Safety and Support: Marketing in the Age of “Is It OK to Have Fun Again?” 

A year ago at this time, I was writing blogs about how to “manage the transition.” 

Specifically, it was the transition to a pandemic footing; how to run your business while keeping staff and customers safe. 

Now, once again, I’m writing about how to “manage the transition.” 

This time, however, it’s about keeping your staff and customers safe while managing the transition to opening up more. Obviously, safety is always paramount, yet as vaccines become increasingly prevalent, people are going to want to go out. 

At our search engine marketing firm, we’ve been working with companies that are opening up more and more. Below are some ways that other industries are doing so. 

Sea World 

Like so many other businesses, Sea World suffered during the pandemic. 

As this article shows, they dealt with the pandemic about as well as any business in their position could be expected to. 

“After the initial shock of the shutdown, the company overhauled its marketing and showed attendees in masks.” 

What struck me the most about this interview is this exchange:
“The company’s recent commercial asks: ‘Are you ready for real?’ What’s the goal there?” 

“What we’re trying to do is make people aware that it’s OK to have fun again.” 

I believe that’s going to be a very important line to walk in the months ahead. 

You’ll note the way it was phrased. It wasn’t: “hey, everything’s exactly as it was” or anything like that. Rather, it was “it’s OK to have fun again.” If you want to have fun again, you can. 

That’s something you can incorporate into your own marketing, essentially no matter what you’re doing. 

You may even want to go back through some of your old marketing materials, things you were going to use in March of 2020 but didn’t. 

For example, if you sell gardening materials or you’re a florist, that sort of thing, you can show those pictures and videos of people in groups appreciating flowers again. You can show folks in groups, at an event together, something similar. They’re far, far less likely to initiate a feeling of dread or loss like they may have not all that long ago. But, you don’t have to rush into it. 

“Safety is Going to Take a Support Role” 

That’s what “airline analyst Henry Harteveldt” recently said. That certainly feels true for more than just the airline industry, too.
Another great quote from that article: “We’ll still see some level of safety-related messaging continue, at least for the near term. But it’ll shift from ‘It’s safe to fly’ to ‘Here’s how we are still keeping you safe.” 

That’s an important line to walk for your own company, too, regardless of if you’re in the airline industry. 

Just because more people are getting vaccinated (or if you and your staff have) you don’t want to immediately move on from all of the actions that you took during the pandemic. 

After all, plenty of folks are going to continue to want those kinds of safety precautions. Even as you move toward post-pandemic footing, make it clear that you’re not jettisoning everything you learned and did during the pandemic. 

As with all other aspects of online marketing, our search engine marketing firm can help. For more: (888) 477-9540.