How are you communicating reopening plans? How will you evolve your brand story for a changed world? What plans do you have in place to elevate your marketing above the noise?

With UK businesses beginning to reopen following this period of enforced closure due to COVID-19, a well-developed content strategy is vital in answering these questions. How you communicate with clients, prospects and stakeholders now, will determine what your brand will look like in 12 months time. 

As we head into an inevitable economic recession, we all hope that adequate lending by banks and the many jobs that have been protected by the government’s job retention scheme will help the nation bounce-back quickly in the predicted V-shape formation. 

However, to ensure individual businesses stay on the same upward trajectory and don’t get left behind, content’s role is paramount.

Here’s Mike’s five tips to recession-proofing your brand with content marketing:

1. Stay visible. Don’t always assume you have to shout the loudest or hijack your community’s social media feeds until it becomes annoying. Instead, establish empathy and compassion with what your sector is going through. Remind people that you’re there to offer help, support and a service that will ultimately benefit them long-term. Regular blog articles, data-driven reports, a webinar series and PR generated from altruistic activity are all good ways to establish a more memorable and meaningful brand voice.

2. Be authentic. It must have been tempting for many struggling brands during the coronavirus lockdown to start mass-producing fashion face masks or Perspex screens. But unless your core business is couture or interiors, diversifying too far will cause more brand damage than good. People have high expectations of what a brand should be and how it should behave and your content should understand those beliefs. Stay focused on what you do best and communicate the value you’ve added to it with meaningful content that upholds your brand values.

3. Be authoritative. Thought-leadership is often a widely underestimated content marketing asset. By cementing your brand and your people as experts in their field, you can build trust, advocacy and convert new interest. Surveys, reports, opinion pieces and speaking opportunities allow you to drive the agenda and create a strong brand reputation.

4. Get creative. You will need to stand out, so now may be the time for a refreshed brand image, a new website or an updated tone of voice. Up your social media game by producing some striking visuals, high-quality video or a creative campaign. Don’t forget, those brands who update their website with fresh content on a regular basis achieve better SEO results.

5. Track & Trace. We’re going to hear this phrase a lot between now and the discovery of a vaccine to combat coronavirus. However, you don’t need to recruit thousands of call handlers to carry out content track and trace. Website and social media analytics provides swathes of information on post performance. While tracing behavioural insights such as user response, best times of day to post, tone of voice, and what types of content you should be doing more of, are all key to understanding the power of content to drive your business forward. 

Slippy Media can partner with you on achieving any or all of the above five points. If you’d like to speak to Mike Fletcher about recession-proofing your business with enhanced content marketing, do get in touch.