HITS

The “five Rs” – resilience, responsiveness, “redefining” the way we work, results and repeating what works as needed – can help organizations overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and any other disrupting events that may happen, according to Ivo Lukas, CEO of marketing and technology company 24Notion.

The pandemic was “really a challenge for all of us,” she said during the WFH & Disruption breakout session “Moving Forward Even in a Crisis: The 5 Rs of Handling Disruption and Surprises with Style” at the March 16 Smart Content Summit.

But “we were able to pivot quickly with all of our clients’ blessings,” she told viewers. Most of them were “already digital, [so] what we did is we actually pivoted to become more [like] digital on steroids” in the case of about 80% of them, she said with a laugh.

“We kind of increased the amount of engagement” with clients and “we also created a strategic plan that would basically move everything from physical to also digital,” she explained.

24Notion stopped travel and shifted to virtual meetings with clients, while increasing the number of webinars it held, she recalled. In March alone last year, it did 175 webinars, up from 30, she said.

One challenge was manpower. But 24Notion staff was able to quickly get onto Zoom and other video meetings with clients and make sure they realized “the world is changing here so obviously we have to evolve with it or else we’ll be dormant,” Lukas told viewers.

24Notion also started holding experiential events online to better engage with clients, she pointed out, noting that included cooking events with a chef, happy hours and virtual tastings, as well as thought leadership and Q&A events.

Most clients were open to the pivot but there was resistance from some clients who were concerned about the “unknown” and were not sure everybody would use Zoom, she recalled. There were also concerns about bandwidth in rural areas among clients.

Nevertheless, 24Notion interaction with clients has increased 200-250% in the past year, she said.

“All the clients that were able to move forward were able to show results” that were even better than expected, while the “small segment of our clients who were not ready [are] able to go back and see what we’ve done and now they’re ready,” she told viewers.

24Notion was “able to come up with in-between kind of solutions” for those clients not ready to pivot right away, she recalled. Once the company showed them that they were able to get good results from that, they were more willing to do the full pivot like other clients, she explained.

Zoom Burnout

However, “right now we’re struggling with Zoom burnout so we have to be careful” not to do it for too many hours in one day, Lukas said.

“Let’s just [pick] up the phone,” they’ll sometimes say now, or they will text in some cases instead of doing another video conference call, she noted.

“Be careful” with Zoom, she cautioned.

She is seeing more experiential and interactive online events in the industry and expects to see more of a hybrid model of communication now that the vaccines have arrived, she noted.

Companies are also increasingly using artificial intelligence and machine learning to increase engagement, she said.

Takeaways and Suggestions

Lukas urged viewers to continue to keep in mind the “5Rs” going forward.

Additionally, “you have to redefine your sector,” she said, adding: “We have about 12 different verticals that we support. But the results are key. If it’s not working, then obviously you’ve got to pivot or re-pivot back.”

Engagement is key, whether online or not, and then repeat what works, she said.

Asked what she’s learned for future crises, she replied: “Being able to adapt” while “the world is evolving.”

And “there will be another pandemic – or there will always be something else that happens,” she cautioned.

Last, she said: “It is ok to try something new and take risks and I would say innovate a lot and just be a disruptor.”

Click here to access video of the presentation.

The Smart Content Summit was produced by MESA and the Smart Content Council, and was sponsored by Microsoft Azure, Whip Media Group, Richey May Technology Solutions, BeBanjo, Digital Nirvana, Softtek, 24Notion, EIDR, The Quorum and Signiant.