6 Ways Covid-19 Affected Marketing

That’s what I would want to call the pandemic we are currently going through. It has affected everything around us: our life, our relationships, our thought process, and our work. Some businesses have been forced to shut down while some are struggling to tie loose ends together. For any business to survive through this difficult time, marketing is a key process. With almost everything coming to a halt, marketing has also taken a huge dip. Almost all businesses are affected. This diagram will give you some idea on the affected industry verticals:

Events, in-store marketing, in-person networking might become ancient things as the world is changing every second. But wait! Not all hope is lost! Thanks to all the ways that technology is helping us. Newer and smarter ways of digital marketing are what every business needs today.

Technology at our rescue

This is a huge relief for everyday businesses because, without tech, it would be a big struggle. There is lots of data on the internet that indicates how people are spending more time online in this pandemic than ever before. This gives great opportunities for businesses to take their chance and engage their customers while staying in the comfort of their homes. Digital Marketing enables these businesses by letting them connect with their target audience from a remote place. It wouldn’t be a hyperbole to say that digital marketing is the way out for the world’s businesses.

Marketers were fast to adapt to this shocking change and may be able to help their company from sinking into the dark depths of the Corona Virus. Here are some tips that might help your business:

1. Digital Events

Events have been a big feeding ground for the sales and marketing community for a very long time. But in this new ‘COVID Era’ they need to adapt to digital events. They are becoming more and more necessary for any business trying to survive, and there are various options to conduct them. Webinars, podcasts, hybrid events, and more can be hosted to connect with your audience and remain in business. There are various platforms that can support hosting these events like GoToWebinar, OnlineEvents, and many, many more.

But there are few pro’s and cons to consider:

Pros:

• The world becomes your audience and location limitations are now gone.
• The costs are reduced.
• They give you built-in capabilities to measure success in real-time. Data can be subsequently used to make changes and grab the audience’s attention.
• The adaptation process is minimal and such events rely on mediums and formats that people are already familiar with, so they can understand this easily

Cons:

• The charm of networking is lost.
• The profit needs to be recalculated.
• Technology can malfunction. For example: internet issues and glitches

2. Digital and Television mediums need strong connectivity

Even today, there is no better medium to reach every house than TV because it happens to be the third screen viewed most after mobiles & laptops. With the world in a lockdown state Television time has increased by a lot. All B2C brands build the synergies between Digital Marketing channels and Television as a medium of communication. Brand recall is best done with Television. 

3. Which Digital Channel?

This is the time to press the reset button and re-think your plan. There are organizations that have kicked back their marketing plans to prepare for good times. Assess your plans and consider a mix of these channels to catch the pace:

• SEO: Get good on SEO & secure the much-needed push to land on the top pages of Google Search Engine Optimization. Don’t miss the chance to scale up and outshine your competitors with the best SEO services company because ‘come-back takes real-time efforts!
• Social Media Marketing: Reach out to all types of audiences you ever wanted to target. People are glued to social media & businesses can take advantage of this by increasing their reach and engagement. Social Media works for both B2B and B2C businesses. Twitter and LinkedIn work great for B2B while B2C has a bigger plethora of channels like Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, and a lot more.
• Paid Marketing: According to market trends, Paid ads are becoming cheaper as the number of ad publishers & bidders is soaring. Our take? Use this opportunity to multiply your spending & get a much higher ROI.
• E-mail Marketing: After a long time of getting step-child behavior emails are starting to gain back their recognition. Engaging content at the right time brings good exposure and ROI for your brand. The best part of email marketing for me is the “personalization”.

Related: 6 Tips for Writing High-Converting Email Copy

4. The Number Game:

Return on every dollar spent is always important but it is critical when budgets are limited. Performance-based marketing services and marketing measurement tools are the way to move ahead.

• Performance-based SEO: What is better than a win-win deal for a business? In Pay for Performance SEO, payment is done only when the desired results are achieved and delivered. There are no monthly expenses on SEO and payouts are tied to performance. With the present situation demanding crucial choice on investment, Pay for Performance SEO services is a great program to keep a watch on marketing budgets and also reach soaring heights of performance.

Related: Pay for Performance SEO Is ONLY for Winners. Learn Why!

• Marketing Automation:For any marketer, an investment in a good marketing automation tool is crucial. Engaging with customers across multiple platforms with uniform messaging needs the support of efficient tools. Tools backed with AI to provide marketing insights are a game changer. A few known tools in the market are Pardot, HubSpot, Marketo, and Act-On. 

 5. The customer is the King

In a world with or without the pandemic, maintaining customer relationships is always the ultimate goal. In this turbulent time, businesses need to make sure that long established customer relations are nurtured and the brand is constantly engaging with them. Have a multi-platform marketing strategy that engages your customer in the right way during this pandemic.

According to an industry survey in the US, ‘56 percent of consumers are pleased to hear about brands taking action like making donations of goods and services.’ Remember that if you show passion and presence today, your customers will remember you tomorrow.

6. Direct to Customer

With customers in lockdown, B2C businesses will have to devise strategies to reach their customers directly. This approach will build a strong base for businesses to flourish in these times & follow more purposeful, practical, pragmatic, and value-based marketing initiatives. This approach enables you to be more customer-centric and explore the opportunity in a broader media mix. Have a clear understanding of the distribution, test, and learn what works as new business objectives are defined. With the D2C model, businesses can position themselves in the niche and eliminate intermediaries to generate a higher ROI.

Closing not

Hope does not lie on the other side of the pandemic. It lies right here!

Remember that the steering wheel is in your hand and fortune favors the brave. Take action today and look at the bright side. The business paradigm will never be the same again. Improvising & adapting to the situation is what a steady long-term business must do.

Change is the only constant!