Adapting your business to seize this unique opportunity: How a business and a brand adapt to challenging situations will shape their future, and in true British style, now is the time to work hard and make sure that these unprecedented times don’t define you.

The impact of the coronavirus outbreak can be felt across the world and in every industry as it continues to transform the way we live, work and do business. As physical interaction has been suspended, we see digital channels becoming more important than ever to communicate with each other. The UK’s lockdown alone has roughly doubled the UK’s internet usage during the day, according to Virgin Media, which is why it’s even more important to ensure that you’re still actively talking and listening to your audience through the likes of social media and PR. Trade and consumers will be carrying out considered online research and will be identifying the strong, decisive brands that stick with them in a crisis.

Adapting your business to seize this unique opportunity

In the same way as consumers are doing, use this time to get your house in order so your brand and business can come out of this crisis faster and stronger than your competition. Your employees are living in uncertain times and positive, impactful changes will give them a new focus and an exciting story to tell when normality resumes. Having a robust growth strategy and plan in place will support your business in minimising the negative impact of the outbreak and will pave the path to recovery. In times of crises such as this, the most successful businesses are those that have a progressive approach with an optimal combination of defence and offence.

Martin Dupree, Managing Director of full service marketing & brand development agency Dupree International, commented: “Since lockdown, the majority of us have allocated more time and effort to communicate with the ones we love and offer them support. At the same time, while it might seem difficult to prioritise the cost of ongoing brand communications, some companies are abandoning customer relationships by simply not talking to them. In peoples’ minds, the strength of their brand relationships can be equally as important as with their best friends – if not more important. These relationships may have taken a great deal of time and effort to build and we may never resurrect them if we suddenly stop.

In contrast, we’ve recently worked with a number of brand teams around the globe to help them re-discover and define the ‘authentic identity’ of their brands. This has helped develop solid, short and long-term strategies to help them cope with the here, now and beyond this challenging climate so they can emerge stronger. Once Coronavirus has been contained, these forward-thinking brands will have stolen a march on their competitors, building upon the relationships that they’ve continued to service.”

With long term thinking in mind, consider:

• Does your audience know your ‘authentic identity’ and do they understand why they should buy from you and not your competitors?
• Is your key messaging right for your audience? and where appropriate does it transfer globally
• Do your team know and understand your core values and are you living them?
• Is your advertising achieving the results that you’d like?
• Are your assets such as your website and brochures reflective of your brand and are they working hard enough to change audience perceptions and drive sales?

Long-term strategic planning can often be a challenge for internal teams as they can be too close to the situation, which is why Dupree International are offering free, no commitment video calls with their strategic team to start the process of developing key messaging that aligns with your core values and resonates with your target market to alter perceptions and in turn drive sales.

Learn more about Dupree International via www.dupreeinternational.com. You can also view their e-brochure via goo.gl/v2LLUo.

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