Ever found yourself frozen still but the gravity of a situation, scrambling to pivot or make big changes to your business, in order to keep your brand (and livelihood!) alive…crisis – as much as we like to avoid it – is an inevitable part of a growing business.

When crisis strikes it can send us into a frenzy, but this blog has been carefully curated with the intention of helping you feel more prepared when uncertainty strikes. Making changes quickly can lead to positive consequences, for sure (sustained revenue, continued audience engagement, etc.). But they can also lead to negative consequences (damage to your brand if it doesn’t align, loss of revenue, etc.).

Here are the 6 vital things to consider that will help you think through any change you’re considering making to your business…

The six vital considerations to pivot with purpose:

Your Audience:

Understanding your audience’s challenges requires empathy. By exploring these prompts, you may discover ways your brand can authentically assist them. Let the answers ignite creative ideas to genuinely make a difference.

3 helpful prompts to get you thinking:

1. What are their daily challenges? Think about how their priorities have changed, and what they are needing to do to get by.
2. How have your customers’ needs changed as they relate to your product or service? Could it be that they need your product or service even more right now? Are they even thinking if your product or service?
3. What are their main fears? Go deep here. Maybe it’s their livelihood / business / future for their children / children’s education, etc.

Your Promise:

Thinking about your brand’s reason for being and what value you promise to your audience will help you judge how you might pivot, or whether the direction you’re thinking of taking is aligned with your promise to your audience.

3 helpful prompts to get you thinking:

1. What is your core brand purpose?What is your brand’s reason for getting out of bed every morning? What is the ultimate mission your brand is forever striving for but will never actually reach? This isn’t a strategy or a goal, it’s a higher order statement about your brand’s reason for being.
2. What is the promise you make to your customers? That is, how do you add value to their lives? How do you do this differently to competitors or peers in your industry?
3. How has that brand promise changed now?Has it actually changed? Perhaps it hasn’t changed, but the way you need to deliver it has.

Your offer:

Whether you offer a product or a service to your audience, consider your audience first (always) and how you will get your offer to them.

3 helpful prompts to get you thinking:

1. How can you adapt your offer to meet your customers’ changed needs? Think about your product / service structurally. What needs to change or evolve?
2. What will you need to do to make this happen? What steps will you need to take. What do you need to create? What changes do you need to make to your website? Who do you need to talk to / involve? Think about minimum viable product – the least you need to do to deliver the result.
3. What might get in the way of the new distribution model? Playing devil’s advocate, what could change that would impact you negatively?

Promoting your new offer:

Consider what your audience is currently thinking and doing, versus what you now want them to think and do. This will help you get clear on the message to use in your communications so it’s super obvious – and you get the result you’re looking for.

3 helpful prompts to get you thinking:

1. What do they think now
2. What do I want them to think?
3. So, what’s the single minded thing I need to tell them?

The impact on your brand:

Thinking strategically about the impact this pivot will have on your brand. It may be that it is an evolution that sustains you into the future. Or it could be just pure opportunism that is short-lived and doesn’t build back equity into your brand.

3 helpful prompts to get you thinking:

1. Does this new opportunity align with your brand’s core competencies? Is this within or out of your brand scope in terms of what you can deliver well?
2. Does it build your value proposition? Think about whether the pivot will help or hinder your value proposition (the promise you make to your customer). Does it in fact refine it and future-proof it?
3. Or does it detract from what you promise your audience?
   Does it benefit your audience or have the potential to attract a new audience to your brand?

Reality check:

From a mindset, mental health and energy perspective, we can’t take everything on. We all have a lot happening in our changed worlds, so making big changes to our businesses mightn’t make the most sense. Here’s a reality check to gauge whether pivoting now is right for you.

3 helpful prompts to get you thinking:

1. What is the level of work involved in these changes? Again, consider the minimum viable offer and what that involves.
2. Do you have the support you need to execute these changes? Consider your partner / team / community / coach / consultant.
3. How could you get more support? If you needed to get more help, who you gonna call?

For more helpful tips and insights, we invite you to subscribe to The Purpose Edit. It’s a fortnightly edition of insights for conscious organisations and entrepreneurs shaping a just, fair, and sustainable economy.
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