Marketing Plan B – Preparing For The Next Emergency: AMG Newsletter

Published: Fri, 09/03/21

Dear ,

Hurricane Ida hit land and swirled across Louisiana on Sunday night.

It was nature's sweet sixteen gift to Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Ida - projected path

Despite the efforts of FEMA and local officials to fix the damage from Katrina and prepare for future storms, Ida presented new and life-threatening challenges. In part this is attributable to increased changes due to climate change. They create the potential for more storms, each of which is increasingly severe.

Further, complicating officials’ ability to move citizens out of harm’s way was the impact of the latest COVID variant, Delta. Being highly contagious, Delta thrives in crowded indoor environments.

As a result, non-vaccinated individuals will need to remain quarantined in separate shelters for 14 days.

What does this mean for you beyond getting a COVID vaccine?

  • Have an emergency plan. And, continually check that your plan still meets your organization’s changing needs.
  • Include contingencies to help management to adapt your emergency plans for unanticipated needs.
 

Actionable Marketing Lesson of The Week

Plan B

The increase in the number of major hurricanes coupled with the more contagious Delta variant of the COVID virus underscore your business’s need for a Plan B.

Why?
Because, despite people’s desire to get out and see their colleagues, these events pose very real dangers to your on-going business plans.

Last week, a colleague confided that 5 booked gigs had cancelled in a matter of days due to concerns over the Delta variant at locations where their events were planned to take place. Fortunately, my colleague has diversified his income streams so these cancellations cause minor short-term hiccups to his bottom line.

What does this mean for your marketing and business?
Have a Plan B with diverse sources of income.

If something causes a problem in one or more areas of your business, you need to quickly pivot to take care of your existing customers and employees. At the same time you need new ways to keep your business going.

Actionable Marketing Tips:

  • Create a Crisis Management Plan. Outline how management and employees should respond to a major crisis or change in the marketplace. Planning in advance to last minute decisions with unintended consequences.
  • Diversify your revenue streams. Do this to ensure your business remains profitable regardless of what happens beyond your control. Further, always look for new sources of revenue since existing products or customers may not yield the same profitability over time.

Labor Day Celebrations

Heidi on the beachThis coming weekend is Labor Day in the US. It’s the unofficial end of summer.

To help customers deal with this bittersweet end, Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts already started rolling out their tried and true pumpkin spiced fall creations.

So what are your end of summer plans?

Here’s some help for you from the Actionable Marketing Guide archives:

And, what’s your marketing alternative to pumpkin spice?

Not sure?
Then use these Actionable Marketing Guide resources to inspire you:

 

Voice Notes

Podcast listenership is on the rise globally according to eMarketer’s latest projections (February 2021). Unlike Edison Research, eMarketer’s forecasts count people who listen to a podcast via a direct download or livestream on any device at least once during the past month. So, these forecasts include all forms of podcast consumption regardless of platform or device.

By 2025, US podcast listeners will number 144.6 million or 42.0% of the population.

US Podcast Listeners

By contrast, podcasting in China remains in a more nascent phase. Due to the significantly larger population, China will have 158.6 million podcast listeners by 2025. But they will only reach 11.3% of the population.

Podcast listeners in China
Actionable Marketing Tip:
  • Distribute your podcasts across all major podcasting platforms after initially publishing them on your owned media. YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the top platforms for podcasts. Further YouTube performs well for smaller native podcast languages.
 

Marketing Reads

New AMG Articles:

Voice Content Voice Content: 10 Audio Content Formats Your Marketing Needs

Why add voice content to your marketing mix?
To extend the life and reach of your content marketing.

Here are 10 types of audio content formats you can use to expand your voice marketing offering or to test adding it to your mix.

 

Content Audit Content Audit: The Ultimate Guide To Improve Your Content Marketing Results

Are you missing out on the full strategic value of your existing content marketing?

Not sure? Then read this ultimate How To Guide to Content Audits to get the maximum return on your content marketing.

 

NYC Marketing Marketing Minute

Drinks on Brighton Beach BoardwalkLast week my husband and I played hooky to take advantage of one of the last days of summer before Ida blew into town.

We headed to Brighton Beach, the uncool Atlantic Beach located at the tip of New York City’s current king of cool Brooklyn. On this New York City beach natives across the spectrum of colors, sizes and backgrounds mix under the watchful eye of orange clad lifeguards and park rangers.

While most marketing is placed on display in the front of a retail or corporate location, on a public beach, it’s difficult to compete with the main attraction, the ocean.

So tucked away from prime real estate, the public restrooms wait quietly near the exit. Yes, on Brighton Beach, the marketing surprise is at the Ladies Room.

One of the female employees spent her own time and money to decorate the Ladies Room. In the process, she created a work of art honoring the visitors and employees who spend time at this public beach. It’s user-generated content at its best.

Brighton Beach Bathroom

In most other restrooms, the cleaning staff would be invisible to patrons. But this matron’s work speaks volumes and attracts attention and conversation on a regular basis.

Yet, as a New York City employee, she refuses tips and contributions to her beautification project.

Actionable Marketing Tip:

  • Give your employees the supplies and freedom to improve your public and workspaces.
 

Plan Ahead: Mark Your Calendar

Join me at these marketing events:

 September 8, 2021 – B2B Influencer Marketing Summit  3:30AM to 10:00AM ET (Note: It’s being presented in the UK hence the strange timing). BTW, I’m presenting on one of the panels with Gordon Glenister, author of Influencer Marketing Strategy.


 Friday, September 10, 2021 – Voice Lunch Marketing Returns!  12pm ET.
Please join us when I host a discussion of the latest VCI Research.   
MAICON 2021 September 13 - 14, 2021Marketing AI Conference (Virtual Event) Use code COHEN20 for 20% off any pass. (This is not an affiliate ad.)



Digital Book World September 17 – Digital Book World Virtual (BTW—I'm speaking here!) It's FREE with registration.

 

Welcome New SubscribersWelcome new members:  Kamal, Jim, David, Deborah, Faroq, Ed, Jimmy and Victor.

Happy Marketing,
Heidi

P.S.: If you like the content in this newsletter, would you please share it with a friend or colleague.

P.P.S: Did you miss last week's AMG Newsletter?
Previous newsletters can be found in the AMG Newsletter Archive.


Photos:
  Welcome Mat via Mabel Amber – https://www.pexels.com/photo/jetty-feet-sign-wooden-128299/ cc zero
  Weather map: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/152146.shtml?rainqpf#contents
 

The fine print
  • Unless noted otherwise, all photos are ©2021 by Heidi Cohen
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