How do we move back into a business as usual scenario?
Let’s not kid ourselves, we’ve been traumatized. What we are experiencing is the unimaginable. Sure, we’ve seen movies about an impending apocalypse, but it was always a movie. It wasn’t real.
2 weeks is turning into 30 more days. We have held our heads up high and made lemonade out of lemons. Now, we visit with family and friends on-line. We zoom. We pretend it’s all good.
But we yearn to get back to our lives. Get the kids back to school. Go back to our regular work. Get back to doing business as usual.
Fellow marketers – wake up.
We need to prepare for The Surge. There will be a tidal wave of needs that will have to be fulfilled. Needs that can no longer sit on hold.
How will you break through the chaos?
Integrated marketing
Remember the expression integrated marketing? We know that consumers need to see/hear your message multiple times. That means you need to integrate it into multiple marketing channels.
We know that direct mail is the most trusted, highly targeted medium. Adding a digital component to the direct mail will give you a lift in response.
The latest trend is taking the same list of people you are mailing to and incorporating a digital display campaign that goes specifically to them. We have also found that many marketers are starting the digital campaign before the mail hits. This strategy supports early name recognition and branding. You should also include USPS informed delivery to add email into the mix.
I am one of those people who like to be prepared. Certainly, this current crisis has left me in the dust. But the initial shock has worn of. I am getting used to doing yoga on-line. I am starting to go back into plan mode.
Not If, When
Americans will make it through this. We are a resilient country. I don’t know if we will go back to doing business as usual. But we will go back to doing business.
To my thinking, a recovery is not a question of if. It’s a question of when. Therefore, my fellow marketers, it’s time to start planning the next campaign.