4 Effective Marketing Strategies for the COVID-19 Era

If you’re in business or running some form of enterprise, chances are that you were affected by the ongoing pandemic.

The crisis has continued unabated even though some countries have limited the impact.

However, many businesses and corporations, minor or major, have had to adjust to the times.

In line with that, operation hours, budgets, product releases, customer reach outs, etc. have taken cuts.

Simply put, businesses are working out effective marketing strategies to cope with the era.

The COVID-19 era has had a say on how people live, work, and do business.

For example, when it first hit, a lot of brands and enterprises lost a lot of marketing revenue.

Business is not as convenient as it once was. Further, personnel and customers have to avoid public gatherings.

Also, with the ensuing lockdown, movements are restricted. Such situations call for innovation and inventiveness.

Here are effective marketing strategies for the COVID-19 era:

Helping Out Your Community

As it is, much of the world needs help. So the best way to do that is to offer your service. You can start with your local community.

Sure, you might not stand to gain much by way of marketing profits because demand has taken a hit.

Yet, the need for assistance and support is unprecedented. Use your business as an avenue to shed some positive light in your community.

Get Involved

There are ways to help you hit the right notes. Depending on the nature of your business, you can get involved by sharing profit schemes.

Charities or organizations leading the fight against COVID-19 will appreciate this gesture.

Also, you can extend help to seniors and the underprivileged in the community.

Again, if you don’t fancy joining an ongoing program, set up your campaign or initiative to keep COVID-19 at bay.

While such help will vary depending on the kind of business, it might involve sharing some of your profit with charities or organizations that are on the frontline of helping fight the coronavirus and its wider effects.

Also, it can involve starting your campaign or initiative to tackle some aspect of the coronavirus pandemic.

Examples abound too. Borrow a page from Unilever who donated more than $40 million in a campaign to get people to wash their hands and disinfect surfaces more regularly.

You can also go the Jameson way. This Irish whiskey brand contributed up to $500,000 to the United States Bartender’s Guild.

Other brands like Essity and Reckitt Benckiser joined the ‘Shop Responsibly’ campaign in the UK.

With it, people had more reason to shop safely during the pandemic.

Far From Conventional Marketing

No matter the scale of your efforts, you would be making a good impact on any community.

This will lessen the impact of the virus in the community, and help to build positive associations for your brand.

It’s far from conventional strategies and thus not as financially rewarding.

However, you’ll reap the rewards in the long term with potential customers recalling the positive role your brand played.

Step up Your Digital Game

In 2015, a survey showed that about 82% of executives agreed their firms needed to transform digitally.

They also concluded that their firm needed to source and manage labor for several functions.

However, only 23% of that number went on to devise and implement a strategy for it. How crucial that has become in this COVID-19 era.

There’s a historically vast and unprecedented increase in the digitization efforts geared towards marketing.

Never before has many businesses adopted digital measures to reach out to their customers or the populace at large.

Thanks to the outbreak of COVID-19 which has led to both structural and operational shifts.

A good example is the remote working models for employees which will no doubt remain after the pandemic.

Digitization will help your business grow with sustained productivity. A motivation for this is the growing online sales that have skyrocketed.

In CMO Survey history, online sales have never been this high with a reported 20%in sales. That’s a 43% increase since the pandemic hit.

Room for Everyone

The beauty of this effective marketing strategy is that it fits all businesses.

Research has shown that small companies have benefited from selling online with a 26.1% increase in sales.

Since people have to spend a lot of time at home, it makes sense to take your business to them.

On the whole, people are open to digital offerings and experiences. As such, it’s a strategy that will outlive the COVID-19 era.

You can adjust your offerings and pivot your business to meet these expectations and opportunities.

Work on Your Messaging

With all the changes and commotion in the world, your messaging has to change.

Now more than ever is the time to choose your words and language carefully. People have gone through so much.

In line with that, your words need to show consideration and some empathy.

All your messages via email, social accounts like LinkedIn and Twitter, and blogs should be positive.

Give Hope

People, including your customers, are panicking about life in general. They’re worried about their kids, jobs, parents, and a whole lot more.

Your messages need to capture the times irrespective of what you feel.

For example, Netflix and Google shared encouraging messages to shareholders and users worthy of emulation.

They spoke about how such times are uncertain and unpredictable alongside the fact that many people lost their jobs and loved ones.

What they did was show a side that understands the current mood of the world.

Few brands will match that.

Being Human

Big corporations have swapped ‘business words’ to touch lives and show they care.

Sure, they have a business to run, but they would be nowhere without their customers.

Netflix showed it values its shareholders and adapted its messaging to capture the current mood.

That is the right step and a subtle but very effective marketing strategy for the COVID-19 era.

The format or level of communication doesn’t matter. You simply have to show genuine care with those messages.

Also, it helps when your message is understood. That is important if you expect responses from your message list.

Your messaging strategy must remain adaptable at all times during and after a pandemic.

Fact-checking

Your message can include facts about the coronavirus. For instance, Rent the Runway sent out an email marketing campaign outlining their cleaning processes.

They also mentioned how the virus cannot be transmitted through soft surfaces, like fabric or clothing.

Using fact-backed updates based on customer inquiry or not, beats insignificant and harmful information.

More Social Media and Blog Presence

Using social media more is a great step. With the COVID-19 era, more people make use of their smartphones and computers.

Thanks to lockdowns, they can’t step out even to get a bite or coffee in their favorite spots.

As such, it makes sense to engage continuously with them on that level. That includes online platforms and channel to cater to their needs

Risen Numbers

Data from GlobalWebIndex (GWI) shows that 47% of internet users aged 16-64 across 17 countries are spending longer on social media due to the pandemic.

More so, they spent 23% significantly” longer accessing pages. Also, social media app usage rose from 20.8% of total mobile app usage early in the year to 24.1% in March.

This followed the stay at home orders.

The numbers have continued to rise though. Further, GWI suggests that 15% of surveyed internet users expect to continue spending more time using social media even after the COVID-19 era.

How you can use Social Media:

1)  Address the happenings in the world rather than putting your products in people’s faces.

For example, if you’re onto fitness products, share advice on how your base can stay fit and healthy without showing them what you have to offer.

For a payment platform, you can advise your audience on how to better use finances or save them.

2)  Be open about steps you’re taking including for layoffs and canceled productions and orders. Customers love honesty and will respect you for such moves.

3)  Use creative ads and social campaigns to press home a message. With them, you can promote social consciousness and other health directives.

Platforms like Twitter and Instagram allow you to use hashtags with meaningful messages.

For example, the #ArtOfQuarantine by Loo sets a creative precedent others can follow. All or takes is smart copywriting without all the complex graphics involved.

Keep in mind that your social media campaigns should resonate with the current situation.

You’ll avoid bad blood and negative promotion if you annoy your audience. Get it right the first time, and your brand will remain significant during and after the COVID-19 era.

Conclusion

COVID-19 has posed serious questions businesses and by extension, marketers, are inventing new ways to answer.

That is why there’s an evolution of marketing strategies to meet up with the current circumstances.

Using the ones discussed here will help you leverage digital and social relationships.

They will also help you figure out ways to improve and put your brand more out there.