DigitalMarketer | INSIDER 3 Rules for Marketing During a Crisis

Issue #27 | March 23, 2020

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Have you (like us) been wondering how to do your marketing job during this pandemic…without looking like a tone-deaf jerk?

If so, watch this video right now:

A pandemic is spreading…

People are in quarantine, and…

Businesses and schools have been shuttered.

The world is in crisis mode, and no one is entirely sure how long it will last. So what does that mean for marketers? Should we pause all ads, stop all marketing automation, and cease and desist with all outbound communication to prospects and customers?

In other words, should we “sit this one out” as some have suggested?

Ryan Deiss, DigitalMarketer’s Founder and CEO says, “HECK NO!!!”…and he recorded a video explaining why he feels that way, and how we, as marketers can continue to do our jobs in the midst of this crisis we’re all experiencing.

You should definitely watch the full recording (click here), but here are some of the key takeaways to get you started:

TIP #1: Double-check your messaging and tone. Speak with more empathy and sincerity, and avoid the extremes of being too light-hearted or too scarcity-driven. (People are scared enough…let’s not add to it.)

TIP #2: Double-check your visuals. Professional videos and images of crowds seem out of place and almost offensive in a world where most people are quarantined and the only human connection is through a Zoom conference. So ditch the professional imagery, and start mirroring everyone’s current reality.

TIP #3: Focus on the audience expansion…NOT revenue extraction. Now may not be the best time to launch something new, but it is an ideal time to grow your list. People are in information harvesting mode right now, because when uncertainty blends with spare time, what else are we left to do? So, now is not the time to slow your marketing efforts. Now is the time to tweak those marketing efforts to be even more value first than you might have been before, which means:

• More top of funnel content…
• More lead magnets…
• More give, give, give…

That’s the path we’re taking at DigitalMarketer. In fact, if you haven’t already heard the news, we’re opening DigitalMarketer Lab to everyone (no credit card required) through the end of March. If you haven’t taken advantage of this, you should. We know it won’t heal the sick or hug the quarantined, but if you’re looking for a way to improve your marketing chops (or just positive distraction) while you’re stuck at home, this should help.

INSIDE FIVE TEN

Every week in our Inside Five, we share 5 articles, tips, or ideas that we think will help you as a marketer. This week, we’re changing things up. As we all are forced to deal with the new reality of a global pandemic and a nearly universal quarantine, we thought everyone could use a little pick-me-up. That’s why we’re sharing 10 (yep, we doubled it to double the good feelings) pieces of good news—snippets that we hope will give every one of you a tiny reason to celebrate. 🙂

1. We All Have More Time to Read

Nothing gets us in the hunker-down mood like a good book; and while Amazon has suspended delivery on all non-essentials, no one can stop you from binge-ordering eBooks. So hunker down, friends, and if you need some recommendations, we asked our entire DigitalMarketer staff to share their favorites. (And yes, we disagree with Amazon’s definition of books as non-essentials, too, but right now is not the time to get into semantics.)

2. We’ll Call It the Quarantine Negative Fifteen

Just because we’re all stuck at home doesn’t mean we’re all spending the quarantine on the couch. In fact, many people are using social distancing as an excuse to exercise more. Online Fitness apps, gyms, and video programs are reporting thousands and thousands of new sign ups in the last week, and many companies are offering fitness challenges for their employees. At DigitalMarketer, we challenged our employees to walk 5,000 steps per day and more than half of our team has already signed up for the challenge. In a few weeks (fingers crossed) we’ll all show up back in public healthy, toned, and in better shape than ever!

3. The Stores Have Plenty of Cornish Game Hens

Yes, the stores are sold out of your typical crop of groceries. But since we’re talking about silver linings today, we would like to mention that we have spotted foods like sea scallops, rainbow beets, and coconut macaroons lining the shelves in our local grocery stores. While to some, this spells sadness; (what are we going to do without Taco Tuesday?) to us, this spells opportunity. After all, when else will you get the opportunity to channel your inner Gordon Ramsey and learn to cook scallops?

4. We’re All Going to Be So Cultured…

Step away from Netflix… because Broadway just announced that, for a limited time, their entire collection of musicals can be streamed for free. Two weeks ago, if we had told you that you’d be watching a Broadway Show while eating stuffed Cornish Game Hens, you would have thought we were crazy, wouldn’t you? But now that all sports (not to mention most pizza delivery) are cancelled, we’re all swimming in culture. Get your pinkies out, because Broadway & Replenish is the new Netflix & Chill.

5. Neighbors Are Being Neighborly

Think back to two weeks ago. We’re guessing that most of your social feeds were full of political posts. Political posts that more often than not were negative, condescending, and downright rude. Well→ positivity alert: nobody’s ranting about politics anymore. Instead, neighborly support groups are popping up everywhere, groups where people support each other, share tips and ideas, share resources and answer questions about where to get toilet paper. There you have it: hard-and-fast proof that we all are perfectly capable of getting along.

6. Communities Are Getting Creative to Help Small Businesses

People around the globe are linking arms with small businesses, proving that the love and loyalty we all feel toward small business is… well, very loving and very loyal. a Facebook page called Lifting Up Local Businesses has been sharing creative ways to help businesses during this time. One day last week, they ordered cupcakes for firemen and police officers from a closed-down cupcakery. Another day, people donated money to send individual bags of specialty popcorn to health care workers. We can honestly say that right now, every single human in the entire world is in this together. We’ve got your backs, business owners…

7. We Can All Be Ivy Leaguers For a Little While

Tons of people are using this time of quarantine to sharpen up their minds. In the next month, anyone can take Yale’s most popular course “Psychology and The Good Life” for free online. Other organizations have also opened up free online training and courses so people can sharpen up their skills. Right now you can learn about anything from photography, to cooking, to advanced mathematics all for free. (And we would be remiss if we didn’t point out that in our neck of the woods, more than 20,000 marketers have joined DigitalMarketer Lab in the last week during our free trial. We can’t wait to see them go out into the world and change the businesses they represent.)

8. Our Pets’ Wildest Dreams Have Come True

Our furry co-workers are getting a whole lot more love and attention now that they are being joined at home by their work-from-home owners. And honestly, we would like to think that we get more work done with the moral support of our cats and dogs. (To make you smile, here’s a montage of our DM pets helping us work this week. Cue: collective swoon.)

9. Families Are Getting More Time to Be Families

We get it: an unexpected family quarantine was not part of your Spring Break plans. But we also can’t help but feel a bit sentimental when we read some of the silver linings that people have found in the last few weeks of chaos. One mom posted on Twitter that she got to see her youngest child’s first steps and another mom shared her gratitude for the bonus time she now gets with her high school senior. Both are equally heartwarming ways to spend the extra time together.

10. And The Best News of All: People Are Getting Better
In the next few weeks, we all are going to be called to sacrifice something. It won’t be easy, but together, we’ll get through. In the meantime, let’s be good neighbors. Let’s support local business. Let’s exercise more

and complain less. Let’s read more and watch TV less. Let’s fall in love with Broadway shows and Cornish Game Hens. Let’s be kind and generous and be willing to share our toilet paper. Let’s be united.et’s just take a moment to celebrate with these Chinese healthcare workers who just found out that their temporary Covid-19 hospital was shutting down… because of lack of patients.

And let’s get ready to celebrate when we, also, can be together again.