CGM blog: – Get proactive not reactive with your marketing

03 Jul CGM blog: – Get proactive not reactive with your marketing

As Julie Andrews memorably sang in The Sound of Music the very beginning is a very good place to start. Coming out of lockdown may not be as simple as Do-Re-Mi for most businesses but being proactive in revising the tone of your communications – be it marketing or otherwise – is going to be essential as we move into recession and hopefully eventual recovery. For all the jolly bonhomie of Jump Back July, the short term, new normal for many people isn’t necessarily going to be bouncy. Being proactive to revise your message to meet the mood of the times might just be the best move for most marketers. In the 1960s Marshall McLuran said: “The medium is the message,” predicting the ‘global village’ and value of clear messaging whether in politics, art, business or life. This is an approach CGM heartily support. While delivering social media webinars for the Birmingham Insurance Institute this week, we asked delegates how they thought many of the audience they seek to communicate with might be feeling at present. The answers were unsurprising. Anxious, nervous, uncertain, worried, frustrated, confused, seeking or needing information and so on…with maybe the rare nod of optimism among those few entrepreneurs with the foresight to meet the fresh challenge of diversifying their business model. Flipped round to ask what tone of message might appeal to this audience was a predictable mirror image: calm, clarity, trust, certainty, empathy, knowledge, inspiration, guidance, reassurance, humanity, positivity, patience, honesty and confidence. This isn’t rocket science – it’s character marketing. Forget the fake bravado or empty rhetoric of same old, same old marketers – cramming your marketing with value-laden character ethics is the way forward. Digging deep into the roots of your own originality to unearth those sparks of individuality, passion, drive, motivation, fire and steel that inspire us all to do what we do and to do it well are the features we need to promote. Communicating the ethics and values that matter to us and the skill and experience we have to offer to help the people we work with – be they customers, staff, partners or suppliers –  and using all the varying means and methods we have to hand and adding our own touch of authenticity (our unique stamp of integrity) is more significant than ever. The French have a word for this assembly of collective cultural values – bricolage. We need to promote the bricolage of our businesses to support those struggling to help themselves. On July 1 major UK employers shed some 12,000 jobs across a range of industries. Take into account the knock-on effects for people in the supply chains and families who need feeding that’s little shy of 100,000 people whose lives are being adversely affected. More than ever there’s a need to promote trustworthiness, care and compassion in the services we provide, in the skills we each have to offer and wisdom we can impart to help others through the impending storm. Nothing – for most of us in this crisis of our lifetime – will matter more. If you would like help to redefine your marketing message post-Covid-19 contact CGM. We will soon be launching a new range of online webinars and face-to-face training events (when it is safe to do so) to help you gain confidence to promote everything that is front facing about your business. Chris Green is an author, broadcaster, media consultant and trainer and managing partner of Chris Green Media. For further information call 01905 754336 or email info@chrisgreenmedia.co.uk