Love in the time of corona
25 March 2020
In a guest column, exclusive to Connectivity, Richard Stone, Managing Director of Stone Junction – the first ever PR agency for the Fourth Industrial Revolution – talks about responsibility, kindness and creating a strategy for your post crisis recovery.
Writing about technical PR and marketing seems surreal at a moment in history like the one we are currently facing. As people, families, businesses, economies and countries choose how to behave during this crisis, marketing seems less important.
But I’m reminded of a quote on the wall of my office that says, “It’s what you read when you don’t have to, that determines what you will be when you can’t help it”.
I think we are all now in a situation where we can’t help but be that person.
So, I thought that, rather than pontificating about PR, I would tell you what kind of person would make me feel comfortable, secure and safe in these times of need.
Knowledgeable and credible
Right now, if I were choosing a leader to look to, I would want someone who makes credible decisions based on the best information available. We are facing a hard road ahead, but we will come through stronger at the end of that road if we stick together and support each other.
So, let’s make our decisions based on those certainties.
Passion + character
We have a responsibility as businesses to help the Government’s efforts to stop the spread of Coronavirus and we have a responsibility to help the Government’s efforts to keep the economy strong.
Because of this, now is a time when strength of character will have a real impact. As marketers, we do have strong influence at board level and if we can use that influence to encourage our colleagues to market and trade their way through COVID-19, and the inevitable recession, we will be supporting the economy in the best way.
Clearly, the only environs under which that should be attempted are ones in which we can keep our people safe, abiding by the letter of Boris Johnson’s recommendations.
Brave and considered
It’s proven time and time again that those businesses that communicate effectively in a recession, taking a brave, positive and helpful stance, come out stronger on the other side. Remember that every unnecessary cut you make, weakens the overall economic environment and removes confidence from business. And business is about nothing more than confidence.
Now isn’t the time to be making a plan for getting through the COVID-19 crisis – that was weeks ago. Now is the time to be creating the strategy for your post crisis recovery.
In a marketing context, that means deciding which events you will re-launch and which media you will re-launch with. How will you attract attention during the inevitable melee that will come into play when everyone goes back to work, or at least back to the office?
Here I would like to add a note about advertising – don’t simply pull it. I understand that few people will be reading magazines right now, because they aren’t in the office to collect them.
But far more people are reading online, and the information I have been given already from publishers is that those people are reading about everything related to their jobs, not just coronavirus. So, renegotiate to move to digital platforms provided by the same publishing houses – you know you should have done it decades ago anyway, so now is an opportunity.
Don’t cut advertising spend if you can afford not to. I say this as the owner of a business that doesn’t profit from advertising at all – we are a technical PR company and the realm in which we play is editorial and content. A world in which the UK’s media has been decimated by the economic side effects of this crisis will be a poorer world to emerge into post lockdown. It will also be a world in which the truth is even harder to come by.
Certain and kind
I know it seems like we are in uncertain times; it’s for that very reason that we should all try to lead in our own, small ways. Part of that leadership means recognising certainty where it exists and using that certainty to help those around you thrive as you thrive yourself.
We are certain that the UK Government, and governments around the world, have given businesses the means to trade out of this downturn.
They’ve provided grants, tax breaks, loans and support to help pay those members of your team who can’t work, because they are ill or supporting their loved ones who are ill. They’ve given business the means to pay those members of staff whose jobs can’t be delivered during lockdown, which I know includes many manufacturers. They’ve provided certainty for the economy.
It’s now our turn to translate that certainty into kindness; into love in the time of corona (a phrase which I understand will have Gabriel García Márquez turning in his grave).
Let’s make sure we apply that kindness in our day to day lives, by doing everything that we can do in our communities to help the vulnerable stay safe. Whether that’s offering your businesses’ services to the Government’s respirator manufacturing push or simply fetching some shopping for the elderly people in your neighbourhood, you will be doing the right thing.
Let’s also make sure that we apply that kindness in our business relationships. Remember, the people you are trading with now will probably be the ones that you will want to trade with after the crisis. Those people will remember the compassion you show today for a very long time.
It’s true that what you read when you don’t have to determines what you will be when you can’t help it. It’s also true that the kindness you show when you don’t have to determines what other people will be when they have no choice.
Finally, it’s true that there will be an end to this awful, global, health crisis. I hope that you and your loved ones stay safe, and kind, throughout. And I hope that when that end comes, you can be proud of the people you helped, and who helped you, during this most difficult of times.
Richard Stone is the founder of Stone Junction, a specialist technical PR agency delivering international and digital PR and marketing services for scientific, engineering and technology companies. He believes that PR and marketing changes the world, that it builds Governments, raises businesses and elects Presidents. He also believes that it will help us through this difficult time. If you do as well, or even if you don’t, email him on richards@stonejunction.co.uk. After all, everyone needs someone to talk to when they are on lockdown.
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