As a business, the significance of customer engagement is enormous: When customers choose to interact with your brand, this means that they trust in what you have to offer.
However, what happens when a global crisis hits? What happens when your team sees lower than average response rates in their outreach efforts?
The answer is: You keep offering engagement opportunities. As a brand, you don't stop being there for the customer, even if it means pivoting strategies. Your customers have historically supported your business — now, it's time to support them during hard-hitting times.
This doesn't necessarily involve a huge budget on your end — something as simple as ramped up customer service and helpful content goes a long way.
Let’s go through what you can do to keep customers engaged, with examples from companies that have weathered hard times. These can help you weather anything, from a pandemic to a recession to tariffs.
Part of the relationship-building experience is having a genuine understanding of the “why.” Build surveys and sync with internal experts to uncover ways of keeping communications open and connecting to really understand customers. Consider creating polls or quizzes on your social media channels to elicit immediate feedback.
It goes without saying, but it’s important to be consistently updated on current events. Ask yourself: What is affecting shoppers’ priorities? What do they need most during this difficult time — and can you help?
During the COVID-19 crisis, LEGO stood by their brand values by creating kid-centric messaging about safety during a pandemic:
As part of this campaign, they also created a guide for parents helping children navigate new digital spaces — since kids went to school and socialized online, many for the first time.
And lastly, LEGO donated to children’s charities worldwide, from Hungary to the UK to China, to demonstrate compassion for their worldwide audience.
LEGO never forgot who their core audience is; this keeps their messaging consistent in hard times. If the brand campaign seems fluffy, remember this: 81% of consumers need to trust a brand to consider buying from it.
In the same vein as showing up for your customers, you can provide educational and helpful content that’s relevant to your followers. If you stumble across useful tips specific to your industry, share them with your audience to show that you care.
The key is to be creative with the content around your industry and relevant to the challenges your customers are facing.
Tariffs create uncertainty that’s encouraging shoppers to hold onto their money. Ford released a “From America, For America” campaign that explains why customers should act now if they’re ready to buy a vehicle. Their offer: employee pricing on most of their vehicles through June 2, 2025.
The campaign gets ahead of tariff impacts and competition with its messaging.
When budgets are tight, the initial response is usually to cut ad spend. However, companies that kept growth levers on through the 2008 crisis outperformed peers by 150 percentage points in total shareholder return over the following decade.
Consider routing more budget to retargeting at a time when shoppers need more touchpoints to motivate a purchase. Retargeting will reach high-intent shoppers, increasing your likelihood of clinching sales and activating already engaged customers.
In addition, don’t skimp on brand awareness. Brand awareness campaigns fill the top of the funnel and ensure you have a healthy pipeline of customers interested. If you need proof that brand awareness works, look no further than Kellogg.
Kellogg had one big competitor during the Great Depression: Post.
Post pulled advertising during the downturn. Meanwhile, Kellogg doubled its ad budget and invested in a new channel for them, radio advertising.
Kellogg’s profits rose 30% in 1933 as the economy dipped. Nowadays, Kellogg is the greater household name, and Post is relatively obscure. As the author of the New Yorker article covering the story put it: “Today, most companies are far more worried about sinking the boat than about missing it. That’s why the opportunity to do what Kellogg did exists. That’s also why it’s so nerve-racking to try it.”
It's vital that while thinking of a way to break through the noise, your brand remains authentic. This means showing that you care without coming across as having an agenda.
Many brands send out empty promises to address the issue, emphasizing concepts like "community," and "unprecedented times," and using anxiety-inducing words such as "monitoring" and "situation." While these communications are undoubtedly relevant, it's also worth trying to connect with your customers outside of the heavy stuff, too. Reach out to your customers to connect — not to acquire new customers or sales, but rather to ask, "What can we do for you? How can we help?"
Last updated on April 23rd, 2025.