Wondering what to say about Covid-19?

I spent Friday the 13th drafting coronavirus blog posts and communications from my business clients to their customers - you've probably found some of them in your inbox already.

Maybe you're wondering what to say to your clients and customers.

Or maybe you were planning to launch a new program, or announce a new offering, and all of your emails and landing pages now have to be re-worked (or risk sounding tone deaf).

And when was the last time you reviewed your automated email sequences? They may need revised now too, because we can't afford not to acknowledge this crazy new world we live in.

True story: I just unsubscribed from Southwest Airlines emails because they were still trying to sell me cheap airfare! And I wrote them a note saying "Guys, this is so tone deaf right now. Get it together!"

Don't be Southwest Airlines, friends. Don't be tone deaf.

It's overwhelming. I know. All of it. And if having to re-write *everything* feels like it's just too damn much? I can make it happen for you.

You can even use my Free MindMeld offer to draft the first one.

How can I support you?

Here are a few DIY Guidelines for how to talk about Covid-19

1. Don't try to profit from it, even though we all still have to make a living in a very uncertain economy. I've seen a lot of "coronavirus offers" that are thinly veiled attempts at, basically, profiteering off of people's fears of scarcity. And I get it. I'm afraid too. I don't know if all of my sources of income will dry up tomorrow. But, I'm choosing now to offer significant services for free (see MindMeld) because we have to support each other right now. Generously. The tricky bit is, we also need money to feed ourselves and buy marked-up toilet paper. So we have to position our offers in the vein of generosity, but not starve ourselves to feed the starving. It's a fine line, and I think it can only be managed by acknowledging the complexity.

2. Be transparent about your own fears and worries. We're all in this together. We're all humans dealing with circumstances straight out of a B action movie.

3. Emphasize how you are working to 'be there' for your clients even more during this time. I emailed some of my clients to say that I'm checking my emails during evenings and weekends now, because I know things are moving so fast, they actually *might* have a content emergency. I used to joke about that. Like, who has a content emergency? Turns out - a lot of people right now!

4. If you're launching a new program or service, you will probably have to reframe it in light of what people need right now, while self-isolating. Yep, that could up-end your entire content strategy. (We can hop on a call and come up with a new one if you'd like to brainstorm).

5. Make jokes. Dear goodness, please make jokes. Joke about what you're doing at home with your kids. Joke about how your "stress baked" cake did NOT turn out like The Great British Baking Show. We all need a laugh right now, even if it's gallows humor, or a funny cat picture. Yes, this pandemic is serious - but we're overloaded with stress and worry.

So my biggest message to you about your pandemic messaging is this:

Be more generous. Be more loving. Be more sensitive to people who are at risk because of their age, or because of their mental/emotional well-being.

Reach out to help, however you can.

Stay healthy my friends. And most importantly, stay hopeful.