Illinois Park and Recreation Association Presented by Aaamir Munshi, MBA and Jodi Rudick, La Jolla Village Merchants Association

1. Marketing and Branding Lessons
amidst the Pandemic
Presented by: Mr. Aamir Anees Munshi
Founder – The Learning Scape
Director (Marketing and Operations) – Continental Exports

2. Agenda
• Introduction and Welcomes
• Evolution of social media content: Unfolding changes
• Pandemic Communications Essentials: What Coronavirus has taught the
communications fraternity
• Digital Marketing Tactics: How to use them wisely now post-COVID
• Social Media Management x Mental Health
• Summary
• Q&A
2

3. Introduction and Welcomes
3

4. Introduction – Jodi Rudick
• Began sales and marketing career at age 7 selling
imprinted Holiday Cards to unsuspecting neighbors
• Park and Recreation Marketing and Branding Specialist
• Parks Make Life Better (2008)
• Parks and Recreation – The Benefits are Endless (1994)
• Since 1994, has spoken in all 50 States
• Served Over 10 years as Park and Recreation
Commissioner, City of Oceanside, City of Carlsbad
(California)
• CPRS/IPRA Webinar Faculty/Coordinator – 8 years
• Current - Executive Director, La Jolla Village Merchants
Association (Best Job EVER!)
4

5. Introduction - Aamir Anees Munshi
5

6. Evolution of social media content: Unfolding changes
6

7. How many of you / your organizations started communicating more
often through social media after the advent of COVID-19?
Poll Link: http://etc.ch/Vt7r
7

8. COVID-19 was a catalyst, not an outcome
• Brands today heavily bank on digital channels for business expansion.
• One such key channel is social media - the quickest way to dive into a sea of
target audiences.
• The growing dynamism and shifts of social circumstances, and more
significantly, the COVID-19 pandemic, has pushed brands to relook at their
communications, restructure their messages and rethink storytelling altogether.
8

9. COVID-19 was a catalyst, not an outcome
9

10. Staying relevant: How brands restructured their messages
• The pandemic phase has been of fear, caution and conservatism for
consumers, and that has reflected on the communication strategies of brands.
• What has actually changed is what brands are saying on social media and how
they are connecting with the audience.
• Brands are being empathetic in their tone and manner.
• Being reassuring while maintaining the brand perspective, purpose and
proposition remains equally important for them.
10

11. Staying relevant: #Care4Carlsbad
11

12. Staying relevant: How brands restructured their messages
• Brands chose to be the voice of positivity and helpfulness during and post
lockdown.
• Content on fitness, tips on work-from-home styling, workout styling and which
beauty products to use became the focus.
• People in general started consuming content in multitudes, compared to what
they did before.
12

13. Staying relevant: How brands restructured their messages
13

14. Brands bringing out their unfiltered side
14

15. Rawness and reliability are now an expectation of brands
on social vis-a-vis just an audience preference
15

16. Achieving agility to navigate the new age
• New-age companies possess notable agility and flexibility - something that
many brands strive to achieve.
• Marketing teams have realized that they must move fast, react fast, and
change their messaging fast to cope with the changing circumstances. This is a
very pleasant change found in marketing, social media connect as well as in
connect creation.
16

17. Achieving agility to navigate the new age
17

18. Agility in using Instagram Reels as a new form of content
18

19. Agility in using Memes as a marketing technique
• Forget emoji. Clean
your desktop of the
GIFs. Memes are now
the way to
communicate.
• They’re spreading
across the internet as a
fun way to engage
communities.
19

20. Be authentic and consistent
• Defining the core value of the brand to internal stakeholders is very important.
• Consistency of sticking to the core brand value is also crucial.
• Getting excited by newer topics tends to shift focus from the core brand
messaging. Hence, a check on this aspect by brand custodians will prove to be
rewarding in the long run for consistency and authenticity is what ultimately
builds a brand.
20

21. Be authentic and consistent
La Jolla By The Sea
stands true to its core
values of giving
consumers a picturesque
view (very
Instagrammable) along
with a plethora of options
for retail, dining and
entertainment.
21

22. Be authentic and consistent
22

23. Pandemic Communications Essentials:
What Coronavirus has taught the communications fraternity
23

24. What defines the communications industry
• The communications industry is an apt reflection of our time: fast-paced and in
need of constant evolution.
• Especially during crises, well-devised communications can become the
quickest tool in ensuring business continuity and responding to unprecedented
situations.
• With businesses of all sizes affected, communication leaders were faced with
an anxious audience that required messages that showed depth of emotion,
while still being disruptive.
24

25. Poll: According to you, which platform is ideal for the 3
functions of a brand during a crisis?
Social Media Platform Brand Function
Facebook Inform
Instagram Entertain
Snapchat Connect
Twitter
25

