Branding in Crisis: Is Your Company Essential?

Yesterday, I read an article about why starting a company in the middle of a crisis can be a good thing. It resonated with me because although it seems counterintuitive, I have firsthand experience that proves otherwise.

We were in the middle of a recession when we started 3Seed in 2009. Over ten years later, we are still thriving. I attribute much of that success to the strength of our brand.

A crisis, in this case specifically a pandemic, has a great way of exposing the shortcomings of an existing business. It puts pressure on any weaknesses you have, and demands your attention to fix the cracks.

If you are located in Pennsylvania, you’ve heard a lot of discussion about the question of whether a business is deemed essential or non-essential, specifically by Governor Wolf. But what’s even more important than the state’s classification is whether or not your business is deemed essential to your customers. Do you play a vital role in the lives of the people you serve? Are you irreplaceable?

Answering yes, you probably are essential to your customers. If you answer no, or “I don’t know,” you may have to dig deeper to get to the cracking points of your brand.

Here are some questions you should ask yourself to strengthen your brand to essential status with your customers:

Why do you do what you do? The answer should give you a look into your personality. It gets to the core of what motivates you and the reason you’re in business. I often hear the response “to make money,” but why is this business your means of doing so?

What do you offer that’s unique? Sometimes we take what we do for granted. It’s natural to us so we don’t think it’s special. But really, the way we do something, our philosophy, our skills all contribute to making our business unique.  What’s your special thing?

What resonates with our customers? Try as we might, we don’t define our brand. It’s what others think of your brand that defines it. What have customers told you they love about your company? That is your brand. How you embrace it is up to you.

The article I referenced at the start of this blog concluded with this thought: If you have conviction and you’re solving problems for customers, that’s all you need no matter what is happening.

If you work on the three main questions I touched on in that order, you can hone a message, a service, or a product to match your personality– and THAT is what can strengthen a brand to weather every storm and become essential even in a crisis.

Need help crafting a message that makes your brand even more essential to your customers? We can help, just reach out!