CRISIS NAVIGATION
Crisis Marketing
By CPA Nicholas Gachara
T
he global economy has been
brought to its knees from the
effects of the deadly respiratory
disease the Coronavirus. Internationally,
airlines have been grounded as travel
has been banned with some countries
reporting a total lock down. Fears of a
full-blown recession are rife. In Kenya,
more companies are opting to send their
employees home, some on half pay, others
on no pay at all. Other companies, already
reeling from bad economic climate, have
been forced to shut down.
In such difficult times, marketers are
called upon to come up with creative ideas
to save companies from certain collapse.
It is at this time that we want to see the
power of marketing and hence justify
budgets for the survival of the firm. The
silver lining is that even at the toughest
times, the innovative marketer sees the
opportunity to turn lemon into lemonade.
This is how they do it:
Treat Employees well
Your employees are your biggest avenue
when it comes to interacting with your
prospects and clients. They should
therefore feel a sense of belonging for
them to be good ambassadors of your
products. In crisis such as this pandemic,
putting the welfare of your employees first
goes a long way towards their satisfaction.
Send internal memos to all staff to explain
what the company is experiencing and
what the company intends to do for the
employees. Layoffs should be the very
last option and in that case it should be
handled with a lot of care.
In one of the best cases I have seen, a
company sent an internal memo to all
its employees. The management clearly
In such difficult times, marketers are
called upon to come up with creative
ideas to save companies from certain col-
lapse. It is at this time that we want to
see the power of marketing and hence
justify budgets for the survival of the
firm. The silver lining is that even at the
toughest times, the innovative marketer
sees the opportunity to turn lemon into
lemonade.
64 MAL35/20 ISSUE
explained the impact of the global
pandemic on its operations and the bottom
line. However, instead of announcing
layoffs, they prepared a package that
included dry food stuffs that could last
the staff a month while they were at home.
The employees in that company must have
had a sense of pride with the company.
Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR)
Companies are members of the society
as they derive all the resources from the
society. They also market and sell all their
products to the society. They therefore
have literally everything to lose should
the society deny them the opportunity to
conduct business or worse unable to buy
their products. It’s in their best interest for
companies to show leadership in solving
the society’s needs at times of crisis. The
objective during the time of a pandemic
is to be seen that profits are subordinate
to the general welfare of the society and
its continuity. In reciprocity, the society
would feel indebted to do business with
the company for the long haul.
Committing resources to assist the society
maybe be expensive now but the returns
would be seen for the long term. In the
current pandemic, I have seen companies
give free sanitizers to the society while
others have given free masks. Some have
installed washing areas complete with
water and soap. Others have gone out of
their way to sensitize the society about the
pandemic and what can be done to be safe
from it. I would certainly feel the need to