As the Corona pandemic grows, everyone is understandably anxious about their health and struggling to face a life that looks radically different than it did just a short time ago. Businesses are finding themselves floundering in uncertain times. Every industry is being forced to adapt, whether by being forced to close down, operate remotely, or change their business model. Conferences and live events are being cancelled or postponed indefinitely, leaving businesses worried about how to generate new leads and promote growth.
With all these rapid, dramatic changes, marketing teams are having to navigate totally uncharted terrain. It would be understandable if businesses were to downgrade their marketing efforts, especially when they are concerned about their bottom line and trying to trim budgets.
But - this is not the moment to curtail your marketing efforts - the results will have longer lasting effects than this current crisis. Research has shown that those who focus - rather than cut - their spending and employ a progressive approach, end up as the winners when markets stabilize. With much of the world now primarily interacting online, digital marketing is the new frontier for businesses to conquer.
Let’s take a look at 10 digital marketing techniques that can help keep your business afloat during these challenging times.
At a time when businesses are concerned about generating new leads and customers, the first thing you should do is to touch base with your existing contacts, through email channels and on social media. It’s important to communicate how your business has been affected, and details on how closures or remote working will affect your ability to help them.
Why is this helpful?
What should you say?
The inbound methodology is especially relevant here. Your customer is likely experiencing high levels of anxiety. Instead of a pushy sales pitch, you want to be focusing on your customers pain points, and how you are trying to alleviate them.
Check out Starbucks new homepage:
They cannot operate as usual but they address concerns about their customers' health, strike an empathetic tone by stating “we’re still here for you”, and are offering free delivery.
If you are finding yourself with extra time at home, now would be the perfect time to do a little spring cleaning on your website! If you are used to customers completing their buyer’s journey offline, but you now need them to convert online, make sure the process is as seamless as possible.
Some things you can do:
Another way you can use any extra time you may have is to upgrade your content by:
Look at the new articles featured on the website of 'UkOfficeDirect'. With more people working remotely and home-schooling, they are writing content that will appeal to the buyers they want to attract.
The Asana blog leads with this relevant article
People are spending even more time glued to their social media these days, so now is not the time to disappear. If you need to step back from paid advertising, that doesn’t mean you need to go off the grid.
People are inundated with emails, and you want to make sure that your carefully crafted message is actually getting through. If you aren’t already taking advantage of software that automates your emailing campaigns, now is definitely the time to start! You can segment your lists so that your customer receives the most relevant emails. Automating your emails makes sure that your email reaches your customer at the right time. Not only that, but automation ensures that sequences of emails can go out with less manpower - and in chaotic times it’s great to have one less task to think about.
Try to adapt your email subject lines to resonate more with your customer
Check out how Marks & Spencer, a leading British brand’s emailing strategy. Look at what they are choosing to promote, and how they’re framing their products by using words such as comfort, and effortless.
The problem with letting SEO fall to the wayside is that SEO is really a long game. You’ve invested in optimizing your website and assets, and created content that ranks well. Once you have lost traction, it will be a huge struggle to recover. Not only that, but other businesses may be more impulsive, so staying the course will make your business more competitive.
The first thing you should be doing is ensuring that you have a Google My Business listing, so that you will show up when people are searching for businesses near them. While Google My Business is always important, it is even more crucial when people are home-bound and looking to support local business.
If your business opening hours have changed,or you have store closures, be sure to update your listing.
That said, Google My Business is working with more limited functionality. They recently released the following statement:
In short, accept it’s limitations but do what you can to get the most vital updates out there. If you have reviews to add, unfortunately they won’t be added now.
Every industry has been affected differently. Some businesses are flourishing and some are definitely hurting. You can see how traffic has grown and declined during Covid-19, across the spectrum.
Whether your business is doing well or has been badly affected, see if you are able to adapt your business model.
It’s worth thinking about whether a new type of buyer would be interested in your services.
Look at how Fedex is targetting new shippers, small businesses, and those unable to leave their homes.
Alternatively, there may be products that you can promote that will now be highly sought after.
Here, Siemens, a manufacturing industrial company with a wide array of services, puts the spotlight on its disinfectant robots and 3D printing that could help print and design medical devices.
It could be that your business cannot operate at all. There may still be some ways to cater to your customers. Even if it’s for free, or a reduced price, demonstrating flexibility and providing value to your customers even in trying circumstances will result in customer loyalty, and hopefully further custom in the future.
Look at what Holmes place - a chain of gyms that must remain closed - is choosing to offer:
Offering courses, tutorials, helpful resources and videos are great ways to remain relevant even if you can’t operate normally. You can live stream your services via Zoom or Google Hangouts. You can do this for free, or provide the link in return for a small fee. If live videos don’t work well for your business, you could start a Vimeo channel, which uses a paywall, so your customers can gain access to a tutorial for a nominal charge.
Conferences are a great source of quality lead generation, in part due to the ability to make human, face to face connections, and reach wide audiences. There is a good reason that businesses often allocate 30-40% of their budget to them! However, with conferences and other live events cancelled or postponed, you can still be creative in getting your message out there.
The markets are so volatile, and you want to make sure that you are getting to the best return on your investment.
The first thing to note is that PPC ad conversions have fallen steeply in recent weeks
Obviously, the results vary between different industries: It comes as no surprise that the travel industry has been hard hit, whereas the health and medical industry is performing well.
Neil Patel points out that pay-per-click costs have not changed dramatically, since conversions are lower , the cost for conversion has gone up. Although the expenses have increased, he recommends doubling down during an economic downturn (if you are able to), to gain market share in the long term.
Regardless, if you are running PPC campaigns, Mark Irvine at Wordstream recommends doing the following:
Another important trend to follow is how web traffic has been affected. For example, we can see here that Google search use has been badly impacted, whereas Youtube has seen a 21% increase in traffic.
The take-away? Don’t concentrate all your advertising efforts too narrowly. Instead diversify, and look at how other networks can help you to reach your audience. Look at Youtube's popularity for an extra incentive to create those promotional videos!
In unprecedented times, market volatility and across the board anxiety, it can be difficult to employ a focused approach. But using the digital marketing techniques can help you remain connected - and relevant - to your customers, retain your market share, and help you reach new audiences while you weather the storm.