TOP TALK
COVID-19 Accelerated Customer Care in Brand Communications. Let’s Not Lose It


Posted By Marian Hughes on August 14, 2020
Unprecedented times have forced us all to think and act differently. How businesses have communicated with their stakeholders and responded to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a whole new side to many brands, and in some cases, has changed our perceptions of a company, its leadership, and its place in our society.
As business came to a screeching halt during the early days of the coronavirus crisis, many became hyper-attuned to what was happening in their customers’ (current and prospective) lives and sought to lend a hand and provide new meaning, value, and assistance. This response isn’t something that should happen only during a pandemic.
Slowing down to look at the world through stakeholders’ eyes and identifying innovative ways to be acutely relevant and helpful are exercises that brands should conduct regularly. A keen and empathetic understanding of your audience is influential in strengthening relationships, building loyalty, and fueling innovation.
COVID-19 has provided business leaders with significant opportunity. We must weave this lesson, along with renewed and reinvented approaches to resiliency and strategy that I explore in my Forbes Communications Council post on key behavioral changes for brand communications, into our future business practices to build a stronger tomorrow.
A complete version of this post originally appeared on the Forbes Communications Council.

Marian Hughes
What motivates me? Challenging the status quo. I love stepping back and analyzing a PR program to determine if there’s a better way to move our clients closer to their goals. I'm constantly scouting out innovative new approaches, tools and technology – anything that holds the potential to really deliver. And, when I discover one with merit, there's nothing more rewarding than getting up to speed, putting it into action and generating big results – that, to me, is hitting it out of the park!