Connecting Your Brand's Community During Crisis
Finding opportunity and connection through crisis.
By Shannon Hudson, 9Round Fitness
In one week’s time, my company went from the world’s largest kickboxing organization to the largest online kickboxing organization. Like every business owner in every industry impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, we had to innovate quickly for the health and safety of our team and our customers.
Even in the best of circumstances, it’s not easy for business leaders to pivot at a moment’s notice. But the uncertainty and ever-changing nature of the current situation makes it even more of a challenge.
Daily lives are changing, and businesses need to step up and change as well. And do it quickly.
People who are confined to their homes, for example, are in need of every available resource to keep their lives moving forward in this new normal. And that need goes beyond the basic essentials. They still need entertainment. They still need some sort of social interaction. But as much as anything, they still need ways to maintain their health.
At 9Round Fitness, we recognized that we needed to provide our members with a way to continue their workouts in some fashion, so we immediately rolled out digital at-home workout videos for our members across the globe.
We’ve also created an even closer relationship and dialogue with our customers."
What we’ve seen in return is more than we expected. We’ve received an online outpouring from people sharing their thanks along with highlights of their at-home participation across social media.
It turns out that we have done more than simply provide a way for our members to keep working out. We’ve also created an even closer relationship and dialogue with our customers.
You, too, can use this crisis as a way to create the dialogue with your customers that is so badly needed to move our communities forward in the most positive ways in the most stressful of times. And it is an opportunity that small businesses are uniquely able to foster.
Work together to protect your people, embrace change, and remain optimistic for our collective future."
That special relationship between a local business and its customers also brings back an incredible memory for me. It was during the economic recession of 2008 that I made the decision to open my very first 9Round location in Greenville. My wife, Heather, and I didn’t even have enough money to put a sign on the outside. What we did have, however, was a rock-solid commitment to deliver the best in health and fitness to as many residents as possible with our organization. And the community responded in the most profound way.
Our success was the direct result of the love and loyalty from people across Greenville who showed up. I know many other locally-owned and operated businesses in our community that could say the same thing.
In crisis, it turns out, we have an opportunity to build a deeper bond with our customers.
As all businesses and business owners weather this storm, I invite you to revisit the rock-solid commitment you’ve had with your customers from day one. Look for ways to innovate and still be there for them. Work together to protect your people, embrace change, and remain optimistic for our collective future. At 9Round, here in Greenville and across 800 locations around the world, we will keep kicking with every ounce of energy that we have to do the same.
Shannon Hudson is the Founder and CEO of 9Round Fitness. Find out more about 9Round here.
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