A step ahead Power - Effective ways out of the crisis

The current pandemic and lock-down have brought uncertainty above all, in addition to health suffering and major economic downturns. In the coming months, we must all learn to deal with this uncertain future in the "fog that envelops the whole world". There is no simple "carry on like this!": new strategies must be found for this current unprecedented situation, as well as for the future changed society and economic world, in order to bridge the limitations, to make the restart, to boost the upswing and to use it positively for a rise out of the fog.

Driving on sight or launching short-term bailout?

As a first response to such a crisis, companies often drive on sight by radically cutting costs. However, for all the life-saving measures such as budget cuts or campaign pauses, it is important not to forget the long-term effects - both positive and negative.

Other companies free themselves from shock with actions: during the phase of sustained restrictions, they gain customers and at least partially compensate for sales slumps. Admirable examples illustrate how quickly German industry, otherwise so often chided as slow, develops new products, services or forms of communication that help its customers or make the physical distance arranged more bearable through a new togetherness in the digital. Of course, a massive drop in orders cannot be compensated for immediately, but companies that offer solutions during the crisis win the loyalty of their customers in the long term. As soon as conditions improve, they are quickly back on track for growth.

Unfortunately, there are no patent remedies or guarantees of success, but taking the initiative helps to pierce the fog of fear. With our customized sprint workshops, we are happy to help you gain new confidence, take courage, identify options for action and jointly develop one or two creative ideas to boost sales.

Penetrating the fog with more clarity

Looking into the future helps to reduce fears - which is why model calculations and best/worst case scenarios are currently booming, not only among virologists, but also among management consultants and trend experts. The range of current forecasts, driven in part by fears and in part by hopes for a better world, shows only one thing: the future is open, because even the scenarios of the future-suckers in the business world are fraught with great uncertainties. The study "Using the Corona Crisis for Profit" (1) provides a good summary assessment of this.

Even among the countless more or less high-profile studies on changing consumer behavior, the results are contradictory. (2) However, one trend is already emerging: the involuntary experiment of mobile work and video conferencing in the home office has given digitization an enormous leap in acceptance.

The online market researchers at globalwebindex, with whom our Worldwide Partners agency network works closely, also conducted a multi-stage study on this. The result: there is a longing for tried-and-tested old behaviors, so the "new normal" of the crisis is not necessarily the "next normal" afterwards. (3) With our international reports from the Worldwide Partners network, we keep you up to date on changes and initiatives worth emulating - for your inspiration.

Defining the right direction

Weighing risks and opportunities and setting goals
Crises harbor opportunities as well as risks. To avoid overestimating risks, as often happens during a crisis, it is advisable to use the forced pause to develop scenarios and visions and new goals for your own market and your own company together with optimistic colleagues or consulting partners with crisis experience. Without a defined goal, the old adage applies: If I don't know where I'm going, I'll end up somewhere in the middle of nowhere! Even if detours become necessary, the right direction can act as a valuable compass.

Courageously seize opportunities and tackle change
A vision and strategies derived from it give courage to tackle even major changes: To make processes or business areas more flexible, to rethink meaning and one's own attitude, and finally to radically change marketing strategies. Our change managers and communications consultants think outside the box and help you focus on the essentials.www.brandguards.de)

Customer Centricity as a guardrail for the way out of the crisis
Customers are a good source for future plans: Alongside employees, they have made the successes of recent years possible in the first place. Consequently, companies that want to get back on track for growth quickly focus on the current needs and emotional sensitivities of their customers. During the crisis, many customers don't feel like buying: They don't want to be sold anything or bombarded with offers, but they also don't want to be forgotten! Contact with customers must therefore be maintained: people want (moral) support in solving their problems. Offers that provide solutions in difficult times maintain loyalty to the company and the brand.

Numerous studies show that during the last major economic crisis in 2008/2009, companies that invested in communications in an anticyclical manner emerged from the crisis faster and more successfully. In one of his posts (4), for example, the Hubspot CCO describes a three-fold higher return for shareholders at companies that consistently focused on customer experience and customer proximity.

Fit for the medium term through replanning

New marketing plans
As soon as it comes to the implementation of more customer centricity, new marketing plans with innovative actions have to be developed. Those that were conceived when growth was the all-important goal are, in the worst case, obsolete in times of struggle for survival. Of course, it is difficult to postpone or even discard hard-won communication plans and creative concepts, but without adaptation or rewriting, painstakingly built customer relationships can be destroyed in a very short time.

Emotional Customer Centricity
Communication in the present time needs a lot of empathy and understanding! Stronger value and benefit communication preserves customer trust. Honest offers of help and solutions for the current challenges are in demand.

Even in the next phase of the upswing, the emotional appeal remains indispensable, especially because of the extremely forced digitalization. For some target groups, attitude and purpose communication will become important, for others the personal benefit or return on investment argumentation. A consistent customer orientation in all areas of the company even inspires people who initially remain skeptical on the rocky road out of the crisis.

Digitization
Last but not least, communication channels will change. It remains to be seen whether increased TV ratings will outlast the easing measures. But growth-oriented companies should definitely take advantage of the new, digital meeting points along the customer journey, whether in B2B or B2C. However, rapidly growing online research and thus e-commerce demand requires companies to have a powerful online presence. In the future, contacts will be made remotely, away from trade shows, events, and personal experiences. Our strong SMEs in particular still have gaps in some areas that should be closed very quickly so that they can quickly get back on the growth track.

ASAP offers

In order to overcome the crisis together, we at Wächter & Wächter help you with various offers.

Inspiration from around the world
Through our global agency network Worldwide Partners, we continuously gather insights and approaches worth emulating and publish them online on our website, in mailings or on social media. In addition, we are happy to conduct targeted surveys for you.

Business Creators: customized workshops for your individual situation

At the beginning, the Business Creator Sprint Workshop helps you to

• find orientation and courage
• develop a sense of security
• to conceive together with us first, quickly realizable action ideas for the way out of the crisis.

In the Business Creator Replanning Workshop we then jointly design and define the following for the future

• scenarios, visions and resilient, agile marketing plans
• new drivers of different prioritization
• depending on your situation and needs, approaches for repositioning, changed processes or concrete new offers and other innovations

ideas for effective and efficient 360° communication

Subsequently, but also independently of the results of the workshop, we develop innovative ideas, actions and processes at any time and implement them in such a way that they pay off on your goals. This includes

• Conception, implementation and distribution of appropriate content
• Management of digital transformation, digital strategies and campaigns
• Planning and realization of online events and trade fairs.