With the ever changing and evolving covid-19 event many companies are reaching out to their customers, clients and employees to let them know how the organization is dealing with the disruptions.
We’ve helped a few of our clients through this process and the following have proven to be effective for them:
Many of our clients are sending out a release which communicates high level information of measures they are taking to combat the strain that Covid-19 has caused on their organizations. Many have been a single announcement is delivered simultaneously across email, social media and company website.
We just worked with Samaracare Consulting to help share their message, which can be viewed here. They also provided a popup on their website to help quickly direct users to the message.
Since the information is dynamic, you need to provide a single point of contact for updates. While the information can be shared on numerous channels, we recommend a single page/post on the website to deliver updates on Covid-19 that speaks to all clients or customers in one place. Different groups will need to react to announcements in different ways, the information shared must help guide how each of these unique groups might need to engage and change their interaction with your company. A single page with “quick links” to the appropriate information for each group works best. The site url should be something simple like siteurl.com/covid-19 and should be conveyed on to anyone looking for updates regarding your announcement.
A great example is ISKC. They were quickly inundated with calls from students about class closures and where having a difficult time keeping up with parents and confusion regarding closings. After a few scattered communications they began to direct students and parents to the single page on the site featuring an updated list of closures.
Since this outbreak is impacting employees as well as customers it’s important to have detailed and clearly worded messages for internal groups. We recommend sharing information with internal teams through a portal on the site only visible to the intended audience. This page link should be sent via email with information that specifies when new information will be made available.
Since Covid-19 requires, in many cases, self-quarantine numerous employees will now be working from home. It is now more important than ever to keep your employees connected digitally. We recommend using tools like Slack or Webex to help encourage employee collaboration and improve communications. Slack is a free tool, depending on number of employees and features, and is easy to setup and implement. If you’d like to utilize any of these tools, please let us know and we can help you set them up and roll them out.
As we come across any useful tips or strategies regarding how other firms are dealing with the Covid-19 event we will continue sharing the most effective solutions. Stay tuned.