Brands taking off masks
While the rest of the world is putting masks on, B2B brands are "taking masks off", showing themselves in new and unexpected ways. The usual marketing and PR projects in B2B markets, appealing to rational arguments, are giving way to emotional communications. Brands are coming to the aid of their customers and partners, unite to jointly overcome this crisis, unparalleled in modern times. This strategy is one of the most popular and successful today.
The value of communication is growing
Experts note that the heads of companies begin to value communications higher. The CEO of Vileda Professional, one of our agency's clients, in his column for RBC Pro named communications (both external and internal) as one of the three most important factors, which will allow companies to overcome the current crisis. "It is important to communicate that the company continues to work, takes concrete steps to help clients and partners, shares experience with them, maintains a dialogue," he said.
Participation of top management in communications
An important factor in successful communications today is the participation of the company's top managers in communications. It is important for employees, customers, and partners of the company to see the participation of the tops in overcoming the consequences of the crisis caused by the pandemic, their genuine interest in the lives of the stakeholders. B2B-brands start to speak to their audiences not with the voices of sales managers or HR-directors, but with the voices of the company's top managers.
Focus on crisis overcoming
We also note that the most successful communication strategies of B2B-brands are not built on the discourse of problems and consequences of the crisis, but on the discourse of overcoming the crisis, adaptation to new conditions, renewal, transformation, joint action (participation) and joint movement forward. We notice this even in the most affected business sectors. Digitalization is only the visible part of the iceberg here. Many companies are transforming at high speed, and internal communications managers note the willingness of employees to change and support the company. Here, of course, employees' fears of losing their jobs during the crisis also play an important role, so they readily accept any changes and innovations.
Educational projects
The current crisis has created a lot of educational initiatives. Everyone is holding webinars, opening "academies" for their clients and employees, and implementing large-scale educational projects. This is something that target audiences in B2B segments need today, and also something that allows B2B companies to create a big head start for the future - learning more about their customers, establishing more interaction, and setting up personalized communications.
Personalized communications
This is another trend of the recent years, the rapid development of which was accelerated by the pandemic. Communications are becoming more personalized due to the active use of digital technologies. The thirst for communication, the ability to hold quick remote meetings, that do not require long assemblies and approvals, are doing their job.
Employee support
A company's employees are perhaps as important a resource in B2B business as a patent for a unique product. Therefore, B2B-brands today pay special attention to the support of employees who experience severe stress caused by forced self-isolation, revolutionary changes in the company, lack of live communication (including with colleagues at work), changes in their usual life and fear of losing their jobs (after all, no one knows what will happen next).
COVID dissidents
It remains unclear what to do with the so-called COVID dissidents. Society has split into two camps - those who take the threats of the new virus too seriously, keeping the maximum protection measures going and demanding the same from brands, and those who do not take the situation seriously, condemning brands that show excessive concern about the epidemiological situation. A compromise solution for brands is to be neutral, but so far brands are behaving differently.
As we can see, the crisis still forces companies and communicators to change and adapt faster, delivering new opportunities for the development and strengthening of PR and marketing communications. It remains to observe further, which challenges and possibilities 2021 will bring and how B2B communicators will make the best out of it.
Ksenia Alekseeva, CEO of Fresh Russian Communications
