It is impossible to speak all the time only about the war. So how to communicate right now?

Sergiy Kostya Marketing Director of Bolt in the CIS and Eastern Europe Marketing Communications Marketing Marketing Communications is gradually being restored, and brands are learning to communicate with an audience in a new language relevant in war. On February 24, the morning was a real shock not only for all citizens, but also for businesses that have operated in Ukraine.

How to react? What to do in new realities? These issues were constantly spinning in the head of most managers who had a large number of very important and complex decisions in a short time: both about the safety of loved ones and future businesses. Therefore, it is not surprising that on the day of the start of a full -scale invasion of Russia, the market was almost a minimum, most communications were stopped - and the silence was almost a day.

In addition, there were opposite cases, for example, when, due to technical malfunctions of advertising offices, some advertisers continued, unfortunately, irrelevant advertising campaigns. It is necessary to treat this with understanding. We all had a fairly effective "rehearsal" of communication during the pandemic, and businesses were already understood that it is impossible to remain silent, we need to be visible.

After all, it is the business that people are most trusted, and it is from him that the reaction is waiting. According to Edelman Trust Barometer 2022, trust in governments fell from 65% in 2020 to 52% in 2022. Due to the dominance of fake news that is actively reputing on social networks, the media lost the trust of 6%of respondents (in 2020, the media trust 56%, in 202, 2022 - 50%). Meanwhile, businesses are now firmly entrusted with 61% (in 2020 this figure was 62%).

Businesses realized that people were waiting for support and communication from brands and that "it is better not to remember the abusive words of enemies, but the silence of friends. " This was the key to further appeals and formed the brand-identity of companies in Ukraine. In the first weeks of invasion, the main trend was the functioning of the business - no one expected from the brands anything special, except for their presence and providing information on how they work under new conditions.

Of course, the war has radically changed the tone of communication. It is stored to this day. Currently, it is impossible to imagine entertaining content with a context in the country distant from the situation. This applies primarily to public communications, but personal are also very important. Look at the current ribbon of the average person. Every second, if not every first publication - about dawn, help, news, sometimes very sad.

Next, there is a single publication of a "former" life that will never be the same as before. It causes anger and very strong feelings. Now imagine that in the middle of such a ribbon, your brand with a smile and sunny streets from the "past" life appears in front of such a ribbon. There is a reasonable, though rhetorical question: dear, are you in the context? So how to communicate properly? It is impossible to speak only about the war all the time.

The answer is not easy, and the "magic pill" or some step -by -step instructions, what and how to do, do not exist. And it cannot exist, because it all depends on your audience, on the tone that it is used to what your company does. However, there are some tips that will definitely not be superfluous. 1. Sincerity should not lie to your users or customers. This should not be done before, but now - especially.

The audience is ready for bitter truth, and she does not need promises that you are unable to fulfill. People with understanding are ready to perceive what you can't deliver the order during the day, but they will hate you if you mislead them. 2. Timeliness forget about the content plans painted on the month in advance. The situation changes so quickly that by planning a conditional post about a "nice morning with a branded pot of coffee" on Tuesday, you can jump into a mess.

After all, on the night of Tuesday, the occupier can strike in the next city, and you with your "positive pot" will be in the middle of the ribbon for the dead. 3. Inflichers very meticulously check the influentors who are involved in promoting your content. Their reputation and "ambiguous" posts can do great damage to your brand. 4. Relevance and focus that it is not possible to talk about the war every day, but you have to do something every day to win. It is this rhetoric that should be today.

This should be obvious to anyone. Because 32-year-old Anna from Mariupol cannot be happy with delicious yogurt or free delivery, but she will definitely feel support when she knows that we provide 5% for our heroes for every trip to Ukraine or Europe. 5. Farewell, first, do not disappear from the radars and keep silent. Answer. And secondly, analyze very carefully what customers write.

Feedback will help you understand the pain of your target audience and allow you to adapt content: to make it timely, appropriate and necessary. Another point that is worth mentioning is a significant change in information consumption channels. The Country in the smartphone - I think, the authors did not imagine the realization of this idea, but today the whole country is 24/7 in the smartphone. From news to consumption. There are many obvious behavioral causes related to safety.

But significant marketing calculations, because the return of investments from communication today is not just a factor, but the key to the existence of a marketing department in the company. And this is very important. Online is the main playground. Although, of course, I recommend looking at the whole split. The media market crisis is not the first, and we should also use the ability to availability of channels such as Out-of-Home (OOH) and TV.

It will be a Win-Win strategy for all because it provides accessibility for advertisers and income for the media, which, in turn, promotes the revival of the economy. And the economic front for victory is very important. If you go deep, the split has the following consumption: SMM is a roupon of daily communications. Free or cheap and effective. Advertising in online is clearly targeting, calculated and tracked. TV, OOH is an available fast coverage.

PR - to promote the idea of ​​your communications. Of course, the order may vary depending on the product and the situation. War in Ukraine is a war everywhere, and in marketing as well. The war of Ukraine with Russia is the protection of the world from war. Therefore, every day we influence the marketing of Europe at least. The support that we observe from February 24 in the media and in the products themselves is very important. The brands were crystallized and give what they can.