With the obvious impact of * gestures everywhere * weighing on us, many of social media managers are worried about managing clients during COVID, specifically:
- Staying Healthy
- Keeping our Clients
- Paying our Employees/ Contractors
- Keeping our businesses afloat by maintaining value to our clients (when they’re thinking about economics as well)
That’s a lot in one go! So let’s tackled one of those things right here, maintaining value and helping our clients navigate their uncertainty. Some of us may have heard of a BCP (Business Continuity Plan) and have one, others may have heard of it but don’t have one, and the rest of us are wondering what the hell it means.
Slack’s Business Continuity Plan
To get the best rundown, go read Slack’s BCP which was just released titled – Business continuity at Slack: Keeping our customers up and running during COVID-19
It outlines how you should be managing clients during COVID:
- Acknowledging the unexpected disruption that COVID-19 has caused in their client’s business
- Asking the question, ‘Is Slack a safe and reliable way to reconnect and move forward in this time?’
- Provide visibility and clarity into Slack’s business continuity strategy so you can be confident that we will be available throughout this disruption
- By understanding their client’s needs, they’ve come to understand their are two questions they’re being asked:
- Can Slack’s business continue to run?
- Can Slack’s infrastructure scale to handle additional load?
Now ask yourself, what are your client’s IMMEDIATE concerns and how do you fit into them? Can you remove a barrier for your client? Can you help them?
We all know that Digital Marketing is 50% client relationship as we act as translators for our client’s concerning all things involving digital marketing. This mean the best way for us to continue managing clients during COVID is to put ourselves in their shows and show up for them.
Managing Clients During COVID
So right now, your client may be wondering WHEN to act and WHAT to say, and since we’re at the front lines, it’s our responsibility to help them.
This provides us with an opportunity to show our worth and lead on behalf of those who lean on us. Kristen Dyck of AVRO Creative posted the following on LinkedIn yesterday and it relates not only to our own businesses and team, but to those of our clients:
What are you saying to your team? If you are a leader in any capacity people are waiting to hear from you. I spent time yesterday helping my clients write key messages + emails to their staff + clients. If you’re new to this, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Best practice is to get ahead of any concerns to put people at ease. (This means you need to send that email ASAP if you haven’t already)
- Anticipate concerns and address them directly. For example, if you have workers that travel or are expected to meet with groups of people, etc. explain what your expectations are at this date, and explain that might change at any moment.
- Be transparent + don’t over promise. You’re not expected to have all the answers so simply explain you are continuing to monitor info from WHO + Health Canada, + will update as necessary.• If you say that people’s health + safety is your top priority you have to follow through.
- Be thinking about how this will impact your business tomorrow and over the next 30 days. You should be working with IT to ensure people are equipped to work from home and are up to date with security protocols. Ask people to make a habit of taking their laptops home at the end of each day.
Build Your Business Continuity Plan
Now simply take the above and build a simple email to each of your client’s that outline the above with the specific barriers you understand and offer your help in following through.
Many of us will need to showcase our worth at a time of economic uncertainty, this is one of those ways. Now build your own continuity plan – here’s a great article to get you started: 5 Steps to Building a Business Continuity Plan.