illustration covid19 checklistHere at Hopscotch, we kind of geek out on checklists. They are critical to our client planning process, ensuring we, as an agency, deliver on time and on budget without letting details slip through the cracks.

As we all find ourselves in new, uncharted times we felt the need to develop a COVID-19 Digital Marketing Checklist for businesses of all sizes. Adapted from Pixelspoke, it covers all things digital marketing related that might require extra attention or reconsideration. Right now, your customers need you more than ever. Regardless of your current situation, leveraging digital channels efficiently and consistently, will help you keep the lines of communication open. And show your customers that you truly care.

Website Homepage & Navigation

  • Homepage hero: Review the content in your homepage hero. Use this critical space to acknowledge the times we’re in and link to a page or resource hub with more information.
  • COVID-19 resource page: It isn’t necessary, or advisable, to put all COVID-19 related information on your homepage, but be sure you link to this content from your homepage. We recommend a central page that links off to product pages, blog posts and other resources as necessary. If you offer business services, you may want to consider a separate COVID-19 resource page for your business customers.
  • Imagery: Assess all photography on your homepage — now is not the time to feature a happy stock photo model driving his or her new car. Consider photos of people at home, working or doing chores or spending time with families. Pay close attention and wherever possible, avoid images of large crowds or gatherings.
  • Promotions: Reevaluate all promotions on your homepage to ensure that they don’t come across as insensitive or self-serving. Focus on promoting products or services related to helping your customers through the crisis.
  • Navigation menus. While we don’t recommend revamping your entire website navigation, you may want to consider adding a COVID-19 resource page or other relevant drop-down menu.
  • Alert bar: Focus the messaging in your alert bar to short (1-2 sentence) announcements that are important to display globally throughout the site.

Customer Support & Assistance

  • Contact information: If you have new communication channels (like live chat) and/or different operating hours, make sure this information is accurately reflected in your contact page.
  • Form confirmation messages: If you’re getting deluged by contact form submissions and are taking longer than usual to respond, use the contact form confirmation message to set expectations on when a customer can expect a response.
  • Live chat: Make sure the option is prominently highlighted on your contact page, and throughout the site. If you’ve been thinking about implementing live chat options on your website but haven’t gotten around to it yet, now might be the time.
  • Frequently asked questions (FAQs): Create a dedicated FAQ category related to COVID-19. Check with your staff members responding to customer inquiries about the common questions they are already receiving.

Reputation Management

  • Respond to all reviews. Make sure to respond to all reviews, positive and negative, across review sites. Keep in mind, it’s not just about replying to the reviewer. It’s for everyone who’s reading that review, which could very well include future customers.
  • Be empathetic. With every appropriate interaction, reassure your customers that your business is making every effort to follow guidelines from trusted sources like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as federal, state and local governments to ensure the well-being of all customers and employees.
  • Defer to a trusted authority. As new information about the virus surfaces and guidance for dealing with the outbreak evolves, encourage customers to refer to the CDC guidelines and/or government sources (federal, state, local) for further direction about how to protect themselves and their families.
  • Be flexible. As the crisis evolves, your business may need to make changes as well. You might need to adjust customer expectations as new information or guidance is provided by the experts and government leaders.

Blog

  • News blog: Share your own story and be transparent. Turn your news blog and/or press center into a running log of the ways in which your business has been affected by the crisis and the steps your taking to address it. No one has all the answers right now and everyone’s plans are subject to change — that’s ok. Your customers just want to know what’s going on. It might be worth creating a dedicated “COVID-19” news category and including a category feed from your central COVID-19 resource page.
  • Video blog: Your customers want to hear from you. They want reassurance everything will be alright. They also want to see a familiar face. With today’s smartphones, videos are incredibly easy to shoot and can make a huge impact. While no one is expecting Hollywood quality lighting or sound it’s still important to be aware of your surroundings.
  • Talk about your employees: What steps are you taking to protect them? Your customers want to know they are doing business with a company that is taking care of its own people.
  • Pay attention to your tone: Your number one priority right now is informing your customers, not selling products. Make sure that’s clear in everything you share. Humility and authenticity are key.
  • Community partners: Shine a spotlight on partner organizations and/or customers doing great work in the community. Not only does it reinforce your commitment to your local community, but we could all use some bright spots during these challenging times!
  • Customer & employee stories: Consider featuring a selection of stories that demonstrate how you’re helping your customers and employees through the crisis. Not only are stories a powerful way to highlight the range of experiences your customers and employees are having, but they also show your community that you have their back.

Email

  • Automated emails: Audit all automated emails. Transactional emails are still helpful, but any welcome series or automated promotional series should be revised or paused.
  • Email cadence: Reevaluate your email cadence. Even though everyone’s inboxes are flooded with COVID-19 related communications, now is the time to err on the side of over-communication. A monthly newsletter might not be enough during these uncertain times. Remember, out of sight is out of mind.
  • Email content: Send information of immediate value. While we recommend ramping up your email cadence, don’t communicate simply for the sake of communicating. Videos are engaging and a great way to show your authenticity.

Social Media

  • Scheduled posts and campaigns: Audit any scheduled social media posts, as well as social media advertising and other paid advertising. Pause all insensitive or irrelevant campaigns or revise copy to make sure you don’t come across as tone deaf.
  • Social media cadence: Reevaluate your social media cadence. Now might be the time to ramp up your presence on social, including posting more frequently and responding more promptly.
  • Social media content: Communicate frequently. If you are a restaurant owner, share any weekly changes in the take-out menu. If you’re a chiropractor you could post online videos about relaxation. Shine a spotlight on the community coming together. Consider using Facebook Live or Instagram Stories when updating your customers. It’s also OK to sprinkle in a little humor, too. Remember, many customers pay more attention to social channels than their email inboxes.
  • Social media response: Customers might be leveraging social media to ask questions and will be frustrated if those questions go unanswered.

SEO

  • Location pages: Update your website location pages to reflect revised hours, limited services, closures, and/or re-openings.
  • Revised hours: Update all third-party listings with revised hours. Review and update your Google My Business and all other local listings so that customers know your revised hours. The best way to do this at present is to set “special hours” from your GMB account.
  • Closures and re-openings: Update third-party listings to communicate temporary closures. Google and Yelp have both introduced ways to mark your stores as “temporarily closed.” If you’ve already done this and are now re-opening stores, don’t forget to mark them on Google and Yelp as open.
  • Location names: Edit location names on your Google listings to indicate drive-through or appointment-only services. You can now edit your business name on Google to clearly reflect what’s available — for instance, “Credit Union Location Name — Drive-Through Only.” If you’ve already done this, don’t forget to revisit your location names if you’re starting to re-open branches.
  • Google My Business Posts: Use Google My Business posts to communicate COVID-19 related updates. Google has newly created a Google posts type for these updates that you’ll see as an option in your GMB dashboard.

During these times, the most important thing you can do is be present and thoughtful with your marketing. Now is not the time to put your sales hat on. Consistency with your message across all digital channels is what will set you apart. And authenticity will help you leave a positive impression.