The current force majeure situation caused by the spread of COVID-19 definitely has the potential to create huge challenges for businesses, regardless of their niche, size, capital, and previous situation. Today we will talk about marketing.
The truth is that the consequences of the unfolding present cannot yet be accurately predicted even by financiers, and we are unlikely to "discover the hot water" when it comes to the future of the global economy.
However, we can quite safely, from the position of a company with some experience in the online sphere, offer some very reasonable hypotheses regarding business behavior during the state of emergency.
How to reorganize your priorities, where to focus your marketing efforts, and how to adapt to the looming uncertainty ?
We offer you four simple and logical marketing steps to try to "tighten the ranks" and keep your head above water in the coming months.
#1 Do everything you can to retain your existing customers
It's crucial to stay visible, memorable, and relevant to your users right now. The specific steps to achieving these goals will largely depend on your business niche, but some universal marketing ideas could include:
- Send personalized messages to your subscribers
Of course, we are talking about something much different than pointless spam here. Mobilize your (albeit online) marketing department and create a plan for contextualized, adequate and timely inclusions with relevant information about the brand during the state of emergency. This can be general information about your activity, current promotions, promotions, etc.
- Social media activity and visibility
Stay flexible, keep up with the dynamic situation, offer solutions to previously non-existent problems. Even if your business suffers from a decline in sales, do not allow yourself to decline in your public activity - provide current useful and relevant information for your target groups and build an atmosphere of trust and empathy.
- Creating useful content
It's easy to assume that a huge portion of your users are online right now, ready to consume more information than ever before. The E.A.T. formula (Expertise, Authority, Trust is more relevant and more profitable than ever.
What does this mean? In short, it literally means: never stop providing your users with high-value content. Investing in quality content is currently emerging as your surest ticket to an uncertain and challenging future. And no , we're not saying this just because we're a copywriting agency.
If you manage to retain your existing customers, then you have already taken a big step forward, given the complex situation. But what else can you do?
#2 Look for ways to get in front of your potential customers
Have you heard of The Mere Exposure Effect ? If you feel like you’re recklessly investing in advertising right now, here’s a theory that might help you make sense of it. In short, The Mere Exposure Effect suggests that the more familiar a product, service, or even a person is, the more we intuitively trust or like them. In other words, visibility determines customer trust and demand.
" How to attract potential customers " is a question that many people make a living answering, but still - here are a few little marketing "jokers" on how to proceed in the current situation to stay visible and increase your chances of success:
- Search engine optimization (SEO) is a relatively expensive and relatively lengthy process, but it guarantees lasting results - your page will be in the top positions exactly where it is needed - when searching for a specific product or service in major search engines.
The truth is, now is a great time to be SEO because months of work on your website will likely come to an end just when you need it most – during the “return to normal” period, when competition will be fiercer than ever. If you have the financial resources for SEO, now is definitely the time to invest it to feel the return when it will be of paramount importance.
- Digital campaigns and building an online community are always relevant, but now more than ever. No matter what industry you work in, your customers are at home right now. Some of them are confused, some are sick, and some are bored.
You have a huge resource of wandering online users who are secretly hoping for something exciting to happen to them, even on Facebook. Intrigue them, engage them, make them laugh, make them cry, challenge them. Put all your creativity and brainpower into ways to “turn a flaw into an effect.”
- Remember what we said about content? That's right - keep creating content. The more meaningful, timely, and relevant it is, the more positive your company will be in the eyes of your future clients, partners, and associates.
#3 Show social responsibility and suffer losses now to gain reputation for the future
This is a paragraph where the purely human face of business is intertwined with marketing strategy, both leading in a shared direction – “give something of yourself now, and later it could come back.” Many businesses already practice this approach, probably some of them – quite intuitively and spontaneously.
First of all, think about how you can be truly helpful , and your “reward” for doing so will come when the wheel turns. Some ideas could include:
- Free resources
In the scientific and educational sphere, these are various courses, e-books, databases, etc.
- Access to exclusive content
In the cultural and entertainment sphere, these include, for example, free access to television channels, recordings of events and theater performances, archives, digital tours, etc.
- Free consultation and assistance in connection with the newly created situation
This is a useful move both for the media as mediators and for business itself in the form of lawyers, accountants, marketers, financial consultants, etc.
- Socially responsible campaigns
Organizing people online to support a cause won’t cost your business much, but it will save lives and create the right kind of excitement around your brand. Choose a way to help those in need right now – it could be material donations, volunteer campaigns, digital information initiatives, etc.
- Financial donations
The business environment in Bulgaria can actually boast of quite a few entrepreneurs who can afford such a step. Charity has always been used for PR / marketing actions, no matter how unpleasant this truth may sound. No matter whether you announce it publicly or not, right now your business can be truly useful by allocating a certain amount for donations - for hospitals, for scientific research, for people at risk, etc.
Are you starting to feel a little hopeful? We have one last, but not least, marketing tip:
#4 Plan your financial investments wisely
Do you know what the term growth hacking means?
In short, it is the talent and skill to achieve major breakthroughs with almost zero financial investment. Growth hacking was until recently a marketing approach inherent to small startups that needed a strong and decisive entrance “on the scene”.
Soon, however, the techniques of this specific type of marketing will become a much more significant part of business existence, given the predicted expectations for the financial collapse that the entire world will have to deal with.
As we actually tell you?
Reallocate and optimize your marketing and content budget instead of freezing it.
Adapt without panicking, regroup without reducing ranks, be helpful without expecting instant results.
And think outside the box, because the box burns.
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