Leaning into your brand during a crisis allows you to share and showcase your brand values. Your business will prove it is more than a business. Iowa recently experienced a significant weather event called a derecho. And the path of destruction left for individuals, businesses and government to clean up will forever change the community.
Showing support of the community in times of crisis allows your brand values to be seen in ways not often showcased or known to your customers. The result will raise the loyalty people have to a business over another. And the businesses or brands that are noticeably absent in the community response will also feel the effects of their absence – by way of being absent in the minds of their community later.
In this episode of The Pursuit of Purpose, I share my own experience with the derecho and observations of how the community is rallying together. Additionally I offer examples of how local businesses are leading with their values to help their clients or the community as a whole.
Branding is a long game.
By showing empathy; sharing messages that are relevant, meaningful, and helpful; and remaining clear and consistent with those messages, your brand will be appreciated and remembered for the impact made during the crisis – and for a significant timeframe after the crisis has passed.
Remember these three questions as you consider the role your brand will play during the time of crisis:
- How can we keep our teams safe?
- How will this impact operations?
- What do we need to say to our community?
- And how can we handle this in a way that maintains trust and confidence?
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Derecho recovery for Eastern Iowa
- ‘Like hell’: People at Cedar Rapids apartment complex still without power, hot water, as they plead for more help. KCRG-TV 9
- Derecho coverage. The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA
- What is a derecho, and why is it so destructive? National Geographic (free account required)
- World Central Kitchen
- PepsiCo finds empathy is new imperative for marketers amic pandemic uncertainty
- What gets you through market challenges? Your brand.
- In uncertain times, lean into your brand
- Setting boundaries for your brand (Episode 36)
- Marketing in a Covid-19 world with Brook Easton (Episode 37)
- Learn more about the Brand Confidence Mastermind
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