Tanuja Mahant / 6 Mins Read
Updated: February 17, 2023
Digital marketing campaigns are one of the most successful ways to reach potential customers at scale. Follow the below strategies to ensure your marketing strategy is as targeted and on-point as possible.
Unfortunately, one of the most popular questions today is what coronavirus is and how the virus spreads between people. And COVID-19 disruptions have impacted every area of our private and professional lives. Moreover, businesses today have to find new and innovative ways to stay afloat during this crisis.
Hence, in this article, we’re going to talk about some online marketing ideas you should consider during the coronavirus pandemic.
Living through a pandemic is a unique and terrifying experience for most of us. The lives of everyone you know are turned upside down, and we’re all self-isolating to flatten the curve. Hence, your business now has to operate under new rules. But with newfound compassion for the communities around you.
Whatever your niche is, now is the time to get in touch with your customers and give them something for free. If you’re offering a service, support your loyal clients by giving them a few months of free subscription. And if you’re selling a product, donate a portion of it to the local charity.
Stepping up and holding yourself (and your company) to a higher standard during this pandemic might prove to be the best strategy. Many companies have found a way to contribute, and even if you can’t afford significant donations, even a small one can mean a lot to some people (or businesses).
We’re stronger together.
Now is your time to take care of your customers and stay connected to them. And social media channels are an easy way to do just that. You can utilize your Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook profiles to interact regularly with your base.
Read their comments, answer their question, and get a direct preview of their thoughts and opinions. You can even go one step further and ask them for suggestions. They might give you an incredible idea, and plus, your customers will feel they are a part of your team.
WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram have seen a 40 percent increase in usage in the 18 to 34-year-old age group. Snapchat has gained 11 million daily users since the beginning of 2020, and engagement on the platform is at an all-time high. These numbers tell a simple story. People need to stay connected, and they crave content.
You can provide that for them. Share updates on your profiles and keep engagement up. When everyone is quarantining at home, social media is a way to reach your customers on a more personal level.
As we said above, you need to find a way to help people out, and one way to do that is to implement the “discounts strategy.” If there was a time for discounts, promo codes and coupons, or special offers, it’s now.
A number of studies have proven that this strategy works, but now, it might be a necessity. With the economic fallout, people tend to become prudent spenders. And they’ll be searching for special offers that can save them money. The golden rule here is to get the best value for the best price.
By giving your customers discounts (and promoting them on social media), you get a chance to cater effectively to your customers demands.
Moreover, if you can place household items and other necessary supplies on sale, you can create a steady flow of income during the crisis. People are changing their shopping habits, and since almost every purchase is now online, implementing promo codes is easy.
Plus, you’ll generate some goodwill with your customers and increase brand awareness.
Investing in SEO and Content Marketing is always a good idea. But with the COVID-19 pandemic keeping everyone at home, search engine rankings are much more relevant. A sound SEO strategy can help your business rank for all the relevant product keywords. If you want people to buy your product or service, they would have to be able to find you first.
And because SEO changes all the time because of Google Updates, you’ll need a professional to point you in the right direction.
Good copywriters with some SEO background (or instructions) can create useful and helpful content for your site that keeps customers engaged. During COVID-19, providing your customers with high-quality content can increase loyalty and bring you more purchases. People want to know what your company is doing to protect them. Write about your delivery or preparation methods.
A pro tip: You should focus some of your SEO efforts on “near me” searches. Local SEO is becoming more and more relevant every year, but with COVID-19, people tend to keep it local. Hence, it would be useful to increase visibility in your area.
Monitoring your competitors is old advice, but a good one. And during the coronavirus pandemic, watching what your competition is doing can be a gold mine of good ideas.
Check the Instagram hashtags they’re using, the style of the photos, and the language with which they’re getting the message across. If their posts are getting a lot of engagement, it might be smart to utilize the same strategies.
The same goes for their website and blog. Take a look at the content pieces they’re writing. Why are they choosing these particular topics? Use them to get inspired and to write an even better article for your own blog.
Don’t forget to check out their special offers and promotions. If your competitors figured out a way to promote their discounts creatively and empathically, you should analyze their approach and try to implement the say.
We would also recommend you to avoid the word “viral” in all your content and campaigns. Extra sensitivity can only help your business at this time.
Trial and error should be paused for a while. You can get back to experimenting with different digital strategies once the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Now is time to focus on what works.
However, in order for you to figure out what works and what doesn’t, you need to stay on top of the data. Making data-driven decisions now is crucial. You have to analyze the numbers and understand the causality behind them. And it would help if you have marked your KPI’s clearly.
Identify the specific marketing goal for each campaign, pull data from a tool that measures impact (clicks, orders, impressions, etc.), and see if this method is working for you. Once you start following the data and the trends, you should be able to stay liquid.
And if you had to shut down your operations, still monitoring data is crucial because it can give you insight into what’s going to happen post-COVID-19. Use this time to analyze the numbers and plan for a better strategy once the time comes to reopen.
Because the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic is continually changing, your business should be able to change with it. And this is the time to find new and creative ways to connect with your customer base and keep them engaged. By staying present across channels and showing care and empathy, you’re also increasing the chances of keeping and getting new customers. Retention is in the details.
You should also consider offering free delivery for your products. Implement curbside pickup or takeout as options as well, if you’re in the food industry. Contactless delivery should absolutely be an option for delivery.
Write a blog post about this and inform your customers about the new safety procedures. By giving them more options, they can choose the method that works best for them and makes them feel safe. Moreover, let them know about the new sanitary rules you’re implementing and urge them to follow the WHO and CDC guidelines.
All of the above can be promoted through your social media channels and on your website. And your customers will want to know how you are handling the pandemic, you should tell them.
Paid ads are becoming cheaper, which is a new trend you can utilize if you have an ads budget. Now is the time to get more value for your money. With CPC dropping (fewer companies are auctioning for keywords), PPC becomes affordable.
However, another interesting finding is that the PPC ROI during the coronavirus is actually increasing. ROI went from 31 percent to 53 percent, which is a 71 percent increase. If you haven’t tried PPC before, it might be the most affordable time. It’s a valid and sound strategy because everyone is online during the pandemic, and you might even increase your customer base.
Online marketing can be a challenging job under normal circumstances. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic getting results is even more difficult. However, that doesn’t mean you should give up. On the contrary, you can use this time to reach out to your customers and create stronger bonds with them.
You’re not investing only in the liquidity of your company now but also in a post-COVID-19 feature. And your customers will remember that you were there for them when things got hard.
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Tanuja Mahant works as a PR Strategist at iOTA Infotech and a skilled Creative Writer. She makes sure to come up with a Masterpiece every time. She was born and brought up in the Himalayas which makes her adventurous enough as she has been running around the mountains.
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