Right now, we’re in the midst of a global pandemic. Most everyone is confined to their homes, as governments attempt to halt the Coronavirus in its tracks. Numerous companies will now display increasingly more dependency on digital strategies than any other outreach. And how well they do this could potentially seal their brand’s fate in the months to come.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected virtually every aspect of life as we know it, and marketing is no different. To make their ends meet during these testing times, an increased number of companies are trying to reap the most out of it by using digital technology. Here are some of the points that explain why companies turn to Digital Marketing to survive COVID-19:
- All Eyes Are On Digital
The first thing to fall off the map during a pandemic like COVID 19 is traditional print media. This happens because if the average citizen is “forced” to self-quarantine at home, their ears and eyes are also quarantined and unfortunately, your ad spend only goes as far as their eyeballs.
Digital marketing agency often advise our clients against traditional print media (billboards, bench signs, magazines, sports sponsorships) & radio for several reasons:
- Not highly targeted
- Expensive
- Difficult (often impossible) to track ROI
- Hard to adjust in a pinch
And the list goes on. But the shift of eyeballs from physical real-estate to personal devices was not the result of a global pandemic and it’s already been taking place.
- Local Stores And Local SEO Are Now In Demand
As mentioned earlier, people are now looking for local stores online. They want stuff delivered at their door. They cannot go outside. But if you are present online, they can find you there without having to. Everyone is now dependent on local businesses for services and goods.
This time allows you to serve people around you. And if you do it the right way, you are also going to receive good reviews.
- Social Media Usage Soars
With a stay-at-home quarantine, everyone is bound to spend an inordinate amount of time on social media.
This means that once the panic buying subsides, e-commerce will tick upwards especially because consumers still can’t frequent their normal brick & mortar establishments. But it’s not too late: if you’re not already in the game, the time is now.
- Recreate the website
With the websites being ignored, most of the companies lack SEO techniques, thus bringing less traffic to the site. However, considering the current situations, it is time for the companies to start using them to stay in business.
Additionally, you must conduct keyword research and also make your SEO marketing updated. In case, if you want to update your blogs, you must do it and adapt to the new changes. Sprucing up the company’s websites is one of the best techniques that one might try to survive in this crucial situation. Also, performing a website audit will help you to understand if the website is running correctly.
- Updating your presence on Social Media
Due to the lockdown, more and more people are self-isolating and practising social distancing, and their only source of information is the internet. The presence of social media is everywhere, and this is the place where you can engage the customers.
Facebook ads are viral, and they are well known for drawing a huge number of visitors with the availability of a variety of advertisement campaigns. LinkedIn advertisements are a good option for B2B organizations.
- Content Marketing
It might be an indirect form of advertising; however, it is still a highly effective way to connect to your target audience. Whenever any business creates and then shares some insightful articles, infographics, other kinds of content, videos, this shall increase more engagement than usual. This is also great for brand engagement, provided that the content is regularly updated so that it remains relevant.
- Smart bidding
PPC is an advertising design which lets companies inject ads in search engine results for their preferred keywords. They have to bid on in order to win placement of the preferred keywords. The most common options are Google Ads and social media ads. Many advertisers today are benefiting from Google’s smart bidding strategies, which use machine learning to optimize their bids for conversion.
Using context hints like time, content, and user device, the smart bidding process determines the likelihood of conversion and creates an appropriate bidding strategy. This level of computerisation presents it as a suggested PPC tool. It is especially viable for new advertisers or the ones handling various campaigns.
- Be vocal with the Customers
The initial step is to start a dialogue that will take place between business and customers. For companies, which earlier never engaged with their customers that much, now is the time to build connections and engage with them on a daily basis.
Try to mention all the necessary steps that one has been taking in an existing newsletter. Companies which previously possess a newsletter can alert subscribers about several forthcoming developments in the next edition. Make an announcement on all the social media platforms one is a part of. A public post on Facebook or Instagram or other platforms to inform customers.
- The Bonus Reason
Agencies all over the world get a lot of queries. Some clients give up on its idea before even reaping the fruits of digital marketing. The best way to understand how online presence gives you a brand voice is to look up to established brands. When you say that you are a restaurant and you are not getting any orders online or from your drive-thru at this time, you are probably doing it wrong.
Conclusion:
With more people online for a longer time, your consumers can now find you at their fingertips. You now have time to study the change in customer behaviour, create digital strategies, figure out where to find your consumers online, and find out which approach would work best for you.
Maybe you might think of digital marketing strategy as an emergency fill-in now, however, once you find out the advantages of digital marketing, you might want to make it one of your marketing contingency plans. While digital marketing may be regarded right now as a contingency plan, by the time this is over, everyone will likely realize that it’s more than an emergency coronavirus measure.