As these dark clouds of the dreaded coronavirus hover above us, the numbers of those infected keeps on rising each passing day; resulting in a severe economic downturn.

Most companies are now operating at significantly reduced capacity as they try to stay afloat while still keeping their workforce safe.

Without a doubt, COVID-19 has caused unprecedented disruption to our lives. Remote working has now become the order of the day. Productivity has taken a huge hit in the process and consumers are uncertain about the future.

It is safe to say that businesses and organizations are now operating in crisis mode.

As management, how are you handling this situation? How do you keep your brand healthy amid the pandemic?

What are you doing to ensure that your operations don’t grind to a halt?

Have you got a contingency plan in place?

Most importantly, how are you handling your employees and clients?

Do you want to keep your brand healthy despite the global health crisis? These 4 recommendations might prove useful:

1. Introduce a Crisis Communication Plan straightaway.

This should be your guide on how to handle and navigate through the crisis.  Make sure it is relevant and deliverable. But since the COVID-19 crisis is no ordinary crisis, your communication plan should have the following;

• Chain of command for making decisions linked to closures and for handling media inquiries
• The phone numbers for the team members, key stakeholders, and the local health department
• Appoint a spokesperson/s who can also act as the first point of contact.
• Prepare statements that will address different scenarios such as government directives that will affect your operations, a change in shifts and production, etc.
• Remote working policies
• Guidelines to employees on how best to protect themselves, their colleagues and families

2. Reassure Your Clients

As you join the rest of the world in battling the COVID-19 pandemic, your clients are somewhat worried about how you’ll continue serving them. During this time, you need to reassure them. Consistent communication is key. Here’s what you need to do:

• First and foremost, you MUST have a Business Continuity Plan in place. This informs your stakeholders of how you’ll navigate through this crisis
• The plan also shows them the steps you have taken to ensure that your business recovers from the crisis and how that will affect their business as well.

3. What Else Can You Do?

Once you have the plans in place, there are other effective steps you can take to support your efforts during the crisis. These are:

• If possible you can also create a webpage that strictly offers coronavirus updates and safety guidelines
• Use your social media platforms to communicate to your target audience. You can use these platforms to share content that encourages them to stay safe, observe social distancing, work-from-home, etc.
• You can also share posts that build positivity. As a brand, you should also take leadership in building trust and fostering positivity amidst a crisis.
• Ensure timely and frequent communication with your employees

4. Listen and Give Feedback

Be prepared to respond with practical and compassionate answers to all the questions that your workers and clients might have. Have in place a two-way process for communicating with employees, including intranet, emails, FAQs, company meetings, and so on. Do not leave room for speculation as this will only complicate the situation.

It is important that you encourage a collaborative approach and make sure both staff and stakeholders are participants in the process. This will underline the message that we are all in this together.