Mike Hosking talks to Finance Minister Grant Robertson about 'shovel-ready' projects and economic recovery after COVID-19 - 31st March.
COMMENT:
With the nationwide alert level 4 lockdown well under way, Tauranga Chamber of Commerce marketing manager Laura Boucher shares key messages and reflections from a business perspective and tips for surviving the rest of lockdown.
A nationwide lockdown has really put into perspective how much I take the everydayroutine of human contact for granted.
The casual coffee date with a friend, my weekly dance or music class or even exchanging "thank yous" with an Uber Eats driver on a lazy Friday night.
Being suddenly forced into a bubble with only your immediate housemates makes you acutely aware of how much time we spend around and interacting with people. There's hardly a job that can avoid it and when that's taken away from you, it's easy to miss.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce marketing manager Laura Boucher. Photo / Supplied
But, if there's anything good to come out of this Covid-19 crisis, it's the resounding positivity that has emerged from finding new and interesting ways to connect and communicate. The work drinks are still happening – just via Zoom (and in PJs) – and those fitness challenges doing the rounds on social media are keeping us connected as much as they are keeping us moving.
For businesses and organisations this is an opportunity to communicate and engage with customers in new and interesting ways, experimenting with digital technology to overcome barriers.
Some are conducting consultations and workshops via digital channels; some essential services are trying local delivery for the first time, using social media to promote their services and using their team to do a distance drop-off.
Empty streets during the Covid-19 lockdown period in the Tauranga CBD. Photo / File
Other businesses are using their own channels as an opportunity to gauge feedback from their loyal fan base (who now have the time in their busy lives to complete a survey), while others are seeing a chance to increase awareness of their brand by profiling their staff through live videos or "behind the scenes" content.
It's "business as usual"… but not as we know it.
NeedToKnow3
It is interesting too that (ironically) making the shift to an all-digital world serves to shine a light on the people behind the services they offer. While our communication with a business is through a screen, we're now using video and chat in ways that see us connecting directly with a business' people and their expertise, experience and know-how.
If there's anything we can take away from this lockdown experience, it is the importance of seeing businesses and organisations as not bricks and mortar but as the development of connected, creative human beings. What a great celebration of humanity in a crisis that is trying to take that away from us.
