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During this time people are dealing with a lot of emotions, real life situations, and the “what next” with their businesses.  As a publicist, I felt it was extremely necessary to speak with other PR professionals who would be open to giving their DIY tips on what to do during this time. Check out these helpful tips below (I even listed a tip) and be sure to follow these women on social media and set up a consultation if you are in need of more advice and guidance.

Stay prayerful, keep the faith and remember 2020 can still be our year!!!

Ashley Jernigan 

Company: JDB Hospitality

“Connect with your customer and personify your brand. With closures and/or extreme restrictions, it is known lay-offs in the hospitality industry has crippled so many lives and your customers want to know what are you doing as an owner to keep things afloat. Are you continuing to pay your employees? Are you providing meals for them in the interim? Have you helped them with placement elsewhere until you can hire them back? Show your customers you are more than a business but a family and let them see your part in keeping your family together in these hard times. This will not only create brand loyalty from your current and potential clients, but media loves these type of stories and you are sure to get some press from it!”

photo courtesy of Ashley Jernigan 

Fatimah Hunter 

Company: Austin Hunter Management 

“There’s been a lot of talk on the internet about using this time to get creative and push out content. While I completely agree with ‘striking while the iron is still hot’, I believe it’s best for small business owners during this time to do a personal check-in. How are you really doing? How’s your business doing and can you really thrive? Have you allowed yourself to actually feel the uncertainty in the air? Have you lost any retainer clients, business deals, or suppliers? As a small business owner who lost a lot of money in the past few weeks, I had to mourn my loss in order to find my strategy to gain. My overall tip is to go through your process, but afterward, get creative but do so with a strong sense of intentionality and desire to uplift others.”

photo courtesy of Fatimah Hunter

Joy Cook

Company: Joy Cook PR Group

“As entrepreneurs, we already have identified a problem and our business profits off solving that problem.  As a publicist, doubly so, one of our jobs is to manage crises.  In the uncharted time of the COVID-19 pandemic bringing in new business and clients can become a challenge.  A tip that I suggest and works well is to up-sell your established clients offering them a new stream of services such as, crisis communication tools employee email blasts, disbursement of emergency safety materials, and text marketing to help them stay in touch with their stakeholders.  This new profit stream will be a difference maker to your business bottom line and a lifesaver for your clients.” 

photo courtesy of Joy Cook

Erica Dias 

Company: The B Firm PR

“I am really big on affirmations and during this time I have been defiantly making sure that I try and wake up and state my top 3 in the mirror.  Our job is to create the narrative that the public sees and hears about our clients so in this time have your clients “tell their story… their why”… It builds brand loyalty. Truth is real, it’s honest and it shows vulnerability. People buy into truth and become loyal customers and supporters. Have your clients use YouTube, FB and IG stories to communicate. Join the conversation of COVID-19 and if you have factual information, share it. People are on social media now more than ever, so be intentional, be creative and post with a purpose.

photo courtesy of Erica Dias

Jasmine Chenice 

Company: Purpose Driven Strategies 

“My #1 tip for small business owners is to join the conversation of COVID-19 and be proactive about addressing concerns.

It is our duty to acknowledge that the world is in a crisis. And we have to respond to crisis with effective and proactive communication. It is your job to make your clients know you care, you are aware, and you are making necessary steps to still provide your best possible service in spite of everything going on. It’s important to be proactive and address anything that could affect them and their service/product directly. Your client needs to know you are taking steps to address their concerns or possible issues that could arise. Create a social media post, send out an email, make a personal call, by all means… communicate.”

photo courtesy of Jasmine Chenice 

Featured Image courtesy of Fatimah Hunter