What Happened in the Digital Marketing Space in the Times of the Coronavirus Pandemic?

 

Digital marketing’s importance as part of an overall strategy for companies cannot be denied, especially in the age of COVID-19.

While the coronavirus is challenging business norms and placing new pressures on many companies, some of the issues emerging are nothing new or novel.

What is most interesting about the outbreak are the industries that are straining under the weight of demand and those that are utterly sucking air.

Grocery stores and general retail are flourishing while luxury goods and vacations are suffering immensely.

It isn’t expected that this will continue but, the question remains, and that is how do companies position themselves to partake in the upswing in business that is likely to come?

What kind of digital marketing strategy should firms look to as an inspiration?

One emerging trend that is coming into clearer relief is the fact that consumers are pursuing a varied mix of online and brick-and-mortar shopping. The uptick in digital sales is beginning to mirror the pre-holiday sales traffic online.

Here are some useful guidelines on how to make the most of the current situation:

1. MARKETING AGILITY.

Marketers have to be able to move from trend to trend and capitalize on them at a moment’s notice. This means responding to customer needs as they shift and frequent monitoring of their activity on certain digital platforms. In other words, look for the most recent trends in the digital marketing space. One suggestion from us is to explore the potential of the Video Marketing tools.

 

2. EMPATHY AND CONNECTING WITH CUSTOMERS

Digital marketing in the post-COVID-19 era needs to connect with customers on a personal level. How this is achieved will obviously differ from industry to industry but the message is clear: People want a brand and experience that speaks to them on multiple levels. Crafting this kind of marketing message requires more nuance and intuition – as well as a little bit of analytical research – than the traditional method of coming up with blanket campaigns.

 

3. PERSONALIZED COMMUNICATION

Along with connecting empathetically, there is also the desire for personalized communication and bespoke experiences. As it stands now, the digital shopping experience for customers can be varied – even jarring – at certain points. By providing a personalized experience, companies not only decrease the likelihood of complaints and returns but also incentivize repeat business.

4. OPTIMIZATION FOR AD SPENDING

Along with paying attention to analytics and SEO, marketers need to move away from set spend amounts on advertising and, instead, take an optimized approach that rewards the winners and cuts off the losers. Prior to the advent of digital marketing, your ad spend was that and, if the effort bore no fruit, too bad.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Beyond that, firms were lucky to find out what went wrong or why a campaign didn’t work. Now we have that information immediately and the data is actionable. Beyond rewarding the winners and punishing the losing campaigns, businesses can also iterate more quickly on successful campaigns and deploy them with a speed that was impossible before.

 

We encourage you to use the market circumstances as an opportunity. Time not us, have proven that difficulties have always made business and people more creative, efficient in their daily lives and focused on the important. That is why we have developed and launched a special RESTART Package offering Free services to business. You can check it out here.

 

 

Your dedicated marketing team
ExpandX Marketing & Web

 

By the way, did you DOWNLOAD our

FREE Marketing Strategies Booklet?

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WHAT ARE SOME OF THE KEY MEASURES BUSINESSES NEED TO ACT ON NOW TO TACKLE THE CORONAVIRUS TOMORROW?

  It is already happening: the #StayAtHome campaign is practically making people appreciate their lives. Global trends show that social distancing, imposed as a measure to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, has massive impact on each and every industry. While for some economy fields this impact seems devastating, e-commerce and online services enjoy growth at unprecedented pace. As per recent news by Wall Street Journal (17 March), Amazon.com Inc. plans to hire an additional 100,000 employees in the U.S. to service online deliveries. While other SMEs like restaurants, cafes and cinemas are being shut down, digital, takeout and delivery along with streaming platforms and such for for video and audio conferencing, flourish. For example, the NYSE traded Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM), registered a significant rise of its stock price value hitting an all-time high of $130.70 as of midday 19 March 2020. All this is a clear indication of how powerful, important and vital to the existence and progress of businesses around the world the digital era is. The rapid change in circumstances is going to put the stamina of most businesses to a test. The big question is: how to protect the future of our companies in these times of hardship and insecurity? How SMEs with old and rusty business mechanics can get a bypass to the digital era benefits? Here are some useful guidelines on how to make the most of the current situation:

1. BOOST YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE.

“Digitally dead“ nowadays means “physically dead“ for almost 90% of the businesses. We know that shutting down your clothing store because of the emergency situation may feel tragic right now but why not use these lemons to make a nice glass of lemonade? You can look at this as the push you needed to open the e-Shop you’ve been dreaming about for years. To reach new, potential markets utilizing the means of digital marketing. To exploit the opportunities of automation and logistics innovations applied in business. Same applies to restaurants – make sure your customers don’t forget about you, just because your dining areas are closed. Keep your digital presence active, engage with your existing and potential audience, start promotions via digital marketing tools, get your menus on your website and do online deliveries! At a first glance it may sound challenging, but with good online presence and some talented marketing specialists behind your back your offline reputation will soon start working for your orders online! Almost any industry can adjust – online business has been a leading global trend for years. Why don’t you make this inevitable step forward… now? Those who resist change, risk facing less beautiful future for their companies.

2. SWITCH FROM TRADITIONAL OFFICE SPACE TO REMOTE OFFICE

The recommended social distancing may be the long-expected chance to see how your team would work from their own homes. With the right organizational tools and strategies in place, a remotely based team can be managed as efficiently as the one in the office. It is needless to say that, in times of crises, high monthly payments for office rent may be a huge burden for any business. Now it’s the right time to experiment with the concept of remote office and why not – to radically rethink the office situation for your business? There are many examples of businesses, which are already applying that practice.  

3. DIGITIZE YOUR WORKFLOW AND BUSINESS MECHANICS

Changing internal workflow processes may seem as a heavy task, especially when it comes to a company with decades of traditions of paper documents, folders and archives. We don’t want to convince you that switching to paperless existence would be easy, but it is definitely going to be worth it! Just imagine how much you would be saving from storage space (and storage costs) and how much more time your employees will be spending to get actually useful work done. And here comes the best part: once you have migrated your workflow to digital environment, you would have the flexibility to have your people work for you regardless of whether they are physically present in the office, in their homes or in a villa somewhere on the other part of the globe. Digitizing your company’s workflow will help you become independent from the office space and the physical presence of your employees. Having all this is mind, the possibility of quarantine or total lockdown does not seem that seriously disturbing any more.

4. EDUCATION AND CONTINUOUS LEARNING

Now this point comes as an extremely important one. We are referring to Online Education. You know how many educational materials, courses, articles, podcasts, videos and entire university programs are available online. Some for free, some – at a cost. Well, let’s not get surprised that this is also a result of the digital era and its opportunities. You can easily get your staff and colleagues to learn new skills, improve existing ones and advance forward in their professional domain of operation. This will inevitably result in better efficiency and competitive advantages in the long-run. Something your clients will cherish a lot.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Use the market circumstances as an opportunity. Time not us, have proven that difficulties have always made business and people more creative, efficient in their daily lives and focused on the important. That is why we have developed and launched a special RESTART Package offering Free services to business. You can check it out here. What your business will do in the next 3-6 months will define your business results in Q1, 2021. So… the questions is “What’s important for you”?   

Your dedicated marketing team ExpandX Marketing & Web

 

By the way, did you DOWNLOAD our

FREE Marketing Strategies Booklet?

Download HERE