DEAR FRIENDS, Is your inbox filling more quickly these days? The world may be changing, but we need good communications more than ever. We’re seeing digital communications, video conferencing and even old-fashioned phone calls skyrocket. As we look to each other for information, reassurance, updates and next steps, communication is key. I hope you’re finding helpful ways to stay in touch with your teams and your customers. Rest assured that it’s perfectly acceptable to modify and adapt your communications tools in whatever way best suits your organization’s needs right now. Don't go for perfection; just your presence and honesty in connecting with people will speak volumes.

Kind regards,  Mimi Rasor, President

COMING TOGETHER: INSIGHTS FROM CLIENTS AND COLLEAGUES

COVID-19 Doesn’t Stop Road Improvements Have you seen the memes about how now would be a great time to do all the road construction? That may not be entirely possible, but a lot of it is proceeding in spite of quarantine restrictions, and that’s good news for motorists and our economy. Our public works team often supports KYTC District 6 in Northern Kentucky and the engineering firms working tirelessly to improve our roadways. While the COVID19 pandemic has impacted the economy worldwide, roadwork construction, maintenance and improvements in Kentucky are continuing at a steady pace. Communications is key to safety and progress, so our team developed the Driving Northern Kentucky Progress website that showcases roadway improvements underway throughout Northern Kentucky. To keep the drivers informed and educated about traffic changes that impact their daily commutes, we update these pages on a daily basis (often several times a day!), and post on Facebook and Twitter .  Our Public Works team is well-versed in how to make sure public projects can continue gaining insights from constituents during the quarantine. Don't hesitate to reach out if you need help with virtual public involvement.

DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD

We’re genuinely touched by the kindness we’re both witnessing in the world and receiving right here at Rasor. Acts like the Wyoming physician employing a local company to make t-shirts her team can wear so they preserve the supply of scrubs for others, and the t-shirt company donating half the proceeds to an OTR charity. Or our very own client from the Warren County Transportation Improvement District hand-delivering our payment to Mimi’s house, since our offices are closed. We even got a text from James, our mailman, letting us know our mail forwarding may need to be renewed! Photo provided by Cincinnati.com

DEAR DIRK Do you have a PR, marketing or communications-related question for our experts during this difficult time? We’ll answer them right here, anonymously. Dirk has been our steady office dog for ten years and is a great listener, but don’t worry, the advice is all human.

How should I handle my company’s social media during the pandemic? Q: Our company isn’t business as usual right now, but I can’t wait for when we are. What should I do with our social media? Should I just discontinue it until we’re back to normal here? A: That’s a tough situation, but you’re asking a really great question. Your customers miss normalcy as much as you do (maybe more), and you’ve spent a lot of time and resources building up your social media following. You may not have the same content to post right now or with the same frequency, but you should still post. Continuing to post means you’re maintaining those connections you’ve worked hard to build with customers. You’re demonstrating that your company is still there, even if things aren’t exactly the same at the moment. Don’t feel pressure to post every day. Instead, aim for two or three times a week. Focus on topics like tidbits about your company’s history, or how you’re supporting your employees or community. Share video or photos of what’s happening behind-the-scenes right now – how employees are volunteering, or homeschooling their kids, or what your business is doing to innovate.  Making the effort to stay in touch with those people who are important to your business will go a long way to helping you keep the relationships that are so important to you, and will make it easier to welcome customers back when the time comes. Email your questions to info@rasor.com , and we’ll publish an answer.

ACTUAL, REAL, TOTALLY TRUE WORK-FROM-HOME STORIES FROM OUR OWN TEAM FAVE SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS POST RIGHT NOW You’re not alone in missing sports. Here’s a riveting play-by-play of Olive and Mabel, two Labrador retrievers who are both vying for the title of Bone Champion .

TODAY’S COMMUNICATION HACK How are your calls-to-action? Take a look at the phone numbers, email addresses and other calls-to-action you have out in the market. Do any of them need to be modified due to the pandemic? Is your team able to respond to CTAs right now? Do you need to notify anyone internally to help make your CTA more successful (Helpful hint – don’t forget to stay connected with your sales team as you produce materials that may be useful for them.)

SUPPORT THAT'S RIGHT HERE We are here if you need marketing communications advice or support. We’ve put together specially-priced packages with flexible payment terms on media relations, social media and creative strategy , all services we consider to be critical right now. We’re in this with you. Contact elyn@rasormarketing.com to talk about this and any other help you need.

DAILY DISTRACTION Do you miss traveling? Travel photographers do too, so they’re getting really creative. Check out the mountains, ice caves, canyons and waterfalls travel photogs are creating right in their  very own homes . Photo provided by Erin Sullivan for The Washington Post

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