What Marketers Can Learn From a Global Crisis

I’m a voracious learner. Throughout my career I’ve consistently preached the maxim that we must always be learning. This applies even in the midst of a global crisis.

As a business manager, COVID-19 is almost certainly impacting your marketing, social media engagement, and customer care strategies. Many of you are waking up to the realization that your business just became virtual. You’re likely wondering if your business will ever return to pre-coronavirus normal. The answer to that question is: probably not.

So, what can we learn from this?

The current crisis has underscored a valuable lesson for all of us. Namely, that modern channels are now the most strategic communication methods on the planet.

[Side note: I use the term “modern channels” as a superset of social media platforms. X, formerly Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Facebook, WhatsApp, (and others) are a key part of modern channels. But in today’s hyperconnected world we must broaden our perspective. Modern channels also include blogs, review sites, user-generated content, and much more. Think big.]

Sprinklr works with thousands of incredibly smart customers who have already fully embraced modern channels. But if you’re still sitting on the social media sidelines, it’s time to get in the game. It’s a simple equation:

Millennials + Gen-Z = more than half the world’s population

We’re talking billions of people who are already using modern channels to post billions of messages about their concerns and views. The adoption and number of messages will only increase.

If we’ve learned anything during this crisis it’s that businesses absolutely must shift their marketing, care, and customer engagement to a modern channels first model. It’s no longer a “nice to have.” It’s an imperative.

At Sprinklr, we’ve spent years helping our customers effectively manage modern channels. And during the current pandemic we’re doubling down on our efforts to help them listen to customer concerns, engage appropriately, and tamp down misinformation.

Here’s what we’re doing to help:

Sprinklr Service: Many of our customers are being forced to curtail, or completely close, their traditional phone-based customer support centers. We’re working closely with them to quickly transition to a modern channel-centric support model which requires less infrastructure and is better suited to a work from home environment.

Listening Dashboards: Sprinklr is creating custom COVID-19 dashboards for many of our customers. These dashboards provide real-time insight about brand mentions, specifically as they relate to existing or potential COVID-19 issues. We’re also helping customers use Sprinklr Display and Presentations to create real-time visualizations of public COVID-19 listening data.

Social Media Crisis Management Playbook: A framework for managing social media before, during, and after a crisis. Available for download here.

The recent COVID-19 outbreak is a wake up call for many of us, crossing organizational, cultural, and political boundaries. It’s not the first global crisis and unfortunately it won’t be the last. I won’t try to predict when the next crisis will occur. But I will boldly predict that the adoption of social media and other modern channels will continue to grow before it happens.

And, yes. That will be on the final.