To say that 2020 is a unique time for digital marketing is an understatement. Due to stay-at-home orders from the government, everyone’s stuck in their houses. Traditional marketing platforms like street signs and billboards are left unseen. On the other hand, digital advertising thrives since people are at home and spending most of their time online.
While there is no playbook for marketing during a pandemic, there are a few ways you can make digital marketing work for your business.
Redefine Your Business Goals
The disrupted marketing landscape calls for an in-depth assessment of your company’s goals against your current marketing strategy. Ask questions like: what do my customers need now? What do they need to hear? How can my brand fulfill this need? What types of marketing tools will help me do so? Should my business invest in SEO services or others?
List your new goals and update your marketing mix along the way. Seek assistance from digital marketers so that you’ll know how to direct customers from physical to digital storefronts. Also, professionals can help you with your budget allocations for marketing needs.
Test Drive Your Inbound Marketing
In case of a surge of website traffic, are you ready for customers proactively researching your business? Eliminate the guesswork by test-driving inbound marketing — including chatbots, websites, brochures, and videos — for a variety of search journeys.
Take a look at your current SEO efforts. Can people easily find you online? Does your website answer their needs? Now might be a good time to update your website FAQs, as well as investing in voice search rankings. Also, use information relating to COVID-19. Let potential customers know how your business can help them during the pandemic. Use information from contact centers and web sessions to see what your target audience needs right now.
Consider Creative Considerations
In line with the reassessment of your business goals and marketing campaigns, evaluate your brand’s messaging — from the visual imagery, tone, keywords, copy, and media placements. For example, using slapstick humor for your marketing campaigns might be inappropriate in the middle of a health crisis. Instead, prioritize the current climate and create messages of sympathy and hope.
Stay Active on Social Media
Use your social media platforms to inform, interact, and share positive thoughts with your followers. Whether it’s taking online orders, updating your business hours, or ensuring everyone’s safety, use your social media accounts to keep customers updated.
Also, explore running ads on Instagram or Facebook to generate brand awareness and grow your audience.
Contribute and Help Whenever You Can
Now more than ever, everyone in your organization must come together to help one another. Think of innovative and creative ways to aid your customers, partners, and other stakeholders. Look at your business’s digital assets and brainstorm for new ideas on how you can support advocacies, amplify information dissemination, and donate.
Digital marketing never stops; it only adapts to the current situation of its consumers. In the middle of the COVID-19 crisis, use this tool to reach target customers and help them get what they need despite the lockdown and uncertain future.
