Disasters come in all shapes and sizes. Some originate at the heart of a company, while others affect a part of the world’s population at large. How a company handles a crisis can make a world of difference. However, not all circumstances can be mitigated by using lighthearted humor, as KFC did in 2018. Sometimes, pausing a marketing campaign is the most appropriate response. Today, we’re looking at a few examples of these circumstances.

Natural Disasters and Health Crises

Natural disasters like floods, wildfires, hurricanes, and earthquakes are all too common. Although natural disasters are typically localized events, many still receive extensive media coverage around the world. Particularly devastating storms or disasters can dominate headlines for weeks. Pausing a campaign during such times is common practice.

Civil Unrest, War, & Terrorist Attacks

Marketers need a large amount of optimism. However, uncertain times often mean taking a hard look at your campaigns and evaluating how they can affect your brand’s image. A little bit of homework may reveal that you need to hit pause. Pepsi discovered this the hard way in 2017, when the company released an ad that many viewers felt trivialized the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests.

Death of A Prominent Personality

The death of a leader can deeply affect the public. Pausing marketing campaigns to the affected community displays respect and empathy.

One excellent example comes from Planters. In early 2020, the company planned to “kill off” its mascot, Mr. Peanut. But when news broke of Kobe Bryant’s death, Planters immediately stopped sharing the ad in paid social media posts, saying they wanted to respect “those impacted by this tragedy”. (The planned TV spot still aired once during the Super Bowl.)

Business Scandals & Brand Crises

When bad press surrounds your business, all marketing needs to stop immediately until the issue has been addressed. And for a recent example of bad press, look no further than Kellogg’s, whose CEO suggested in early 2024 that low-income families could handle rising food costs by just buying more cereal. Unsurprisingly, the backlash was sharp and immediate.

A 2019 study by Crisp Thinking found that 53% of customers expected businesses to respond to a crisis within an hour and 59% stated that they wanted the response to come from the CEO. Following a corporate misstep, hitting the pause button on your marketing campaigns can give you some breathing space to fix your mistake. Additionally, it can reduce opportunities for customers to spread negativity via social media and unsubscribe from your mailing list.

The Decision-Making Process: To Pause Completely or Change Your Tone

The scenarios described above certainly warrant a pause to your planned marketing campaigns. However, they may not necessarily mean stopping all communication with your clientele either. These few questions can help you decide which path to choose:

• Do you need to send update messages? For example, are there changes to your operational hours or delivery times because of the crisis?
• Can you build brand awareness while helping your customers? Although regular marketing campaigns may be paused, you can still communicate with your customers by letting them know you’re here to help. For example, if your brand is actively involved with relief efforts in the area, you can direct customers to resources where they can get help or encourage them to donate to the efforts.
• Does your copy resonate? The last thing you want is for your brand to come across as insensitive or tone-deaf.  Any messaging during a crisis needs to be thoughtful and sensitive. (Quite a few companies learned this the hard way during the infamous era of COVID-themed commercials.)
• Should you be a part of the conversation at all? There may be situations when a product shouldn’t be flaunted at all. While not exactly an ad, DiGiorno’s hijacking of a domestic violence hashtag to promote pizza is a good example of what not to do.
• Is it easier to let your customers choose to take a break? Consider giving your customers the power to hit the snooze button on your marketing campaigns. This allows you to give them a highly personalized experience without your customers unsubscribing due to frustration.

If you need help preparing a marketing crisis management plan or implementing one, contact our team at 4Thought Marketing today!

Window shopping is just as common online as in brick-and-mortar stores. If anything, window shopping may happen more often online, as an estimated 96% of potential customers don’t make a purchase when visiting a website for the first time.  This  makes sense—clicking off a website is much easier than walking out of a physical store.

Every marketer’s goal should be to keep website visitors engaged and encourage them to return to learn more. When they do, they can learn more about your solution and how it meets their needs. But they may not return right away, so you need to give them gentle encouragement through multiple touches to do so. This is where retargeting campaigns can help.

Retargeting Campaigns: How & Why They Work

Retargeting campaigns work by re-engaging potential customers who have shown interest in your product or service but haven’t yet converted. Personalized emails, text messages, or push notifications incentivize the customer to take the next step in their journey toward conversion. Naturally, they depend on whether a customer has opted to receive communications from your company.

Retargeting campaigns build brand recall and maximize your existing marketing efforts by converting customers. In fact, retargeted users are 70% more likely to convert than cold leads. Retargeting campaigns need to be managed thoughtfully, however, so that potential customers don’t feel like they are being stalked.

To run a successful retargeting campaign, you’ll want to follow five central strategies.

1. Know Your Visitors

It’s vital to know who is visiting your website and why. With only 3% of visitors turning into identifiable leads, the ability to capture other identifiers is vital to effective engagement. Use tools that allow you to collect and evaluate customer behaviors in real time.

Your marketing automation platform should determine the visitor identifier you use, whether it is RIID (Responsys System ID), RTP tags, or Eloqua first-party cookies. You also cannot afford to miss any first-party customer data—data that customers provide in exchange for something else. First-party data can come from providing an email address for a discount code, clicking a link in a marketing email, or shopping using a customer loyalty account. Any of these avenues allows you to collect valuable information without intruding on a customer’s privacy.

2. Engage Customers with Personalization

Companies cannot rely on impulse purchases or enterprising employees to convert potential buyers. Instead, they see better results when carefully guiding customers toward making decisions through superior customer service.

For example, think of a customer planning a vacation. Typically, their interaction on a travel website will let one know where they want to go, when, and their price range. A retargeting campaign can offer value by giving flight comparisons, suggesting an itinerary, offering applicable discounts and special offers, and finally allowing them to resume planning their journey where they left off. Leverage different platforms to keep customers engaged on their journey like videos about their chosen destination on social media, a discount coupon via email, or a customer service push notification for bookings.

3. Use Data to Craft Compelling Campaigns

The KPIs of your existing campaigns can help you improve your future efforts. Explore and analyze visitor behavior to gain insights beyond simple open and click rates. Look at metrics like cart abandonment points, CTAs, and communication methods to uncover patterns in consumer behavior and analyze conversion rates. This can uncover pain points that need to be addressed.

This data should help you tailor your retargeting campaigns so that potential clients understand the value of your offerings, resulting in a positive customer experience. 

4. Test Your Campaigns

Treat all your campaigns as works in progress. Fine-tune your retargeting strategies by A/B testing your messaging, different formats, channels, and more. Go beyond experimenting with different CTAs. Try different actions, like testing user behavior against retargeting offers.

For example, if carts are abandoned when shipping costs are calculated, offering free shipping during your retargeting campaign may solve the problem. Discount codes for the entire order cost may also work. Know what your audience wants.

5. Streamline Your Approach

Prioritize your retargeting campaigns based on your long-term goals and audience segments. Avoid overwhelming consumers by including them in more than one campaign. Customer intent is another metric to consider. Prioritize those with a stronger impact on the customer journey—ones triggered by higher intent or actions further down the funnel.

Retargeting campaigns are all about creating a connection with and showcasing your value to a potential customer. Contact our team today to see how we can help you drive an effective retargeting campaign.