The virtual world has experienced a surge in traffic and demand, during the lockdown as many small local businesses and vendors had decided to take their trade online.
- Consolidate existing customers
The social networking sites are the best platforms to stay connected with loyal customers of a products. Frequently responding to customers’ questions about a product will maintain their trust in the brand. Providing the customers with various offers and seasonal discounts on the company’s website can keep them engaged with the products.
- Internet Usage and Traffic
- Spike in Online Orders and Sales
Marketers should be present where their consumers are, whether they’re on social media, YouTube or news portals. The average time spent on digital media by an individual has increased in the past year. People are looking for ways to stay updated, connected and entertained. Malls and Super-market shopping in the crowded streets and markets has become a thing of the past. Current trends signify an exceptional surge in online shopping and delivery options as people continue to self-isolate themselves and stay active online. Digital marketers now stand a chance to put up advertisements on high-traffic websites and display their products to a wide section of audience. Capitalizing on this section of audience can result in more conversions.
- Spike in Online Orders and Sales
- Work-From-Home Perk
The work-from-home culture which is a result of nationwide lockdowns in several countries has allowed the workforce the convenience of wearing clothes of their choice, flexible working hours, and spending more time with family, etc. However, mental health issues are likely to increase to increase with social distancing measures. That means no need for physical shopping. Instead, customers have to use mobile apps for shopping which poses a novel opportunity for digital marketers to promote their products.
- Work-From-Home Perk
- Digital Payment methods
The pandemic has affected the people from all classes in terms of their expenses, health and lifestyle. One way that the marketers can reduce consumer’s anxiety, is by offering them various digital payment options. Again, the digital payment applications can advertise a product of any marketer. That’s a win-win situation for both the consumer and the marketer.
- Digital Payment methods
- Blogging for the Save
- Blogging for the Save
Local vendors need to start their own personalized blog for local consumers. Strategies such as writing blogs about the products that you’re selling along with the seasonal offers, deals and discounts on it, will attract the loyal customers to a store. Including SEO-friendly content and keywords along with extensive use of #Hashtags can widen the reach.
Creative words that the marketers use in Blogs should be topical, sensitive to the issues and emotions of the parent climate to lend a powerful social message such as ‘To every virus, there is a vaccine’. Focusing on your keywords can influence the consumers very deeply as they are looking for hope and encouragement.
- Online Educational Courses and Coaching Arise
- Using Digital platforms to spread the awareness about the pandemic
- Using Digital platforms to spread the awareness about the pandemic
Isolation can give rise to insecurity about health after reading various health articles that can sometimes be speculative and predictive. Believing such articles can make them sick in real-time. Marketers must target those audience with an authentic information about the spread and vaccination updates from actual sources. Considering television audience in the marketing strategies can be a necessary step that will ensure some short-term recovery because the people are tuning in for the news coverage of evolving situation. The polls related to TV ratings showed that the average time spent watching TV on weekends increased from 3 hours to 5 hours per connection. The situation has even boosted Podcasts by a decent 10% while 63% of marketers are expected to increase the expenditure on Podcast over the next few months.
All the businesses are affected severely but if taking a step back and looking at it from a marketing perspective, will help businesses realize that the COVID situation has simply accelerated trends like online shopping, health & wellness, have been on the rise since the lockdown. FMCG companies are holding up better but the pharmacy industry is riding at the top. Normalization is taking place slowly in different countries but in American cities like New York City and the state of New Jersey are still very much considered to be containment zones. Many outlets have quickly recovered up to 70% of their pre-lockdown business.
Humans are communal. We are social beings. We need to have people around us. But if another COVID-19 wave hits, the normalization will take longer time to re-emerge.
Post-pandemic, the resulting economic pressure has been uneven. The competition to regain the market share is tough because of scarcity of resources in present times. Online engagement has increased significantly during the pandemic. Digital Marketers can use YouTube, social media or their blog to share the education information which their consumers are looking for. If marketers have different products targeted for different groups of people, they can always make use of the portfolio. This will give them some time to rationalize the portfolio. Different businesses will have different portfolios and margins, and marketers should adapt their portfolio according to changing consumer behaviors.
In conclusion, digital marketers can invest in those areas that really drive value, customer engagement and not the least, revenue. Optimize the costs wherever it is required and consider the efficiency of the expenditure accordingly. Lastly, the marketers need to remain within the RADAR of the target consumers.
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