Is Marketing Services During a Crisis “Ambulance Chasing?”

The response to COVID-19 has felt alien to a certain extent.
Hospitals assembling tents. Walmart and CVS creating pop-up testing drive-throughs.
Grocery stores scrambling to keep basic necessities on the shelves. Graphs of
various “peak virus” scenarios having wildly different implications. Unusual
and unnerving photos during an unprecedented period.

COVID-19 has created a surplus for many services (e.g., air
travel and hospitality), while creating excess demand for other services (e.g.,
healthcare). Which leads to the central question of this blog: “Should
companies offering needed services at market rates hold back on marketing
outreach for fear of being viewed as ambulance chasers?”

I’ll give you an example. This past week, I was consulting
with a company that provides facility management services to a wide range of
industries, including healthcare. Given the crisis, I suggested that it do
proactive marketing outreach to clients and non-clients to deliver a quick and relevant
message about the services they have available.

The CEO cautioned that this type of communication could
be considered in poor taste. I countered that it was being helpful.

Helpful services aren’t tacky if you need them.

There are many service providers that target the healthcare
industry, K-12 schools, senior housing, and daycares. Commercial cleaning
companies, project management and assessment, temporary staffing companies, and
more have valuable services that are likely in high demand due to the crisis.

Why are marketing campaigns to connect a service to an
explicit, high-demand need inherently seen as tacky? It’s tackier to push
services in the absence of expressed or obvious need.

For example, newly formed enterprises selling hand sanitizer
on Amazon for $50 is not only tacky, it’s criminal price gouging. But a reputable,
established companies offering relevant and helpful services during a time of
great need? That’s important, and it’s constructive to helping others get
through this pandemic.

If you can help, don’t shy away from outreach.

I suggest putting together an email blast that is
professional, succinct, and follows this basic approach:

• Start the narrative with the benefits your
  services provide.
• Quickly showcase your knowledge of the buyer and
  his/her current situation.
• Briefly describe the services and why your
  company is uniquely qualified to help.

And since many email blasts go into spam folders, marketing
or sales should place a follow-up call and leave a brief message. But I would recommend
only one round of outreach and follow-up. If COVID-19 has created a need, your
company will get a response.

Don’t be hesitant about posting to social media. Lead with
the benefit and offer a link to information about the service and company. If
you feel your offering is a best kept secret during this difficult time,
consider running a short-term digital advertising campaign. We don’t suggest
spamming a cold list ever, so this is a way to cast a wider net in a short time
span.

What if you feel like your service isn’t critical in the current
environment?

If you’re unsure as to whether to run communications or not,
ask yourself about your primary motivations. If you’re coming from a place of
“giving” and being helpful, marketing is completely appropriate and absolutely
needed.

It’s fine if your service isn’t particularly useful to the
environment created by COVID-19. But you shouldn’t lose sight of marketing as a
long-term investment. You could be planning now for hitting the pedal when your
customer base feels confident again and wants to get back to normal. So consider
investing time and effort into building a strong marketing infrastructure,
setting your company up for strong campaigns, and refraining from direct
outreach.

In that case, marketing doesn’t need to disappear. It simply needs to change course.