As a digital or social media marketer looking to appropriately guide your brand messaging through the pandemic, your most important job throughout this sensitive period is to strike the right tone. The solution: focus on value-driven content.

At this unprecedented and challenging time in our world, people are deciding what's truly important to them. Your consumers are eschewing frivolity and what's not necessary in favor of emphasizing truth in their lives; they're getting back to basics when it comes to their purchasing focus.

By reframing your messaging on the importance of the key values that are most important to your audience, both right now and as they move forward, you maintain their loyalty, strengthen their bond to your brand long-term, and message ethically. These are all pillars that will allow your brand to further thrive.

What points are most important to focus on so you're truly speaking to your audience's needs? Put your team's full attention on the following five essential areas:

Simple, solid messaging and graphics.

Value-driven digital content consumption needs to be of high quality, according to Wunderland Group. Taking this fact into account, you want to streamline your initial campaign or single ad strategies to emphasize your understanding of what your consumers are grappling with.

Stating points you know to be true from social listening or customer surveys are ideal messages. For example, "We know you need to make every dollar you spend count, and we're here to help you do it."

Clear, streamlined graphics and a warm, humane touch from your voiceover narrator are the right ways to drive your point home. Take out the flashy visuals and loud music: focus on simplicity and lead with class and a sense of quiet authority in your messaging. This will reassure your audience you're genuinely looking out for them.

Making your ad a conversation.

Thirty-five percent of consumers don't want ads right now and will pay to avoid them, according to the Deloitte Digital Media Trends Survey, 14th Edition. Obviously, you don't want your ad to be the one even one consumer will do this with, so get around the aversion by making your outreach a two-way street.

Ask for feedback across your platforms in a casual, friendly way. State clearly, "We don't want to stress you out by 'selling' to you — tell us what you need so we can give it to you instead." This approach can be the perfect way to get some truly invaluable dialogue started. In turn, it can lead to an eye-opening reframe of your entire marketing strategy. Plus, it fosters a genuine, strong give-and-take connection with your customers that can continue well beyond the pandemic.

Keeping it real.

Social Media Today finds that rawness and reliability are now expectations of brands on social rather than just an audience preference. Your audience wants to know you, your CEO, your team, and your employees as people. Take down the curtain and show them an unfiltered, unvarnished, relatable view through direct communication.

How do you accomplish this quickly and effectively? Try video feeds from your employees' kitchens as they demo new products in real time (cooking a meal with your products if you’re in that sector is a perfect example). Unedited video content is relatable, friendly and highly desired by many demographics right now.

Maintaining total truth in advertising.

Don't play pricing games, cut deals short, or make your messaging opaque. Focus on honesty in your sales approach. Integrity is non-negotiable.

Accomplishing faultless follow-through.

Immediate responses to consumer complaints and questions across your platforms and via your website, as well as easy contact options for customer service, are crucial. Always think about the exact way you would want to be treated by your brand if you were a consumer reaching out with an issue for the first time.

Lead with what you would expect in that situation, then go one step further to make your strategy even more helpful! It's humane, it's brand-boosting, and most of all, it shows your audience that you stand with them at the toughest of times.