Blog

Practical tips and ideas for adapting your business and continuing to market products and services while the world is in turmoil.

“Your time is limited so stop living someone’s else life

STEVE JOBS

1. Build Brand Awareness

Consumers may be hunkering down and spending less in the wake of COVID-19’s upheaval, but they’re still looking for entertainment to occupy their time. If you’re concerned that your clients will quit buying, concentrate on repairing your brand’s reputation during this time of crisis.

It makes sense to cut back on advertising for irrelevant items or specialised services, but now is the moment to invest in keeping your brand’s exposure at the forefront of potential customers’ minds. Maintain a strong digital presence, especially on social media, while the coronavirus compels communities to physically isolate themselves, to ensure your business does not drop into the depths.

Make the most of this unusual opportunity to engage with your stressed, befuddled audience using intelligent, assertive, and well-placed material. Make your content relevant to the situation. As individuals spend more time at home and screen time increases, make sure you’re there to provide something useful to visitors. The purpose is always the same, whether it’s a downloadable ebook, ‘How To’ guide, listicle, or checklist.

Email marketing can help you raise brand awareness. If your company isn’t currently using this platform, now is a great moment to start sending out a regular, automated email to keep current customers informed and attract new subscribers.

Work on creating branded, value-added material that will help you build lists for:

Retargeting on social media
– Email Marketing
– Google Retargeting

The more leads you collect over the following few months of social isolation, the larger the audience you’ll have on the other side of the pandemic. Save the strong sales messaging for when people’s willingness to buy has returned to normal.

2. Pivot to Profit

You must learn to pivot your activities on a regular basis. By pivoting, we’re not implying that the pandemic will improve your bottom line, but rather that you should modify your messaging and processes today for the long-term benefit of your company.

Temporarily adjust how you offer your services and how your goods is supplied to manage a firm that survives COVID-19. This is a non-negotiable requirement. Many businesses may be terrified by the prospect of digitising or losing foot traffic in their stores, but those who embrace digital platforms will have a greater chance of getting out of this with as little suffering as possible.

During this epidemic, here are some examples of pivoting:

• Using systems like Skype or Zoom, you may provide video quotes or make client calls from afar (for external tradies, lawyers or journalists)
• Rather of paying in full up front, payment plans are available.
• Virtual tours are available (ideal for real estate agencies)
• Guarantees of contactless delivery (ideal for food services or online shopping)
• Can your service be delivered online? Online courses, service delivery, or training

3. Strategy over Short-term Panic

Long-term planners are uncommon in humans, which isn’t good in the current climate. Many small business owners are worried, and we can observe the impact of market uncertainty on SMEs, business owners, and marketing managers directly. They must figure out how to convert customers into advocates.

When your cash flow is already strained, the last thing you want to do is give more money away. Customer discounts, on the other hand, are one of the most effective ways to keep your business afloat by stimulating demand and attracting new interest. Of course, this is in addition to offering outstanding service!

Although there is no clear end date for the coronavirus epidemic in the near future, business owners must plan ahead. To get through this together, we’ve already started talking to our clients about long-term goals and marketing strategies. This includes reevaluating current goods and campaigns to see what is relevant, where to innovate, and where resources can be reallocated in the coming months.

Businesses could consider offering:

• Discount incentives offering customers “20% OFF now” with the remainder due when they can pay
• Free delivery where possible
• Large discount on a future purchase (once the virus settles)

4. Increase your Share of Voice

Platforms that are normally submerged may find themselves with some breathing room. With fewer paid ads online, your message is more likely to stand out, as many firms cut back on marketing spending. When the world resumes active advertising, the messages you send out to the public during this “downtime” are more likely to be remembered if you use intelligent tone and positioning. At a cheaper cost, you can increase your ‘Share of Voice’ on social media and in search engines.

5. Champion your Website (finally)

You’ve been given the opportunity to work on that long list of digital projects that have always been pushed aside in the office’s daily grind. Meetings, water cooler banter, client briefings, and commuting are all abruptly out of the picture. Improvements to websites, upgrades, and whole rebrandings can now be carried out with no physical contact with the outside world. A phone call (or video call) to web developers, designers, and copywriters is all it takes.

If you’re an internet business owner, this is your chance to shine. Your business remains visible to your target audience, and you may even see an increase in traffic when the majority of the population shifts their focus to the internet for extended periods of time. This is your green light to use the next few months to finally get your business website sorted if you are not online or unsatisfied with the state of your current website.

6. Value-added Content

Produce and distribute relevant content that adds value to your customers’ brand experience.

People have more time than ever to browse, read, and absorb content, so educational content is expected to be in great demand during this period of social isolation. Because the majority of headlines are filled with end-of-the-world-style apocalyptic news, appearing in this space with lighter content can help your brand. Consider quizzes, polls, and Q&As. In these uncertain times, be a voice that gives ideas and solutions instead of despondency.

7. Think and Act Local

It’s also a smart idea to target your marketing to your local audience, as we’ve seen the tourism, hospitality, events, and retail industries fade away for a few months.

Consider new approaches to reaching out to your local audience. Opportunities have already been identified by our team, including:

• yelling, shouting, and singing in the driveway (verbal advertising)
• Drops a contactless letterbox
• Exercise classes and programmes are available online.
• DJs on the balcony.

In this uncertain time, Joshua Spanier, VP of Global Media at Google, emphasises the significance of understanding local context when marketing. Spanier’s post emphasises the importance of context when producing sponsored search advertising, as your material will most likely appear alongside big news articles.

What’s on your Digital Marketing Wishlist?

We aren’t proposing that you benefit from other people’s anxiety. We’re aggressively putting our disinfected hands on your shoulders, pulling you away from the media’s depiction of the coronavirus as a terrible, infinite black hole, and guiding you toward the horizon of potential that lies ahead of your company.

There are probably a few parked website projects that have never received the time and attention they deserve. To launch an online advertising campaign, you don’t need a large budget — all you need is a smart, targeted strategy, an internet connection, and an active digital marketing agency that works remotely.