We are indeed living in unprecedented times that will test our countries resolve and ability to adapt. We have spent time assessing the impact COVID19 has on our clients and our business, and I’d like to communicate the following:
We have mobilised our team virtually
Digitlab has always been a business that operates in a virtual environment to support our flexible working culture. Thanks to these virtual workspaces, most of our team has been working from home for the last two weeks. Today (24th March) we decided to lock down our offices in Sandton and Durban as of 17:00 this evening, which is two days earlier than expected from Cyril Ramaphosa’s mandate. We felt that we are ready and there can only be an additional benefit to our employees and the country as a whole by starting the lockdown early.
Business is virtually normal
Our entire team is operational and working. We are ready to handle any requests from our clients, including:
Client briefs
New business meetings
Strategy workshops (deliverable virtually though online whiteboarding tools)
Virtual consulting
Social media
SEO
Design
Copywriting
Web and app development
Your responsibility and opportunity during COVID-19
Businesses need to support the Government in their actions to manage the COVID-19 crisis. You need your brands to respond mindfully to the existing context of South Africa. Our most significant opportunities exist in building trust for your brand. You can do this by driving your communication on these guidelines:
- Lead the conversations where you are credible
- Set expectations for service delivery
- Be honest, real and personal in the way you communicate
- Don’t make it about you – this is about supporting South Africans in a time of crisis
People will remember the brands that show compassion to staff, customers and the wider community.
What you can expect from us
Over the next 24hrs, we are formulating plans for all of our clients whose communication strategies we handle. Our team is currently sitting together, strategising for your brands. You will hear from us shortly to discuss what we believe your next steps should be. Your expectations on us may increase during this time as you field the public reaction to the lockdown. We understand this and are ready to dig in our heels and support you with quality work. We are also working to becoming as agile as possible with our production team to improve our turnaround times on content creation and delivery.
Partner Service Delivery
We are limited to some degree as some of our partners respond to COVID-19 and inform us of service delivery changes. To date we know of the following changes:
Facebook: Advert review and delivery may be delayed. (we believe this may impact Google, Linkedin and Twitter over time)
Email Marketing Tools: Although nothing is confirmed yet we are anticipating that emails may be delayed as their servers are working overtime as companies prioritise communication.
Thank you and keep safe
Thank you for your continued support. We are here to weather this storm with you, so that come the middle of April, we hit the ground running to get your business, and ours, thriving again.
Please keep safe!
