Woohoo, you made it to Part 3 of our 3-part blog series on marketing during COVID-19!
This series is an extension of a webinar we collaborated with Hangar18 Design Continuum on “Navigating Marketing Through COVID-19: Then, Now, Next”. We thought the information would be useful for businesses and as we are an expert in marketing, we wanted to share some tips!
In Part 2: “Planning For Marketing During COVID-19”, we examined what creatives should look like and what channels to best invest in.
In this blog, we’ll be looking at how to formulate your post-COVID-19 marketing plan.
The specific topics we will be covering are:
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator on Unsplash
Who Should I Target?
We know that the market will most likely not look the same as it did pre-COVID on both the business and the consumer side, so your demographic might shift to the “new normal”.
Mindshare conducted a survey and results show that consumer segments and brand loyalty will shift.
- 62% of shoppers say they are likely to continue buying from new brands they’ve tried
- 59% will continue to try new products once the pandemic is over
Businesses should be prepared for these shifts, but also see these shifts as opportunities to connect with consumers in new and innovative ways.
As we all know, it is the role of your marketing department to connect with these target consumers, and to inspire them! Therefore, it would be a critical mistake to suffocate the department that connects with your customers most. Connecting with your customers during this time is a delicate practice.
When Should I Restart Paid Media?
Be sure to monitor the market for the right time.
How Can I Capture Conversions?
To best understand your demographic, identify shifted trends to best adapt to a post-COVID world, here are some questions to reflect and do some research on!
How’s Your Organic Traffic & Social Media?
Keep an eye on:
- What do you notice about your followers?
- Who are they following?
- What are they interested in?
- Who are they interacting with — are they interacting with you?
- How has the current crisis changed your relationship with your followers/consumers?
How’s Your Competition’s Traffic?
- Are they running campaigns?
- Have their followers and interactions increased, decreased, remained steady?
- What are they doing differently from you?
What’s Trending In Your Industry?
Keep tabs on this. Sign up for newsletters, attend webinars, talk to people; suppliers, partners, clients — people in similar situations.
What’s the Job Market Like?
The job market…who’s hiring? For what positions?
This is a great way to identify which industries maybe weren’t as affected by COVID-19 or which industries have strong reopening or return-to-work strategies.
One thing is for sure. In the dynamic landscape of the post-COVID job market, individuals in the different fields, must strategically position themselves to secure opportunities. Applicants in the engineering field, for instance, should highlight their adaptability to remote work environments and showcase how they navigated post-COVID challenges, demonstrating resilience and problem-solving skills in the face of job market uncertainties. Crafting a compelling engineering CV is pivotal in this pursuit. As an engineer navigating this landscape, it is essential to leverage AI technologies to enhance the job search.
Given What’s Around Me, Does This Campaign Feel Right?
Think to yourself, given these circumstances, does this campaign align? Or is it somehow tone-deaf? Maybe you’ll notice something that is missing.
What Can I Do Today To Help Me Tomorrow?
After emotional shocks that shook society like 9/11 and the financial meltdowns of recessions it’s a time to pause and reflect. Think about what’s really important, which should be: health, family and the present.
For a lot of us, we keep thinking about the future.
What to do next, where to turn, all the while we still have that emotional load of being vulnerable. Being cautious, trying to be careful and sensitive to others. You look for that in others and in business. Communicating a level of social responsibility is more than ever the key to conversions!
Tip: Try to be both proactive and sensitive. Be creative and show you care about your community.
Get Creative With Your Offers
Take the example of the hospitality industry: during COVID-19, facilities like the spa and fitness room might not be attractive to a guest anymore. So why not be agile and adapt? Work with your team and offer other services such as contactless check-in and flexible check-out time.
A smart idea would be to develop relationships with local small businesses down the street. Collaborate and develop co-branded offers which adds value to everyone by encouraging them to shop locally, help the community and show that your business cares.
Consider creating offers for seniors, locals, first responders, healthcare workers etc. Leverage your loyalty list, now is the perfect time to connect with your existing clients and deepen the bond!
Connect with Your Existing Customers
Do not be afraid to connect with your customers right now. Although now might not seem like a time for “selling”, it is definitely a time for helping. Interact with your customers through various mediums: send an email or a newsletter, pick up the phone, comment on social media. Check-in.
YYoga, a client of Hangar18 actually sent out a survey to their existing clients asking to help them with their reopening strategy. They wanted to hear from their clients about what they would be comfortable in the coming weeks, in order to gauge what kind of attendance they would have and how soon — we thought this was brilliant. And it is so simple to just ask.
Get the Housekeeping Done
This goes back to identifying where your marketing dollars are going. It is also a time to identify what is no longer serving a purpose to your business and acknowledging new places where you should focus your energy.
Be Scrappy Where You Can Be, But Know When You’re Out of Depth
Be scrappy and identify what can be done in-house with existing resources and what needs to be outsourced. What is going to cost you more, but more importantly, what is going to help you achieve your goals during this challenging time? Sometimes there is going to be short-term pain for long-term gain.
Communication is going to be the key to survival. Understanding your strategy is one thing, but how are you going to clearly communicate it to your team, your partners, your suppliers and most importantly, to your clients? It’s a sensitive time and every word counts.
Hope you found this blog series helpful in navigating marketing through COVID-19.
You can find more advertising resources for your business like this one at the Advertising Institute.
Are you looking to elevate your advertising?
What Have We Learned?
- Businesses should prepare for these the post-COVID shift. Studies show that brand loyalty will shift as more than 50% of shoppers say they’re going to continue to try new products after the pandemic, so be sure to monitor for the right time to restart paid media that’s right for your business!
- To capture conversions, it’s important to work on your company’s organic traffic and social media. Grow rapport with your audience. Keep an eye on how what your competitor is doing, what is in trend in your industry, what the job market looks like etc to get a feel for what the best practices are for re-opening. Be sure to test the waters so you’re not tone-deaf in the new landscape post-COVID.
- When it comes to preparing for the future, be creative and show that you care about your community and don’t forget to be socially responsible, proactive and sensitive in this day and time.
- Get creative with your offers, fuel your existing customer base’s loyalty by connecting with them.
- Take this time to also prioritize your marketing investments, what can be trimmed and what should be emphasized. What can be done in-house and what can you out-source? It’s the time to readjust before going forward.
