To promote or not promote your brand (right now)?

This is a pretty incredible event that is happening in our lives right now. Incredibly extreme, thought provoking, tragic and so many other words that I can’t think of at this moment. Being the owner of a small business is a worrying time for me and so many others. A question that keeps coming up for me is “should I be promoting my business, my brand at a time like this?” I realise that so many people are in really difficult situations, both personally and financially. When this crisis initially hit, I felt stunned, not sure what to do, it just felt so surreal, like a nightmare you can’t wake up from. I think the last thing on my mind was trying to market my business. 

But I felt I had to comment in some small way. I reached out to my email list and sent them a virtual video message, really just to check in and build more of a connection, not to sell. I got a really positive response from that with the receivers sending back messages and video responses. Okay, I know that was minor, but it got me off the starter block.

As we know, this virus is not going anywhere for a while. I have to be realistic too, I want to keep my business going. I have worked too hard just to stand still. So I am still working, juggling minding my 3 year old son Oisín and keeping my mind busy. I am lucky and so grateful that I secured a couple of brand projects just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Doing work like this at the moment really helps me focus and keeps me positive. It’s so satisfying to think that I’m giving these businesses a sort of fresh start, a new brand look that they can look forward to using when this crisis lifts.

After those projects finish, I’m not sure of my next steps. I don’t have a steady stream of work rolling in , so many of my projects have been put on hold, so I need to continue doing what I can to make sure I stay afloat. 

I will continue networking virtually, link in with my existing clients and tap into what businesses might need during this time. One lady I spoke to recently, who works in the wellness field, highlighted this same concern about it looking unfavourably to market herself with this crisis on our doorstep. We discussed the issue and I advised her that people more than ever need her services at this moment in time. So actually by addressing her clients needs during this time of adversity, it will only reflect well on her and her brand. She is stepping up to the plate and not just around during the good times. So I am helping her create brand material that she can use during this time of need and also afterwards, when things get back to normal.

There are a lot of businesses that are tapping into the Covid-19 crisis and using this in their brand messaging, to market their services. This is our new reality right now and so it makes sense to talk about this new reality in terms of trying to push forward. It should be done of course with respect, tact, sensitivity and integrity. So it’s about finding the right balance.

To conclude, I think we have to promote ourselves and our brand, we have to keep things ticking along. I don’t think there should be a guilt attached to this. We are all just trying to get by, doing our best, taking each day as it comes and trying to keep our businesses going.