Admit it. You’ve seen a subject line with COVID-19 mentioned anywhere in it and clicked on “delete”.
Does that make you insensitive or uncaring during a national crisis and international pandemic (is that redundant)?
Possibly.
It also makes you human.
As humans, we react a certain way. A few bangs on the drum and we listen. A constant beat will soon have us covering our ears. And that’s largely what’s happening when you use COVID-19 in your subject line. And there’s a trickledown effect to other phrases.
Like, “during these troubled times,” and others.
Does that mean you’re not supposed to mention the elephant in the room, AKA the COVID-19 crisis?
No. It just means you have to consider your audience when you create messaging.
Are they turning to you for information about the crisis? Unless you’re an authority of some kind, probably not.
Your audience probably wants to know something a combination of things. If its your regular e-mail list, that combination could include something about your business, the current crisis, and how it affects them.
For example, PR Works has put together messaging for clients ranging from hours of operation during the crisis to a company’s COVID-19 process for people who enter a job site.
Or maybe you have an offering that’s relevant to the crisis. Case in point, a PR Works client that makes portable flooring for labs and healthcare facilities.
Conversely, this could be a great time to capture people’s attention by talking about something else. Anything else. Maybe you have a relatively new offering. Drafting a few blog articles and pushing them out to your social media channels might be a welcome sight to people wanting to read some good news.
Or merely different news.
One of the very few beauties of this time is that more people than usual have the time to read. As the theme song from Cheers said, “Taking a break from all your worries sure could help a lot.”
We are all very concerned about what’s going on in our world right now. If you’re putting out a COVID-19 message, that’s great. Just remember to think about your audience and all that they’re taking in right now. The message that doesn’t get read, doesn’t get heard.
Need some help with your messaging? Give us a call at 781-582-1061 or drop a line.
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