By Rachel McElroy, chief marketing officer for technology solutions and services provider, Solutionize Global.

Amid a pandemic, no tech organisation wants to be remembered for the wrong things they’ve said or done during people’s true time of need. More than ever before, the world has required enterprises to be authentic, empathetic, and human in their communications.

Working in marketing for a £42 million turnover tech firm, my department has been challenged to strike the right balance between optimism and humility – while keeping stakeholders informed throughout. Any long-term plans have typically had to be adapted to ensure we maintain a consistent and appropriate tone of voice.

But how can other firms in our industry strike the right chord as the global economy continues in its quest for ‘normality’?

Here are my key points to consider:

Be authentic in the face of a crisis

Honesty, empathy, and trust are all intrinsic elements for tech organisations – possessing all these factors can help set you apart from competitors. And with physical connections being removed because of COVID-19, enterprises have been forced to connect with customers in different ways.

For our marketing team and ‘brand champions’, we’ve made a point of focusing on being ‘human’ and underlining how we truly understand what our audience might be going through. Empathising with challenges that everybody continues to face is critical when cutting through the vast online noise – and for us it’s showed that we do care.

Implementing stakeholder centricity to move beyond the pandemic

I’ve found that by providing strong, timely and honest internal comms can help to achieve that all-important employee buy-in and motivate your colleagues to strive for better outcomes. After all, a purpose-driven ethos should be the embodiment of your company’s vision.

And following the customer feedback we’ve been receiving, it’s clear that they want tech firms to be relatable and only then will they become fully-fledged ‘brand advocates’ who remain loyal to the cause – when you need them the most.

Maintaining a strong sense of culture and values

Having a robust but agile comms strategy has also been vital for us in terms of tapping into our employee engagement. As a marketer, I’m a big fan of encouraging a flexible, more autonomous culture that comes complete with a flatter hierarchy.

And to do this, our department has had a huge role to play in terms of adapting to vast changes and driving the company ethos cross-departmentally with educational, inspirational, and motivational comms throughout.

For many marketers in our industry, they might not have been accustomed to this type of environment before so it’s important to keep communicating and collaborating – regardless of where colleagues are based and how ‘hybrid’ operations now are – to maintain strong in-house relationships.

Focusing on an agile approach throughout

As customer behaviour continues to change, we as marketers need to not only adjust, review and be prepared to switch direction, but be adaptable to jump on news trends, analyse insights, and ensure we’re reacting to of-the-moment demands. Creativity is key to all this and adopting an omnichannel experience has proven to be essential for our firm when rolling our effective digital comms.

Post-pandemic, our industry should be living and breathing core values as audience expectations and emotions remain high. The challenge now is to continue being relatable, honest, and authentic. By producing real, open, and consistent comms you can begin to build a truly solid foundation – and create a stronger future for your culture, customer loyalty, and commercial success.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash