Another week has passed and we are still social distancing and for some working from home.
While everyone is adapting to this pandemic, our experiences are different.
WNBA member Bridget Marmion shares her experience in this week’s Social Distancing Life.
Daily Routine Shakeup
My clients and colleagues are located throughout the country, so I’ve always run my marketing firm mostly via conference calls and email, whether from my office or home – and, of course, with lots of lunch and drink dates! So I guess it’s apparent the most direct impact the COVID LOCKDOWN has had is on my daily routine.
Working from home, now with the company of my son and college-senior daughter who will finish her last semester of St. John’s U in her bedroom, presents its own challenges, as considerate as we try to be of each other. I’m reminded of the part of corporate life I miss least: my focus, or a well-planned afternoon evaporating when someone else’s interesting question or pressing concern becomes mine.
Like everyone, we’re doing lots more cooking, constant hand washing, and suddenly masks, gloves are part of every outfit. Our newish puppy is making out like a bandit: more walks than ever! Dan, 32, furloughed from his marketing job, has stayed on top of the most reliable incoming news and become our medical director, forcing his older parents (me and Rob) to recognize that any food shopping is a risk.
It wasn’t until I read “Grieving the Loss of Life as We Knew It” by Seth J. Gillihan, PhD on WebMD that I realized my stubborn need to choose the food for each dinner wasn’t really, or only, about the meat/produce. It was the loss of autonomy.
Certain campaigns and work with our clients had to be revised mightily, MARKETING PLAN FOR THE NEW 2020. Of course, marketing is connecting readers and writers: then suddenly all live events must be cancelled with no idea when/if they’ll be rescheduled. And if your publicity coverage hinges, to a great extent, on those events, that’s a double whammy. So it’s meant revising strategic plans for clients, rewriting marketing campaigns for the new 2020.
So we are more busy than ever, supporting our clients, and each other, as needed, and being creative, pivoting our efforts, so we can stay on track to achieve their goals.
Sponsored remote events may be one new campaign element we set up for some authors, so I’m brushing up on ZOOM, GOOGLE HANG OUT, etc, including security protection. In fact, I hosted my first ZOOM WITH COCKTAILS event on Easter Sunday. Not a professional debut, just family, but LOTS of family around the country (16), so I got some good practice, especially ‘managing participants’.
So good days, less good days. As always, I am grateful and treasure the publishing community I belong to and the people I’m privileged to work with. A single example: one recent dark day was brightened by surprises from an author in Madison, WI: a delivery of delicious Wisconsin cheeses, and a pack of (infused!) maple syrup made by a local family.
Very best wishes to all our WNBA family from NYC where, yes, we’ve got lots of COVID cases, but we’ve also got an effective public servant as Governor, plus tulips and daffodils!
Bridget Marmion is Founder and CEO of Your Expert Nation, Inc, a full service marketing/publicity firm. (www.yourexpertnation.com) She has more than three decades experience creating, coordinating, and implementing campaigns that lead to a best-seller list. Bridget has been an active member of WNBA-NYC since 2011.
