Did you get an email like this out of the blue recently?
Title: A message from our CEO, Lord Business.
We are writing to inform you of our response to COVID-19.
[insert boring stuff you don’t need to know about their internal processes]
We are here for you during these tough times.
[insert generic stuff about their brand values of professionalism and responsiveness]
You might be interested to know that we have recently launched a new service.
[detail about service that, no, you’re not at all interested in]
Please get in touch if you’d like to hear more or if we can assist you in any way during these tough times.
[er, got any loo roll?]
Kind regards,
Lord Business
Annoying, right?
You haven’t heard from them for months and then all of a sudden, they lob this pathetically-disguised sales bomb into your inbox.
It’s been tumbleweed for years, but now they’re up against the ropes they’re all fake pally with you, like Joey from Friends sidling up to a girl in Central Perk: ‘Hey how YOU doin?’
And it feels rubbish.
Marketing isn’t a tap that you can switch on and off.
Customers always notice if we only pop up when we want something. They’re not stupid enough to respond to a desperate 2am booty call from an ex.
Consistency in marketing is king – what you say during a pandemic shouldn’t be so different from your everyday.
In fact we reveal our true selves in a crisis. And these disingenuous emails feel like the equivalent of those #$%ing groups of people sunbathing in the park at the weekend.
They don’t have anyone’s real interests at heart.
Yo-yo marketing is a big no-no for building trust with your audience.
So if you already reach out to your clients, colleagues and community regularly with a newsletter, video or phone call – go you! I bet they love you for it.
And if you don’t?
Use this time to make a plan that you’ll stick to in the future to make your community feel valued.
Me? I’ll keep writing to you every week as I’ve done for the past 4.5 years. Just call me Kim ‘Consistency’ Arnold.
