Seeing the pa through with M We caught up with Chrissy Pratt, Marketing Manager at Morilee to find out how they coped with the pandemic and kept communications lines open with their authorised retailers
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hen Covid-19 hit us over a year ago, no one knew what on earth to expect. This was all completely new to us, and there definitely was not a communications plan in place for a global pandemic! After Boris’s big announcement, our office staff were sent to work from home as we acquired laptops and mobile phones, and set up redirects for our phone lines. The message was very much ‘business as usual’ with staff working their normal hours, just from a different location, with no affects to our customer services. My new routine became home schooling, PE with Joe Wicks, and my meetings turned into ‘walk-andtalks’ on the phone, and getting my ‘steps’ in down by the River Trent in Nottinghamshire, not far from our head office base. Due to the work undertaken in our warehouse to keep the supply chain working, we kept the facility open, with minimal staff, social distancing and all the necessary precautions in place. It is funny to think back now, that this was a time when you couldn’t get hand sanitiser anywhere as everyone has brought up the supply – remember breweries and distilleries switching to producing it! We had launched our retailer portal back in June 2019 so the wheels were already well oiled and in motion when the pandemic hit. This gave
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customers the ability to check stock, and deliveries, and place orders online. We saw traffic to the portal increase during lockdown, even though our shops remained closed. As for communication with our customers, we were constantly sending out updates to our stores informing them how to contact us, and offering suggestions of what they could be doing to help their own businesses in lockdown. A great opportunity for us then was to really get stuck into our marketing and do all those jobs that just fall by the way-side when we are so busy with product launches and trade shows. The communications plan We took time to put together leaflets on social media, and ‘how to’ guides; we put together lots of readymade Instagram story content that stores could download and post; and our designer, Madeline Gardner, working from home in New Jersey, was able to record video messages to share on our social media platforms. We also took the opportunity to do some data cleansing of our email distribution lists to ensure everyone was getting our suggestions, and support. Other online outlets such as Hitched, Bridal live, and our very own website, were also reviewed during this ‘down time’ to ensure all products and messages were up to date and consistent.
