Outreach Marketing During Disruption
Most of the articles in this series have looked at what companies do internally when faced with a major disruption. We’ve heard about operations, workforce and leadership. Now we look at the other side of the coin: How do organizations handle outreach during tough times? Let’s find out in another edition of Navigating Disruption.
Know your audience
While universities typically aren’t examined through the same lens as, say, a bank, a manufacturer or an insurance company, they have many moving parts and do business with a wide array of partners.
The vice chancellor of a Midwestern public university spoke about how outreach has looked different for various audiences during the latest disruption event.
“Some of our folks who work in alumni relations have had to completely revamp their efforts. It’s very difficult to replicate that out-in-the-field space. Our communications with alumni, being attentive to listening and knowing what’s going on has been a key piece.”
They also touched on challenges with partner organizations:
“I think the other big piece is that we work with a lot of vendors. We work with Sodexo, who provide dining services for our students. That’s a long-term contract, but the number of students who are eating just fell off. So, we are renegotiating our working relationship with them in ways that invest a long-term relationship with that organization.”
Using old tools in new ways
Shifting focus, the vice chancellor mentioned the simple idea of using an online learning system as a way for administrators to stay connected with faculty.
“We are using our learning management system, where we place our online courses, to put all of our faculty into a shell course and set up a series of discussion boards and threaded discussions. We’re trying to learn from online instruction to create a space for our faculty, so they can remain engaged with the university as we’re making decisions over summer.”
In the private sector, many companies also adapted existing online systems for a better connection with customers. The CEO and founder of a design and manufacturing firm explained their approach:
“We were working on growing our direct online sales in 2019. That was good timing because we built on that in 2020. We started off with more resources towards direct sales because that’s what people are doing, they’re stuck at home and they’re buying things online.”
Across the road or across the globe
While outreach solutions to existing collaborators took on new forms, connecting with new ones became significantly more challenging. The leader of a regional insurance company noted difficulties their agents were facing because of the disruption.
“Our agents want to sit down in front of someone and talk about their insurance needs. It’s easier now for people just to say, ‘I’m not changing companies.’ And that’s going to challenge our ability to grow.”
Even so, the executive vice president of a community bank was optimistic about the changing dynamic of customer outreach from a localized perspective:
“It depends on the person, but I think we’re able still to establish strong relationships. If clients know where we are, from a physical presence standpoint, it helps them know and compartmentalize in their head that, ‘Yeah, I haven’t met this guy in person, but I know he’s right over in that building across the corner.’”
Key Takeaway
While outreach may shift more toward virtual channels in the coming years, we’re already starting to see organizations use more personalized, authentic content in their external messaging.
“What we’re trying to do is create as much presence as possible,” said the previously mentioned university vice chancellor.
“I’ve been doing short videos with my phone as I walk across campus … trying to make it feel a little bit more authentic in terms of connecting. We’ll do introductions with students and then, of course, anything we can do to connect in real time, respond to questions, etc. I think we’re going to build more of that as we think about other types of audiences.”
Whether it’s using existing tools to reach out in new ways or creating new methods to bring a new audience into the fold, leaders stress the importance of staying in tune and connected through disruption.
We hope you found worthwhile insights in this article. For more, read other articles from our Navigating Disruption series.
Thanks,
PRIME46
Are you a business leader seeking to adapt, change and grow following a business environment disruption? Let’s talk about how Prime46 research and strategic advice can help.