Thought Leadership | Personal branding | Marketing | Best Practices | Fanocracy
While sheltering in place at my home near Boston, I wanted to share a few thoughts about the COVID-19 situation. Bottom line: We’re all in this together. Let’s be safe and let’s support each other!
Maybe I’m a bit dense or perhaps the initial rhetoric out of the U.S. Government was too misleading, but it took me several weeks to realize the reasons for self-isolating. It’s not so much to prevent getting Covid-19 as it is managing the inevitable.
If we do nothing, millions of people become sick at once and the healthcare system will be overwhelmed, unable to cope. However, if we do our part to “flatten the curve” of infection by not spreading the virus quickly, we all help to save lives because people will be able to get treatment.
Here’s the best explanation I’ve seen on why it’s important to isolate ourselves from one another. From the Washington Post: Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to “flatten the curve”.
Covid-19 and the events business
All my speaking engagements in March, April, and May have been either postponed or cancelled. I love speaking around the world, and I will miss interacting with people at the events.
I will be fine. However, I worry about the many people who work in the events business. There are so many professionals who I rely on to make me look good. I’m super concerned for people who work at speaker bureaus, the super talented event planners, AV technicians, stagehands, caterers, photographers, security staff, hotel staff, and others. Many of these people are freelancers and work from gig to gig. I hope we emerge from the crisis quickly and the event business picks up again before these people are forced to drastic action.
I’m trying to do my part by continuing to hire freelancers during this time. It’s easy for a tiny business like mine to simply eliminate the use of virtual help, but I think it’s really important for those who can, like me, to help as many people as possible by continuing to provide work.
Virtual events
Several organizations are developing exciting virtual events that I will be speaking at. I’ll be sharing others via social media over the next weeks.
IMPACT, the company I work with to design and build my websites including Fanocracy.com and DavidMeermanScott.com is hosting a virtual Digital Sales and Marketing Day. I’ll be presenting a talk titled How to Use the Power of Mirror Neurons to Build Fans of Your Videos
In today’s covid-19 reality, marketers and salespeople have an opportunity to use video to engage viewers when face-to-face interaction is no longer an option. My talk will focus on an understanding of what’s going on in our brains as we watch a video and teaches us a simple but powerful way to make our videos more effective, driving engagement, and building fans.
The IMPACT Digital Sales and Marketing Day is $199 however the first 50 people who register with the code FANOCRACY will have free access!
Helping people in the community
In Massachusetts where I live, restaurants have been ordered closed for table service. While for me, that’s not a big deal, for those who work in the restaurant business, the consequences are devastating. The (small bit) of good news is that here in Massachusetts, takeout and delivery is still permitted, so I intend to support my local restaurants as much as possible by ordering takeout and delivery.
In thinking about the most vulnerable in society, I looked around for appropriate charities to support. I wanted to find those that are providing immediate help to people who need it right now.
Therefore, I’m supporting several charities, including The Greater Boston Food Bank, an organization that works passionately to end hunger across Eastern Massachusetts and The Boston Resiliency Fund, a new initiative within the mayor’s office that coordinates the City's fundraising efforts to support Boston residents most affected by the coronavirus.
Working on your company’s marketing and your own personal brand
If you’re required to work from home and, like me, all your meetings have been cancelled, this is a great opportunity to work on your company’s marketing and your own personal brand.
You might consider creating a podcast or video channel, writing a book, working on your existing website or blog or creating a new one, or cleaning up your LinkedIn profile. If you do any of these things, please consider hiring freelancers to help you!
We’re all in this together. Be safe and let’s support each other.
