapidly and easily with employees, ensuring that all employees use the most up-to-date and relevant documentation. To prevent non-compliant documents from being sent to customers and prevent possible fraud, no employees should be able to save documents to their desktops for future use as these can easily be tampered with or shared with employees that do not need access to them.

SECURE EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS

Emails solutions used by the remote force should be designed with segmentation of risk in mind. This means the solution uses independent silos to safeguard the content of the email as the content is not associated with the context of the email. This is key to preventing security breaches and keeping employee and customer data secure.

To give the recipient’s peace of mind that the emails are authentic, emails should have built-in verification that allows users to verify the emails sent from one user to another with a pass/fail verification report. In addition, users can check if the content of the email has been tampered with when receiving replies to emails. To prevent false reports, emails should have email signatures and banners applied during the drafting of the email to prevent the need for system intervention as this could impact on emails reaching recipients and being flagged as spam.

By putting your customers and employees’ security needs at the fore, companies demonstrate their commitment to their customers’ safety, building brand trust and establishing the foundation for a long-standing partnership.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has businesses and employees gravely concerned. While companies want to keep the lights on and conduct business as usual, there is a need to implement responsible business solutions that allow for employees to keep themselves and their families’ safe while meeting their business obligations.

With this in mind, companies are preparing for the remote workforce.  With approximately only 44% of global companies embracing the notion of remote working[1], this is a big step for many companies and employees. At this time is important that companies give employees the tools they need to work from home while delivering consistent brand experiences that their customers have become accustomed to receiving.

Employee communication is also key when employees are working remotely. According to CoSo Cloud[2], more than half of remote employees feel disconnected from those employees working in offices. During a time of uncertainty, it is even more important that companies keep communications channels open with employees to maintain trust and keep them connected, and motivated.

Putting your employee’s safety first while protecting your brand during a pandemic can be achieved by putting a few fundamentals in place:

1. Professional and consistent email branding: 

Email signatures and on-brand emails using the same font and colour across the company will help employees to deliver consistent experiences in every email to provide customers with the familiarity they seek at a time of uncertainty.

2. Pre-developed and approved content: 

Easily accessible pre-developed and approved content that employees can insert directly into emails to their customer’s, will equip employees with correct information, help to streamline responses and keep the brand integrity in every communication.

3. Branded documents and letterheads: 

Employees should have access to the latest company letterheads, templates, documents and presentations needed to communicate with clients. These need to be made available via an easy-to-access solution, without the need to physically be at the office whilst still providing all the necessary security.

4. Keep employees up-to-date and informed: 

When employees are separate from the company it is critical they are kept up to date on all important company news and information throughout the day to prevent them from becoming disconnected and uncoordinated.

5. Keep security measures in place: 

Having a remote workforce means that companies need to put stringent security measures in place that can protect their data at all times. Yet according to GetApp[3] workers working from remote locations often receive confidential business data but less than half of these employees have received proper internet security training.

6. Layered security measures: 

The Coronavirus has opened the door for increased security threats as hackers prey on the vulnerability of people. Companies can protect customers and employees by implementing layered security measures such as built-in email verification that allows recipients to confirm that emails are authentic.

7. Tamperproof emails signatures: 

By implementing centrally managed, tamperproof email signatures that incorporate non-Windows fonts, you are able to minimise the risk of fraudulent emails being sent on behalf of your company.

8. Segmentation of risk: By using a solution that has built-in segmentation of risk, you are better able to safeguard customer and company information at all times, particularly with a remote workforce.

9. Proactive use of data: Now is the time to put data analytics to use. The correct use of data analytics tools will help you stay on top of how you employees are tracking relative to the benchmarks you have set. More importantly they will give you the diagnostics you need to better support both your staff and clients during these testing times.

At times of uncertainty such as those presented by the current Coronavirus, employees and customers will be drawn to familiarity turning to the brands they trust to meet their needs and deliver consistent experiences. It is an exciting time for technology to come to the fore and be used to help keep customers and employees safe while delivering consistent brand experiences in every interaction.