Marketing during COVID-19: Adapt or Die
July 26, 2020
Any crisis makes marketing more critical than ever. The Corona virus pandemic negatively influence the demand for products and services and revenue plummet.
It is important to keep your marketing alive even though your company may struggle. Your marketing efforts during a crises will help you to get ahead of your competitors, let you learn more about your target market, help you build deep business relationships and set yourself up for success post-crises.
You have to innovate to survive and stay front of mind with your customers. Here are some inexpensive marketing ideas to consider during a crisis period…
- Ride the wave and get ready for the revival – things will change
- Re-evaluate your value proposition & do what you do best
- Keep connected with your customers on social media
- Take any opportunities that arise to help people in the crisis
- Improve your online presence
- Improve your website’s SEO
- Employ PPC (pay per click) advertising
- Adapt your offers to current circumstances
- Stay active and adjust to meet customer needs
- Keep on top of your marketing metrics
- Use downtime to plan your future marketing efforts
- Ask for referrals from your customers
- Practice your elevator pitch by emphasizing the benefits of doing business with you
- Identify online places (like facebook groups) where you can reach your target market
- Partner with others to do cross-promotions and access their customers base by also sharing yours
- Help others. Share your knowledge by hosting online workshops, produce educational videos for Youtube or record a podcast and distribute it to radio stations
- Create / update your e-brochure and other electronic collateral that can easily be downloaded or emailed
- Create / update your website and grow your online presence
- Write new blog articles for your website and also distribute to the media
- Create a Facebook page for your business and post interesting content relevant to your business.
- Create short videos and other digital assets
- Make 5 cold calls a day and you’ll end up making 100 cold calls a month
- Advertise your business on your vehicle
- Don’t be afraid to over-communicate. Most people only react after multiple contact.
- Be vulnerable – share your business’ personal story
- Extend your brand – offer new or tweaked products or services.
- Deploy your brand ambassadors – ask happy clients to talk about your brand on social media
- Get creative – how can you help your customers in new ways?
- Run new campaigns / promotions (social media / email)
- PHONE your customers and stakeholders and stand out from the crowd who only email.
- Think of new ways your product or service can be used to assist or support the crisis
- Offer special payment terms like delayed payments, payment holidays, discounts.
- Build virtual relationships. replace live events or meetings with virtual meetings via video meeting services like gotomeeting, zoom, and others
- Get creative. The more creative you are the better. Use fresh ideas and take some risks with your marketing tactics.
- Get serious with social media and become a pro. Create a content plan and post more frequently
- Refresh your customer experience (cx) strategies
- Add empathy to your marketing messages and communications
- Avoid the hard sell and reaffirm your commitment to the long run
- Help your customers navigate the situation and pivot your offering as necessary
- Update your google my business profile
- Create google posts
- Write relevant blog posts
- Create google shopping listings for your online store – it’s free
- Create video content and utilise platforms like youtube and facebook live
- Let new customers experience your product with samples – do a lucky draw giveaway
We trust you find the above helpful. Attend Marketing Indaba Webcast Conference on 3 & 4 February 2021 and learn from 12+ marketing professionals. They will share the latest marketing trends, advice, strategies and tips to help you with your marketing efforts. Register online at www.marketingindaba.com
