5 Ways Brands Can Get Back To Building Business

One media company sent a tone-deaf business solicitation email in early April, while the world was still very much in the throes of the pandemic, to all the franchise locations and under the false premise that it was working in concert with the parent brand. It advised that history shows that spending on advertising during economic downturns builds business. Before the brand was able to put a stop to the media company’s campaign, a franchisee replied to the salesperson, “I’m just trying to survive and not lose my business; advertising is just not my top concern.”

This is an understandable sentiment felt by many during these dystopian times. As we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, or at the very least, wish for one, we inevitably start planning for how we are going to build our business back. Things will certainly not be the same, nor should we perhaps wish for them to be so, and the road to recovery will be long. How, then, should we approach the task at hand? Hope for the best? Be aggressive? Wait and see? Discount? Spend?

Marketers and workers aren’t the only ones worried, however. A recent YPO survey reported that 11% of CEOs “fear their business won’t survive the resulting economic downturn.”

We have a conundrum

How we handle ourselves today will be remembered in the future. It will also affect how we succeed in the future. The road back is going to be long and hard. Perhaps it’s not even the road back, but an opportunity to reimagine how we operate in the future and change the way we see things or think of things.

As a technology company in the marketing and media space, we always challenge ourselves to push boundaries and solve impossible problems. We just didn’t conceive of this particular problem: a global economic shutdown. But that doesn’t change our philosophy – just our approach to identifying and providing solutions.

One of the great mantras that has come out of this global crisis is that “We are in this together.” If we all help each other, we will all rise again. But that help needs to be genuine and cannot be gratuitous in any way, shape, or fashion.

To that end, here are 5 guidelines and suggestions on how to tiptoe back into the business of building business.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on Forbes.com. To read it in its entirety, with the authors’ 5 guidelines and conclusions, please click the link above.

Jennifer Moore is Chief Marketing Officer at Silvercrest, a technology company offering sophisticated marketing and media solutions for brands, specializing in franchise and multi-unit organizations.