Maintaining brand identity in a crisis sounds like a bunch of buzz words aimed at profiteering when society is on lock-down.
Well, it's not, and here's why.
Maintaining brand identity during a crisis is a common-sense approach to ensuring your business is recognisable during difficult times.
If you manage your social media and content marketing well and do it right, you might even help a few people along the way, but most of all, people will know who you are.
So, let's put profiteering aside and concentrate on survival; business survival.
The Aim
We've said it before many times, but a business should have a goal. To reach that goal, the owner must begin a journey. That journey is a strategy and the tools you use are tactics.
However, just because a crisis hits, it doesn't mean you have to change direction. You just need to use a different set of tools to get you through this particular stretch of road.
Many businesses are unable to function during a crisis. Shops are forced to close and services come to a grinding halt. However, it is at these times when businesses should be seeking to maintain visibility. When normality is restored it's this visibility that will make all the difference.
Therefore the aim of maintaining brand identity in a crisis is to ensure you do not deviate from that strategy. If anything, it is during these difficult times that many businesses seek to re-establish who they are.
The Approach
Let's face it, maintaining brand identity in a crisis should involve the least expenditure as possible. If the doors to your business are forced to close and income isn't coming in, you're probably looking to control the costs.
Maintaining brand identity during a crisis does not need to break the bank. However, if you want to ride the crisis, it might just be the best use of your business capital.
Brand identity is exactly what it says. It's the persona of a business. Brand identity is a culmination of the visual elements of a business, such as logo, colour palette, fonts and style, alongside the message, tone and voice of the business.
In short, it is a business yelling to the world that this is who they are and this is how they are distinguished from other companies.
Many companies are distinguishable by a logo and if you're looking to get your logo in front of an audience during a crisis, you can achieve that with a few social media posts. Be warned though, you might not see much return or engagement on the back of that approach. There is far more to brand identity than a logo.
Your Message
Maintaining brand identity in a crisis is about delivering your message, communicating what your business stands for and connecting that with your visual elements to provide a potential or existing customer with an over-arching image or your business persona.
Maintaining brand identity in a crisis involves communicating who you are in such a way that people recognise the company, they are familiar with what the company stands for and its success.
When the crisis hits and you're trying to stay afloat by maintaining a social presence, keep brand identity in mind.
Is your logo distinguishable? Does it reflect the organisation and industry?
Does your tone, voice and language support the image of the business?
Is what your business stands for clear?
The most important brand identity test is as follows: Would your audience recognise your business if shown only your logo, or even just the colour palette? Think of Nike, the tick-shaped logo is recognised by most people. Think of MasterCard, even their signature red, orange and yellow identifies them.
How recognisable is your brand?
The Result
When done well, even a small business can see significant results from a strong brand identity. There's a general rule of thumb that says that the average person comes into contact with a brand seven times before deciding to make a purchase.
With a weak brand identity, that number will increase. However, with a strong identity, that number may be smaller. That's because a strong brand identity conveys more than visual messages. It conveys a sense of stability, direction and success.
Would you prefer to spend your money with an organisation who has no clear direction and clear message or with a company that is comfortable with who it is and has a clear and direct message?
Summary
So when you're maintaining your social presence during a crisis, be sure to consider your brand. With social media and content marketing volumes soaring, now is the time to ensure that not only are you delivering your company message, but that you're also telling the world who you are.
When normality is restored and people need your services, they're going to need to know what company it was that helped them through the hard times.
Discover more about marketing during an national emergency with our Crisis Marketing Tips.
If you would like any advice regarding this, then please feel free to contact the DBS team on 01522 811688.
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