Given the current situation with the US on lock down and the whole world essentially combating the virus, the level of sensitivity has escalated significantly. In my prior military role I automated supply chain management for medical supplies and equipment. I worked in the hospital and had other wartime duties. These additional duties required that I have some of the same training as the medical staff. One of those training courses, which is common in all medical facilities is sensitivity training.
After reading a fair amount of posts online that contained negative feedback, it occurred to me in this day and age marketers need sensitivity training. As an example, using the word viral today even in a social channel context can be enough to offend individuals that are less engaged in modern social terminology. With the stay at home initiatives in place, content consumers are on the rise and with more time to scrutinize content.
A marketing sensitivity training course does not need to be formal. It can be as simple as a one hour training followed by weekly discussions around content feedback to refine tone. Leverage your SEO team and your Paid Search team in the training so you can tailor the training specific to your industry and brand. SEO and Paid Search teams should have a solid understanding and or can research negative keywords. Understanding positive and negative trigger keywords is essential in crafting ad copy, page titles, and meta descriptions.
Your level of sensitivity adjustments can go as far as increasing the proofreading to include SEO and Paid Search if they are not already included in your content production process, and or it can be as informal as providing the list of keywords to the copywriters and editors that should be avoided. The keyword list is dynamic as the news and situation evolves so must your tone and level of sensitivity. Most marketers are writing content with the best of intentions, but the reader ultimately decides what is in good taste or bad taste based on their individual perception. With some of the social teams I have managed we had weekly reviews of feedback from our content initiatives to
Brand protection should be core to every growth strategy. Sustainable growth is achieved when we plan for the unexpected. Providing your team with levers they can pull based on the unexpected circumstances is often the difference between a significant decline and a blip on the radar so to speak. The team at sitejet work with numerous companies of all sizes to develop growth strategies that employ brand protection. Check out our Digital Shield service for more information.