The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about an unprecedented change in business operations, especially those related to customer service. Managers are working hard to understand, anticipate, and surpass consumer expectations marginally.

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the global healthcare system and forced businesses to re-think their strategies to become adaptive. Undoubtedly, the crisis has sparked a newfound appreciation in the power of technology.

Brand continuity is maintaining a consistent image, experience, customer care, relationship building, engagement and communication throughout and across marketing activities. Consistency is the key to success. As brands are communicated digitally, the marketing scenario is focused on delivering a cohesive image across all channels.

Verbal storytelling has been historically an effective method of communication. This stands true today. The increasing popularity of podcasts as a marketing tool is proof that people still enjoy learning about experiences, events, and emotions in a narrative form.

In a fast-paced digital era, content is king. Reading quality content can encourage a reader to resonate with a brand. It is important to create a content strategy to position your brand in the best light. It has become crucial for brands to place the utmost importance on content marketing.

Since their inception, brands have always tried to gauge the opinions of the public. It’s not an entirely new concept to want to know what your customers are thinking, it’s just that technology has now evolved to the point where we are able to do this with more success. By utilising social media, we are now able to uncover what our audiences are saying about our own brands, our competitors, our industry and the market in general. 

We are sharing an article off the back of our successful Webinar The Art of Storytelling in Communicating to Audiences. In this article, LSPR’s expert trainer and communications professional Susan Croft shares with us her top tips for engaging your audiences. Her tips are applicable to verbal presentations and written communications.

Corporate Social Responsibility tends to be associated with “maximising value for shareholders." The scope of CSR has broadened, as brands address various social concerns. CSR now includes the environment broadly, diversity, sustainability, ethical production, climate change and workforce equality.

The current crisis has impacted the world in a way, we could not have imagined. Covid-19 has instilled a sense of fear and uncertainty, compelling people to keep their physical distance, but at the same time, bringing them empathetically closer than ever. The pandemic has transformed our way of life. The changes are happening at the blink of an eye.

We are realising that we are more interconnected than we ever knew, and undoubtedly, we are seeing that sustainability really matters in business. The health of our communities affects our business. The wellbeing of our team affects our business. We breathe the same air, and at least in this period, we are fighting the same enemy – if we do so together, we will come out stronger together.

The goodwill of a business is an asset. However, it makes it a vulnerable asset. It is a very thin line, which once crossed can take years to rebuild. What matters the most in the long run, is how a company stands back up after falling. This is where Crisis Management comes into the picture.

An attractive personal brand is synonymous with the success of a business. It has been researched and proven that people generally associate a brand with a dominant person working in the company.

People are more interested in following other people rather than following companies. Human connection often creates a level of trust that is stronger than any relationship a company can attain.

Supermarket shelves are stripped bare. Hotels, pubs, gyms, and restaurants are closed. Holidays cancelled. We are separated from our friends and family, trying to stay healthy and looking at new ways of living and working. And these are still early days.

In less than a fortnight, Britain has experienced the kind of social and political upheaval that normally only comes when you guillotine a royal, or go to war.

LSPR's Training Director, Dalal Nageh has compiled a list of action plans to facilitate the process

The situation with the Covid-19 is causing an unprecedented change globally and impacting our working lives. 

Organisations have swiftly had to adapt, implementing measures for employees, as well as management, to work remotely.

As part of your crisis planning, it is advisable to put in place remote-working policies that take into account events that impact people working from an office. These plans and policies will need to remain flexible and adaptable, to take into consideration a rapidly changing landscape.

Where possible, training comes in useful to help people prepare for such scenarios. This form of preparation, however, is not always feasible. Keep in mind that during this period there are measures that can be actioned to help improve the engagement and productivity of remote employees.

It is that time of year where New Year’s resolutions may or may not have been fulfilled and guilt starts to creep in. It is crucial to take stock, think of ways to be kinder to yourself and nurture your well-being. It is easy to be drawn back into worries about family, job security, stress in general and everything that comes from modern living.

Here are my top 6 tips to help you re-wind, take stock and be kinder to yourself:

So, what is it like to be part of the training experience at LSPR? For an added dimension to their learning journey on the 5-day Fundamentals of PR Diploma, our delegates were taken to a visit to the London Museum of Brands.

Having clear communications helps shape perception about your brand. Formulating a communications campaign around your brand’s positioning is vital. Although the plan and campaign are important for engagement, the purpose can be missed in the excitement of generating the next big creative idea.

#InstagramHidesLikes

There has been considerable attention on the story that Instagram users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand will no longer be able to see how many likes they get. The change will only affect those countries at the moment, as Instagram is training this to see if removes the pressure off digital platform’s users.

At LSPR we have formulated a Management thinking approach, which we believe delivers positive results in the workplace. We bring this positive management approach into our teams and integrate it within the leadership related training we deliver to our clients.

 It is built on the following four principles:

Growing up, we tell our children not to use the F-Word, but since June 23rd, 2016 there has been a new taboo added to the British vocabulary, the dreaded B-Word; Brexit.

All eyes are on the Californian tech giant after it's largest ever outage which affected users worldwide overnight. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is not offering any specific answers to the reasons  behind the crash, nor to his future vision of the company. 

With the ever-growing number of new businesses and start-ups, it is vital that your companies’ message is being heard over the plethora of competitors.

Why the 20th century crisis management approach is failing organisations and what supporting techniques are required

The PR industry is constantly changing. The biggest impact has been the digital revolution and namely social media. Being digitally savvy is a must for anyone moving into PR. Here’s my list of top 5 most relevant changes to have impacted the PR industry.

"Influencer marketing in 2018 will become an integral part of a brand’s marketing mission" said Anand Narayanan, Head of Digital at Panasonic UK. Research has found that 67% of marketers think influencer marketing campaigns have helped them reach a more targeted audience, thus having an overwhelmingly positive affect on their respective businesses.

Tips for brands to succeed in Influencer marketing: