Digital Marketing Strategies in a COVID-19 World

Hola chicos! and welcome to another blog post brought to you by yours truly.

Everyone knows about the Coronavirus by now, and has witnessed or experienced the devastation that COVID-19 causes. One aspect of life that COVID-19 actively affects is businesses, with over 60% of Australian businesses being affected (“Over 60% of Australian,” 2020). With the implementation of social distancing and the closure of non-essential brick and mortar stores, customers have flocked to online shopping to meet their needs. With online purchases up a whopping 76.7% (Davis & Toney, 2020), and 24% of Australian trying a new brand because of the pandemic (Hou, 2020), businesses need to adapt their business models to meet these new customer demands and think digital first.

Audit Audit Audit!

Due to the sharp change in the business environment, businesses need to perform an audit of their current online presence and campaigns. While your campaign, website, social media channels and content may have been great and relevant to your brand, it may no longer be relevant in this COVID-19 world (Nead, 2020). A review of your current and upcoming content is essential and making necessary adjustments is a necessity (Nead, 2020). Does your current online channels work as your only line of communication for the time being? Does it get your core messages across? Do these online channels help promote customer loyalty? Which messages create most engagement? (Hall, 2020). From here you can identify where you need to improve, whether it be your COVID-19 business goals, revamping your website, changing your social media presence, etc (Hou, 2020). On the other hand, if your business does not have an online presence, there is no time like the present to get started.

Research Research Research!

Keeping up with researching the market is essential as it can give you insights into consumer

behaviour, purchasing trends, and what social media channels are most effective. This can

help your business figure out the best digital marketing strategy and how to effectively communicate and attain customers. Research can also give you insights into competitors. Do your competitors have a similar online presence to your business? Can you identify mistakes they have made that your business can avoid? What are your competitors doing well? This not only gives you further insight into the overall market but allows you to stay ahead of your competitors (George, 2020).

Content Content Content!

This ties in with what I started above about auditing. Look at your current content and what content you had planned to post and decide whether this content fits into the current world environment. You will need to adjust accordingly and ensure that your core message remains relevant and well received, while showing your understanding and empathy of the current evolving situation (Marshall, 2020; Van Andel, 2020). You do not want to appear tone deaf or offend your customers and end up being mentioned in articles about businesses who had the worst COVID-19 response. There is no reason why your business cannot pivot with the situation. Gyms that have closed are holding online gym classes, doctors are having video appointments, and customers can get their groceries delivered to their house (George, 2020). The possibilities are there for the taking, but businesses need to get creative and take it. This is also a great time to experiment with your content, whether it be gifs, videos, live streams, or an entirely new social media platform, the online environment is there for the taking (Hou, 2020). With so many people stuck at home, you can easily experiment and see what content works and what does not. However, do not forget to maintain your regular posting schedule, keep your information up to date, and respond to customers (Hou, 2020).

G Adventures are doing a great job at keeping their content relevant and creative, with virtual tours of Antarctica and other countries, live streaming salsa dancing and a continuous stream of blog posts to read, however, Contiki are constantly emailing me trip details for 2021. This is ridiculous as there is no evidence that borders in other countries are going to open up, let alone that there will be flights.

G Adventures Example

Contiki Example

Technology Technology Technology!

There is a whole host of technology that businesses have at their disposable now, and there is no excuse not to try them. An example is Facebook and Instagram shop. Do you just want your social media posts to direct customers to your website or is there a better chance of a purchase through Facebook? There is no harm in researching and trialling this option.

Another example is chat bots. Using chat bots can personalise a consumers experience and provide support (Lee, 2020). Examples of this is that H&M’s chat bot acts like a personal shopping assistant (Orendorff, 2017) and Sephora’s chat bot is almost like talking to a real Sephora assistant and gives you personalised beauty tips and product recommendations (Quoc, 2019). An important aspect of technology is making sure that your online presence is accessible. Due to the lockdown there is a rise in people who have never used online shopping before like the elderly and disabled. It is vital to ensure that your online presence and content can be accessed fairly by everyone. Having high contrast options, resizable text, being keyboard friendly, chose colours carefully, clear labels, captions for videos, and the ability to have text read out loud means that you are appealing to a larger audience (Ellice, 2020).

SEO SEO SEO!

Because most people are online now more than ever, making sure your business can be found online is imperative (George, 2020). Most businesses are currently aiming at increasing traffic to online stores as in-store shopping is at record lows. Using SEO can help drive you to the top of Google’s search engine results page, attract new customers, retain old customers, and builds recognition (George, 2020). Many internet uses do not go beyond the first couple of search results pages, therefore, you want to be on the first page (“Why SEO is important,” 2020). So, narrow down your key words and put effort into maintaining your SEO.

Ads Ads Ads!

Now is a great time to invest in online ads. Cost-per-impression on Facebook ads have gone down over the past few months, and advertiser interest has also declined on many other popular websites and social media platforms (Hou, 2020). This will give your business great exposure at a discounted rate, furthermore, news sites and YouTube is up 21%, which means there’s a bigger pool of customers who will see your ads (Hou, 2020).

The successful businesses during COVID-19 are the ones who pivoted as soon as they could and created great content, online shopping and experiences that is in tune with the current world crisis. Get started with the tips outline above, and maybe your business will be a success as well.

If you want to read more about opportunities for e-commerce businesses during COVID-19 click on this link.

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References

Davis, S. & Toney, L. (2020, August 12). How Coronavirus (COVID-19) Is Impacting Ecommerce [August 2020]. ROI Revolution. https://www.roirevolution.com/blog/2020/08/coronavirus-and-ecommerce/

Ellice. (2020, July 24). 10 Ways to Make Your Website Accessible—DreamHost. Website Guides, Tips and Knowledge. https://www.dreamhost.com/blog/make-your-website-accessible/

Frederiksen, L. (2020). Eleven ways to reboot business momentum in the midst of COVID-19: Certified public accountant. The CPA Journal, 90(7), 15-16. https://ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/docview/2437458858?accountid=28889

George, B. (2020, March 18). 10 Digital Marketing Ideas to Consider During the Coronavirus. Thrive Internet Marketing Agency. https://thriveagency.com/news/10-digital-marketing-ideas-to-consider-during-the-coronavirus/

Hall, N. (2020, April 28). Five key digital marketing strategies during Covid-19: Redefining and redeployment. Marketing Tech News. https://marketingtechnews.net/news/2020/apr/28/five-key-digital-marketing-strategies-during-covid-19-redefining-and-redeployment/

Hou, A. (2020, April 19). Essential tips on adapting your digital marketing strategy during COVID-19. Advisible. https://advisible.com.au/essential-tips-digital-marketing-strategy-covid-19/

Marshall, D. (2020, June 19). Top five B2B digital marketing tips during COVID-19 times. Search Engine Watch. https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2020/06/19/fantastic-five-of-b2b-digital-marketing-tips-during-covid-19-times/

Nead, N. (2020). COVID-19: Strategic digital marketing matters more now than ever. San Jose: Newstex. https://ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/docview/2387651514?accountid=28889

Orendorff, A. (2017, June 5). 15 Best Shopping Bots for eCommerce Stores. Yotpo. https://www.yotpo.com/blog/shopping-bots/

Over 60% of Australian businesses affected by COVID-19 coronavirus – up from only 15% in mid-February. (2020). Roy Morgan. http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/8328-impact-of-coronavirus-march-2020-202003160441

Quoc, M. (2019, October 11). 10 of the Best Ecommerce Brands Succeeding with Chatbots. A Better Lemonade Stand. https://www.abetterlemonadestand.com/ecommerce-chatbots/

Van Andel, R. (2020, August 27). How has COVID-19 Shifted Digital Marketing?. Search Engine People Blog. https://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/how-has-covid-19-shifted-digital-marketing.html

Why SEO is important during Covid-19 Lockdown. (2020). RGC Advertising. https://www.rgcadvertising.com.au/blog/seo-strategy-during-covid19-lockdown