Digital Marketing After The Pandemic

 

Digital marketing is important for your business.The harsh effects that we’ve witnessed on businesses worldwide since the beginning of COVID-19 has made people evaluate the way they conduct their day to day business, acquire new customers and keep the clientele they already have. Before the pandemic, a large number of businesses relied only upon referrals to attract new customers.

However, this pandemic showed the real power of digitization as people witnessed various digital marketing trends across several industries. It made companies realize the need to go digital and promote their business through digital marketing.

 Digital Marketing Trends During The Pandemic

• Content

As the people had to quarantine themselves into their house because of the spread of COVID-19, the content market got a significant rise in its users. Adding and promoting content on the internet has always been an excellent way of communication between customers and brands.

However, during this time, we witnessed many brands becoming public service announcement broadcasters to help people provide information for their safety. Many brands even showed their appreciation to front line workers. Overall, as digital viewing started to become larger, brands started producing more and more content in order to promote their brand.

• Search Engines

There has been a great change in the behavior of a consumer during this pandemic that has left many brands confused about their business. Although the number of online searches has gone up, there are a few industries that haven’t benefited from it at all.

Industries that are related to home-based products such as games, stationery, etc. are seeing a high increase in sales. Whereas, industries such as automobiles have taken a hit and have reduced sales significantly.

• Directory Listings

Directory listings got an ample amount of attention because of this pandemic. Providing information about business, their opening, closing, and current status became highly significant.

Many businesses notified their customers with several kinds of coronavirus announcements and other information. Businesses that efficiently managed their listing at the time of lockdowns gained better revenue than the others.

• Social Media

Communication and engagement between users and brands also got highly impacted. As per a report from Sprout Social, the engagement rate of brands with their customers via social media grew by 7.3% per post a day in April compared to the stats of March.

• Reviews

Reviews played a highly important role in business promotion and growth during this pandemic. Websites like Yelp provided information about various brands, especially supermarkets.

Brands that were engaged by actively communicating with consumers got positively impacted. On the contrary, there were a few businesses whose sales dropped because they were not answering the customer calls and were showing as open on  review sites.

• Websites

Websites had to change and update their content and landing pages in order to provide the correct information to their clients. Telemedicine and virtual consultations were the major two industries that faced this problem. Websites that offered live chat were extremely beneficial, they were smoothly interacting with the customers and providing answers for their queries.

• SEO

The biggest blunder many organizations did during the pandemic was to stop their PPC campaigns as businesses were on halt. Check about SEO tools. This had a serious effect on their business, brands that continued their SEO strategies acquired more customers.

• Communication

Several brands have proven that there is nothing more important than being human. They have been honest, comforting, and even helped out various consumers with a variety of survival and basic needs items.

They shifted their focus from their business and provided it for helping others. This step of gratitude is paying really well for some of the business as we are coming back from this challenging situation.

• Email

If you ran an email campaign before the pandemic, then you surely would be getting positive results of that now. As per the reports of Campaign Monitor, the unsubscription rates of consumers have lowered, and businesses are focusing more on their email campaigns.

If you are planning to implement a new email strategy, make sure the emails are fitting to the current requirements of the customers. You need to ensure that safety and help are the topmost priority of your campaigns.

Another trend that is likely to persist is accessibility. Businesses that would be accessible to others in any form will surely have better success rates than others.  Make sure to add essential elements such as live chat, contact numbers, video services, contact form, etc. to your website for better growth.

 

Do You Need Digital Marketing Right Now

Marketing has always been an important parameter to attract potential customers to your business. Now that most people are stuck in their home, it gives you a perfect opportunity to drive new leads and have larger customer acquisition.

As discussed above, many businesses made the mistake of closing their marketing campaigns to save some costs. However, those companies ended with losing their customers to other competitors who have continued their marketing channels.

Therefore, running your marketing campaigns right now is essential. It will help you sustain your business and, more importantly, can help in the growth of your business. Lets discuss some of the reasons why you should still rely on your marketing campaigns:

• Affordable Online Advertising

The current situation of COVID-19 has resulted in some of the lowest advertising costs we’ve seen. A large number of businesses who had short term goals in mind restricted their market funds. This resulted in a fall in price of online advertisements.

Because of the overall lower costs, it is now cheaper to turn leads into customers. A high drop in PPC and cost per lead can be witnessed in the marketplace.

• Data-Driven Strategies

Nobody can accurately predict the future of this current situation. However, using various data analytics tools, consumer behavior can be studied and fairly analyzed in real-time. It can help you identify the buying trends of the consumers.

A good thing about online ad campaigns is that they are highly flexible. They can be easily manipulated and modified according to the results provided by the data analysis. You can efficiently create the right strategies as per the information pulled from the data.

• Going for the Money

Most industries right now are in desperate need of sales to shoot up their revenue. To increase your sales, it is important that the customer know what you are offering to them. Digital Marketing is the greatest platform through which you can spread awareness about what you have to offer. It is also an efficient way to target a specific group of people to achieve fast and better results.

 

Industry-Specific Ideas for Marketing

Below are some of the ideas for different industries that will help you to market your business.

• E-Commerce

Most of the products that have shot up the sales during this pandemic are related to health, safety wellness, and, more importantly, entertainment. So focus on potential products right now and create strategies for those products. Soon when the pandemic panic slows down, the sales of other products will begin to rise again.

• Health and Beauty

Gift cards can be sold at a discounted price to your regular clients that consist of extended dates so that the sales can be regenerated. Make sure to keep a rescheduling option which will be useful to driving more traffic.

• Home Services

Since customers have been spending so much time in their homes, a lot of attention has been paid to the house. Start advertising about your services so that people can relate to the problems and call you as soon as things start getting back normal.

• Legal and professional services

Services related to divorce, bankruptcy, and trust and estate planning are likely to increase in the near future. So keep up with the latest trends and keep your advertisements regulating in case anyone requires your help.

• Medical

There hasn’t been any industry more important than the medical industry right now. At this unpredictable time, most people are using telemedicine to reach out to healthcare systems. So make sure to have an online presence when the customers need you.

• Mortgages and Real Estate

The real estate industry is currently struggling the most in all parts of the world. To successfully sustain this tough time, keep the right focus on your advertising and email strategies, and make sure to be engaged with clients. Once the pandemic is over, the hand that is visible to the client will get the maximum support.

• Restaurants

People are missing going back to their favorite restaurants to enjoy loving time with their friends while having their favorite foods. Use your customer contact information to provide emails and messages and share the reopening plans of your restaurants. Also, include the safety measures and guidelines you will follow to ensure the safety of the customer.

Final Thoughts

In these challenging times, marketing is the most important element that can help your business survive. Also, if you implement the right strategies and plans for your marketing campaign, it can hugely impact your business and give you a great head start once this COVID-19 pandemic is over.