26. Communicating clearly and promptly
• One of the foremost principles is communicating clearly and promptly - through
the right channels, to the right audience with the right message.
• Every crisis causes an information vacuum – hence, if one doesn’t act fast,
rumours and criticism can aid in blowing the situation up further.
• Approaching the situation with honesty and empathy was one of the key ways
in driving successful communication during this time – showing that you care,
was the only story to tell.
26

27. The need for bringing empathy, urgency and transparency
into messaging
It’s easier to trust in a company or a brand that has always been honest and
worked to engage with their audiences instead of one trying to build a positive
image when a crisis strikes. Thus, a communication professional’s work in
building a transparent, approachable corporate brand should be a continuous,
ongoing process/
1. Firstly, understanding the emotions of the audience is an important skill of
a communicator and is tested during times of a crisis.
2. Secondly, it’s important to deliver an empathetic message in a timely
manner to mitigate business or stakeholder harm.
3. And lastly, transparency is key to building trust in anything – communications
being no different.
27

28. Honesty, empathy, and social consciousness will win on
social
28

29. Communicating with employees truthfully and conveying
hope for the future.
• One of the biggest priority areas is communicating clearly with employees to
ensure their professional and personal safety and general wellbeing. The best
organizations and professionals in the world put the security of their people
first.
• Most organizations should have a well-formed internal communications
channel, which encourages open dialogue and feedback – a platform that
allows for sharing of positive information about the health of an organization,
as well as the more bitter pills to swallow.
29

30. Communicating with employees truthfully and conveying
hope for the future.
30

31. The power of communities in the face of a crisis.
• Many of us are a part of organizations that we believe in. Organizations that
work tirelessly in delivering community benefit: on-ground and where it matters.
• Focusing on human interest stories helps amplify the work being done with
community partners. The visibility garnered during this period is widespread
and substantive, creating high visibility on the Community Response Initiatives
of the brand.
31

32. The power of communities in the face of a crisis.
32

33. Social listening and community engagement will be at
the forefront of marketing strategies
33

34. Digital Marketing Tactics:
How to use them wisely now post-COVID
34

35. Communication: Less is more
• Communication matters now more than ever.
• The lack of real-life communication is creating an ongoing mental health crisis.
In this scenario, audiences crave empathetic voices that resonate with their
experience. In this scenario, the adage “less is more” is essential. When
crafting a message, it’s important to be genuine.
• The specifics don’t matter as much: you need to focus on empathy, on stories
that are relatable to the audience’s current situation, and on solutions to their
current problems.
35

36. Communication: Less is more
36

37. Offer help to reap the long-term rewards
• Empathy doesn’t just mean commiserating with the audience’s problems.
• In this scenario, soft-sell campaigns aimed towards building consumer trust
and long-term relationships will be far more effective than product-based hard
sells.
• Wherever it’s possible and economically feasible, find ways to help your
audience, no strings attached.
• Use this time to build the story of why you care for the customer. When the
world goes back to normal, the trust you build will reward you manifoldly.
37

38. Social Media Managers on how they take care of their
Mental Health while on the job
38

39. Social Media Management and Mental Health
Poll Link: http://etc.ch/3CUY
39

40. Social Media Management and Mental Health
• Marketers feeling like they have to be “always on” for their jobs – this makes it
difficult for social media managers to focus on their day-to-day responsibilities.
• They may experience side effects like an inability to concentrate, exhaustion
and an overall lack of motivation, especially when these mental health issues
are left untreated.
40

41. Coronavirus Content Fatigue
41

42. Communications via Social Media
• The role of social media manager can be a
testing one. From long days staring at
screens, to being the first point of contact
when something goes awry, the pressure
is on, and the phone is rarely off.
• Dealing with everything from screen
fatigue, to managing the lines of
communication between a brand and its
customers, social media managers are at
the risk of burning out fast if they don't
take care of themselves.
42

43. Useful tips for social media managers to manage their
mental health
43

44. Useful tips for social media managers to manage their
mental health
44

45. Summary
• Approach communications with humility – recognizing humbly, that what we
have to say and what people might need to listen to may be different.
• Humility should be the thread that binds every piece of communication together
– if you have the power to affect another human being, this characteristic of
crisis communications is non-negotiable.
• As Winston Churchill famously said- “Never let a good crisis go to waste”, my
hope for the communications industry is to take these learnings into the new
normal with renewed vigor, and help keep the message of hope alive. For after
all - we’re all in this together.
45

46. GH
46

47. Thank you for joining us today!
Feel free to connect on LinkedIn and/or reach out for
any additional questions or queries at
aamir@thelearningscape.com.
47