Winning Communications During and After COVID-19 – A Story That Evolves Daily

Winning Communications During and After COVID-19 – A Story That Evolves Daily

30 April 2020

It has never been more important as communicators for us to help our clients understand there are no real winners or losers when it comes to fact-based communications focused around COVID-19. Now, more than ever, any great idea developed should be put on pause – even if just for few hours, to allow for it grow and enable colleagues with diverse points of view to review the idea and come together to make it a perfect solution.

We firmly believe that the so-called battle of communications will not be won by the company that is swiftest with a solution, as they jump, head-first into the maelstrom to grab attention. Instead, the winners will be those who first, understand the value of their colleagues and current clients, hold them close by their side, and target only new business which matches their company purpose and vision.

There can be nothing more ineffective than seeing a company attempting to gain mass market appeal out of fear for its future. This not only wastes precious budget and personnel resources, but if it fails, the company will be worse off than before, and the first financial victims will be staff.

At Sandpiper, we feel your pain, we too are a business. This is why we are offering a series of smart and sensible communication solutions which help clients who are dealing with the current COVID-19 situation in lock-down or social isolation, and those who are based in countries which are slowly – yet cautiously – moving out of their second waves to health recovery, albeit with the looming global recession on all our minds.

We do not see COVID-19 as a task for one person or team. Instead, our whole company is working together, true to our purpose and mission, to continue to offer smart, common-sense communications counsel, which highlights the strategy we already have for our clients, to help them reach current customers, and those they may have previously considered out of reach.

Virtual Experiences

You already know this, but serious limitations on face-to-face interaction coupled with fierce competition for news and views, has increased the importance of innovative and impactful digital communications. Working with trusted partners, Sandpiper’s world class video production and content creation expertise will enable you to deliver virtual experiences that speak to your brand values, while cutting through the noise. We offer digital thought leadership, innovative, live and recorded virtual experiences with all the back and front-end excitement such as instant polling, and dipping into people’s life on the opposite side of the world, to help you drive solid customer lead generation. Anytime. Anywhere.

If you would like to talk to us about our virtual experiences offering, please contact hello@sandpipercomms.com.

Impact Analysis and Assessment

The generation-defining coronavirus pandemic is impacting the lives of nearly everyone on the planet. It’s not just affecting their health, but their finances, travel and social plans. For many organisations, how they are seen to be managing this crisis is a “make or break” moment. We have been working with a range of clients at this critical time to give them an understanding of current consumer behaviour and the competitive landscape – vital factors to positioning for longer-term success.

With many people isolated at home and worried about the future, news, updates and information about the crisis, the company they work for or they support as a customer or client, is critical. While communication is key, so is understanding the needs of customers and employees, establishing trust and being seen to act in the best interests of stakeholders.

If you would like some further information about our analysis and assessment tools at this critical time, or simply want to understand how to position your business for success, please contact hello@sandpipercomms.com.

Account Based Marketing

As B2B companies are under increased pressure to grow their target markets as some of their smaller customers go-under, these clients are doing their best to tap into new sources of income. We can help. This is not the time to throw caution to the wind. Better to secure a few high-paying customers who can ensure cashflow now, and enable you to pay your own staff, than adopting a scatter gun approach with low rate of return.

We are working with B2B clients with a focused approach to Account Based Marketing (ABM) to their sales and marketing strategies. ABM is a concerted effort to target businesses and key decisions makers, to communicate with them through personalised content that really matters. We do this by making use of intelligent data which gives us keen and current knowledge and understanding of what matters to your target individual right here and right now. We then craft content with our clients, which will reach the prospect at exactly the right time. We are also working with the same clients to ensure they remain standing side-by-side with their current clients, giving them extra value, so they will not be tempted away by cheaper options which would have a long- term negative impact on their own, perhaps smaller operation.

We help protect both our clients and their downstream customers.

We can work with you to refine your priority prospects, understand their interests, and personal values, and monitor the themes and topics they most want to hear about from you – in multiple languages and across different time zones. We can then turn this intelligence into actionable content which you can use to sell.

If this sounds like a business solution you can use, please contact us at ABM@sandpipercomms.com.=

COVID-19 news you can use

Information has always been key to understanding. Since the early days of January 2020, Sandpiper has been producing a daily update for clients on the key news of the day related to their business.

Distributed between 6 and 7 pm, Monday to Friday, this one-minute read, captures the following topics:

• Latest COVID-19 infections, and the rate of rise or fall.
• Major Asia Pacific news – political and governmental decisions.
• UK and US news – political and governmental decisions.
• Coronavirus disease management and policy update in key markets.
• Business and industry news that directly impacts our clients.
• Recommended longer reads.
• Sources for daily health and travel alerts from key countries within our current client remit.

If you would like to receive the daily alert please click here to complete the brief, online form.

Consumer Expectations Index 2020

You will find on our website, the results of our annual Consumer Expectation Index, which looks at what consumers expect of leaders, companies, governments, and NGOs, on key issues in Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Malaysia, and Singapore.

We looked at key factors which impact consumers’ decision whether to buy products or services from a business or brand. Sustainable and ethical sourcing, and packaging, rank high for almost every industry sector, as do environmental mismanagement and fair trade. Cybersecurity is also preying on consumers’ minds.

We also asked respondents to rank the top three most responsible and trustworthy industries and companies in their countries. Are companies seen as fully transparent and responsible when it comes to meeting regulatory requirements? Most consumers believe that companies are ‘box tickers’ when it comes to acting responsibly – doing what is simply required by local regulators. In a time when trust is more important than ever, we are pleased to learn that consumers still rank reputable or traditional news sources as the most popular sources of real news; despite what we know of social media’s importance. Consumers are most motivated to share news and information with their peers online or by word-of-mouth because they believe it is newsworthy or it relates to causes they care about. Surprisingly, humour and making people laugh do not rank highly – or this may be what people wanted our researchers to think.

The study covers a range of other issues, including data privacy. We care about this study because it provides insights which help us make sense of the challenges our clients face.

We will conduct a shorter pulse-check study at a time later in the year, when we feel Asia Pacific is ready to look at these issues again. We anticipate some dramatically different results and comparing our two sets of data will be an insightful experience.

If you would like to be kept up to date on the launch of our interim results and the comparison or, indeed would like to provide input on the questions we pose in the pulse research, please email hello@sandpipercomms.com.

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