The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most significant challenges humankind has endured this century. The crisis transformed the way that we live and work overnight, as well as how we communicate and our behaviours as consumers.
Plan
Planning is critical. This sounds straightforward but many Partners are focussed on other key areas of their business, such as sales and billing. Many reseller organisations don’t have a Marketing team, and even with the best intentions, efforts placed in this area can often be too disjointed and infrequent to have any real impact.
The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to define your Marketing strategy and to hatch a plan for a successful year ahead. What are you trying to accomplish from your Marketing today? Have you got an eye on customer retention, are you migrating your customers to replacement services ahead of 2025, or are you positioning yourself to come out on top in a post-pandemic economy? Being clear and realistic about what you’re trying to achieve focuses you to deliver real results.
Get creative and be brave
Marketing leaders who thrived in 2020 are those who adapted and continue to do so, as we come to terms that there is no return to the old world. Quick thinking, creativity and a fresh approach are critical.
Marketers need to understand and respond to changes in customer behaviour in order to stay relevant and to maximise results. We’ve all experienced major changes in our lives, so it stands to reason that the way we consume information has switched up too.
User downloads for TikTok increased significantly in 2020. While we’re not suggesting that you jump on the latest TikTok dance trend, ambitious brands will be incorporating video to their marketing strategy in 2021.
Consumption of content is much more palatable through video, as opposed to heavy emails and lengthy product documentation. It’s not an easy nut to crack, but anyone with a phone has the ability to create video content these days and the usage is only going in one direction.
Don’t allow COVID to dominate your messaging
We’re all well practiced at tailoring the tone of our messaging to fit the current circumstances. Reassuring and sensitive language is key and helps to make your messaging even more relevant to the audience. Positive and conversational language works well too.
While 2020 has been dominated with talk of COVID, it’s important that you don’t anchor every communication in the pandemic.
The changes we’ve all endured are here to stay, in one form or another. The homeworking solutions you were pitching back in March to help with business continuity will become the mainstay for some customers, as they take a more proactive view to remote working.
It is important to remain sensitive to the current climate, but as we have become normalised to the situation as a nation, your messaging should reflect this. We should begin looking to the future and making way for some of the opportunities in the channel over the coming years.
Innovate and look to the future
The pandemic has been a driving force for change. We’ve witnessed a period of real innovation in the tech space, with leading brands racing to respond to new user requirements.
Alongside this extraordinary period of innovation, the channel is preparing for one of the most significant periods of change in its history, through the switch off of the copper network.
We’ve been supporting Partners to hold proactive customer conversations about the switch off since early 2019, but many resellers are sitting tight. The deadline looms and Openreach are now underway with their phased approach to introduce WLR stop sell at specific exchanges.
As more resellers reach the tipping point where they are ready to take a more proactive approach, those who stand still risk being left behind.
Scare tactics rarely work and I’ve spotted few worrying examples of pressurising customer messages, relating to the switch off. A supportive, reassuring approach which aims to inform and educate will be received well. Clearly explain what needs to be done and support your customer, otherwise someone else will.
Focus on relationship building, not short-term sales
By being front and centre, and providing real value when your customers need you most, you can build and nurture lasting relationships that will stand the test of time.
Be supportive and lend a listening ear to understand their needs. Rather than pushing a sales agenda, help existing customers get the most out of the services they have today.
Lean on your service provider
As part of our commitment to our Partners, we provide Marketing support and advice through our Purple Partner Programme. We’ve created a new library of communications which aim to address some of the current customer pain points, and introduced new media to fit with how people consume information today. If you’d to know more, get in touch.
