How Covid-19 has changed marketing Strategies

By Tori 2 years ago

Since early 2020, the worldwide marketplace and businesses have seen a tremendous change in operations, finance, demand, and distribution. As terms like “social distancing,” “lockdown,” and “quarantine” became everyday words, businesses had to rethink their marketing strategies.

Usually, traditional marketing strategies like word-of-mouth, print media marketing, and marketing through sales staff work great for companies. Events and seminars have also been popular for a long time. But all these forms of marketing include socializing and gathering, which has been restricted all over the world.

Source: marketingcharts

So what complies with the current market scenario and the new normal? What can you do to make sure that consumers get to see you and know about you? What can you do to reach out to them and deliver?

We are here to discuss how to meet the current marketing needs and develop innovative strategies that work for you or your clients’ business. Let’s get started.

How to pace-up with the changing world of marketing

To find the solution, first, we need to analyze the problem in depth. With restrictions on going out, many industries’ operations, including, but not limited to, tourism and hospitality, luxury items, and transportation, have taken a significant hit.

Consumer needs can be seen changing, and so is their mindset. Thus, we have to use the limited resources at hand and figure out a safe and rational way to promote our products and services. Here is how.

Digital marketing is your best friend

The worldwide lockdown had forced consumers to stay indoors and use their gadgets more and more for work and entertainment purposes. There was a 70% increase in the usage of smartphones alone since March 2020.

Digital media has seen a massive jump in public engagement. An individual user spent 18% more time on social media in March, which amounted upto 3400 minutes per user per month. This was a record in itself until it was broken in April with 3600 minutes of viewership per user per month.

Social media, entertainment platforms, games, news, and retails have been most popular among users. Thus, the best way to get to the audience is through the utilization of digital media.

Content marketing, including blogging, video marketing, inbound and email marketing, infographics, and visual content, has proven extremely useful in the last few months. Among these, video contents such as demos, tutorials, explainer videos, and training videos have gained significant popularity among audiences.

It is the most convenient form of marketing, as you can reach and connect to your target audience specifically and personally without having to spend vast sums of money or resources.

Source: marketingcharts

Utilize technology

Companies now have limited resources at hand, both in terms of operations and marketing. As already mentioned, traditional marketing techniques may yield disappointing results. Technology is the only savior in these circumstances. 

Automation of processes and development of applications tracking almost anything has kept the work running for all these months. The same goes for marketing as well. The following are some of the effective ways to use technology for marketing purposes:

  • Find your audience: with tools like Qlikview, Weka, etc. you can find the audience to whom your brand is most relevant. This enables you to find your niche and strategize campaigns.
  • Utilize the data: you can utilize the technology to collect data from your audiences or prospects to analyze their response to a particular campaign and modify or optimize it.
  • Be omnipresent: use seamless integration to address your customers’ queries and provide them with a better customer service experience. Their satisfaction is a promotion in itself.

Understand customer mindset

Source: insuranceblog

The consumer need and mindset have changed to a great extent due to the pandemic. The tendency to impulse buying and purchase luxury or expensive items has lessened, while the need to stalk essential commodities has increased. 

The uncertainty of employment, reduction in revenue generation, and discontinuation of services have led the customers to develop a minimalistic mindset. With the restrictions demarking the essentials from non-essentials, the Consumerist lifestyle has already taken a backseat to make place for sustainable living.

 

In the last week of March 2020 itself, traditional trade and e-commerce saw a decline of 8% and 64% in the consumer rate. Thus, brands must focus on the needs of the consumers, which stems from the compulsion to survive with only the necessary without hampering life quality.

Additionally, social distancing impacts the public’s mind and emotions, which can lead to loneliness, depression, boredom, and anxiety. Thus the marketing strategy has to promote something they can utilize and enjoy at the same time.

Develop a rationalized approach

Despite the moderation on lockdown and mobility, people are still reluctant to invest in brands based on their brand image or reputation. They have developed a rational mindset to analyze and evaluate the value that a brand or product, or service brings.

The constant hammering of promotional content will not help with conversions. Thus, businesses have to come up with a more practical approach. To ensure their brands’ goodwill, companies have to focus on the utility and sustainability of their product or service.

It is time that brands focus on customer experience. They have to gain their trust and invoke confidence so consumers can rely on them. The ideal way to do this is to provide them with services that help them cope with the present situation. 

It might require brands to bend over backward to do this.However, it is crucial to comply with the circumstances to survive as companies in these trying times. This will prove to be instrumental in customer retention.

Be a purpose lead brand

2020 has taken a toll on people belonging to every stratum of society and age groups. While those who can work remotely have to deal with all the family members crowding their workspace, those who can not have to undergo pay cuts. The younger ones can not play outside, and the seniors are worried about being susceptible to the disease.

Prefer reading: How retirement communities are adapting to life post-Covid 19

During this incredible moment of crisis, consumers look for brands that can solve their problems and make things easy for them. Studies show 45% of customers admitted to having more faith in collaborative approaches from the government and businesses to combat Covid-19 hardships.

It is high time to turn into a purpose lead brand and to show the consumers why they should remain associated with you. Here are some excellent examples of such an approach.

Fitness apps are collaborating with influencers to spread awareness about staying fit and working out at home. Educational institutes and private tutors are turning digital and leveraging technology to meet student needs. Such purpose-filled collaborations can benefit both sides while catering to the consumers.

Be flexible,

The smart thing to do now is being open-minded. Do not think of what was and what could have been. It is indeed challenging and critical to deal with the current economic situation, which directly affects all the other aspects of a business, including marketing. However, the most robust way to fight back is to be open to challenge.

Now is the time you can get the most creative and see the consumer-seller relationship differently. It depends on your perspective, whether you will let the pandemic bring you down or unleash the innovation in you.