By Donna Dickerson / Dec 16, 2020
Who among us has not been told, “Hey, you’re on mute,” during one or more Zoom meetings over the last several months?
Since the early days of the pandemic, “Are you on mute? We can’t hear you” became a question often heard during our meetings, and for marketers of critical financial counseling services, it became our greatest challenge.
As nonprofit leaders, we need to ask specific questions, such as how we can be heard with the right message. How do we target the right audience? And how do we make sure our audience can hear us?
The Covid-19 Impact
When Covid-19 hit, my organization, GreenPath Financial Wellness, was off to a strong first quarter. The pandemic brought a flood of uncertainty as people and companies waded through an abundance of new and ever-changing information. We needed to be agile and proactive in our response.
In business, B2B and B2C marketing are commonplace, but what about B2E (business to employee)? At my organization, empathy and human-centered design are core principles that start with our employees, ultimately resulting in strong relationships with our clients and partners. Our focus on empathy did not start with our customers; it started with our staff first. Like many companies at the moment, our staff is working remotely, managing the challenges of the new work-home combination, all while interacting eight-plus hours a day with clients facing financial hardships. Prioritizing employees’ needs is a must before you can effectively cater to your clients and stakeholders.
Specifically, our empathetic communication began with listening to our employees. During companywide virtual town halls, we heard real challenges our employees were facing and received feedback on how employees were coping in the time of stress and uncertainty. Their feedback provided rapid research and insights that allowed us to activate quickly in a meaningful way. We responded by hosting weekly company town halls, as well as conducting small group outreach. From the earliest days of the crisis, our senior leadership team personally connected with 10-15 employees a week to check in and address needs.
Authentic connection with your employees enables you to identify personal needs and address them head-on. Once centered, your client teams will be in a position to problem-solve and create supportive client experiences.
How To ‘Unmute’ In Three Steps
Connecting with your audience authentically during the pandemic is important not only for your nonprofit’s mission, but to better cater to those you serve. In addition to the core principle of empathy, here is a three-step approach to “unmute” your nonprofit:
1. Innovate your products and services.
Everyone facing the pandemic is navigating a completely different world, including sudden loss of income and other hardships. We updated our overall user experience and created debt repayment plans with greater flexibility.
For example, to help existing clients facing income loss or other crisis-related hardships, we offered the ability to freeze payments. This modification gave clients breathing room to get their finances in order while still retaining the benefits of their debt management plan.
What are your client’s pain points, and how can your organization solve those? During times of crisis, it is important to identify specific achievable goals (short or long-term) that connect with your audience. It reinforces why they need your product or service while also building trust.
2. Consider the content pivot.
On the marketing and education side, we adapted to the new normal and accelerated our six- to eight-month content generation plan to a matter of weeks after Covid-19.
To pull off a rapid content pivot, leverage research such as trends and issues experienced by target audiences, along with a timely feedback loop. Maintaining agility when producing content calendars is critical during rapid change. Learn the hot topics of interest to your target audience and use this knowledge to inform your content development.
3. Move to integrated channels.
To “unmute” and be heard in this time of crisis, our focus included our primary lead generating tool — our website. Developing a comprehensive Covid-19 content hub allowed us to quickly mobilize an empathetic communications platform to address challenges people were facing.
For organizations looking to enhance their website, make sure to add value with timely topics, specific hands-on workbooks, self-help guides, webinars and podcasts, that meet the specific expressed needs of existing and prospective customers. We recommend evaluating the type of content and specific channel. Our research revealed that video and podcast consumption was at an all-time high, so we dedicated more effort to this channel.
‘You’re unmuted now — we can hear you.’
The more we understand our audience’s needs, combined with agile marketing communications channels, the better positioned we are to provide the right solutions to people’s challenges.
This understanding provides a grounding opportunity in supporting your staff through empathy and listening. It can help your teams hear more effectively the needs of those you serve, allowing them to help your clients during an extremely challenging time. As such, you’ll be better positioned to rapidly connect to employee needs while building trust, demonstrating that you are there to support them.
When you hear from your employees, customers and key stakeholders, and they hear you — especially during a crisis — you can help them navigate the new normal and build strong and lasting relationships for the future.