SUMMARY
The digital marketing mix offers viable options for businesses across industries to get back on the marketing ladder
Online marketplace is the answer to ‘Safe Shopping Experience’
Engaging consumers in meaningful experiences is not a one-day tactic
Time and again brands have learnt the significance and power of a functional two-way communication when it comes to introducing or promoting a product or the brand among its potential customers through any media.
These unprecedented times are no different especially when the brand recall may have been limited to nothing. With quite a long break due to Covid-19 lockdown, that can make or break a habit, brands are deeply worried about their current market share and all the business they will lose if any corrective measures are not taken in time to win back the consumers.
Covid-19 has put a halt on the national economy, and many Industries are left bleeding in its aftermath. But the time is not to sulk, but to get back stronger as survival is human nature’s first instinct and also the only choice that the brands must make. Brands must look at the options that will become an integral part of their target audience’s behaviour as the new normal prevails such as increased consumption of digital content and more, and brands must have an agile plan.
It is a critical time period, and the brands must go an extra mile to make it work with its consumers by designing post-Covid-19 strategies that build trust and engage its audience in a post-lockdown conversation.
Invest In Marketing And Take Baby Steps To Get Back Into The Game
Marketing is the way to tell the consumers incessantly that we exist, and since the lockdown has been applied- many industries have pressed the pause button to cut costs. But, as the Coronavirus pandemic thrives, now getting back in the marketing spectrum at once may affect the budget of the brand across any industry; yet, to begin generating demand, marketing is essential.
Taking baby steps:
- Adopting A Focused-Marketing Approach can help the business across industries. Identifying the target audience shift, their interests and the need could be the initial steps in the focused approach.
- Law Of Specialization will enable portion control while deciding the marketing mix that best suits the brand goals and reaches the maximum audience.
- Filtering Available/Open Markets will allow the businesses to map the consumer demands and empower focused marketing.
- People-Based Marketing Approach will help brands build real relationships with a pool of untapped audiences.
Tools, Tactics Or Strategies That Can Work For You
Though many industries are feeling the economic pressure during this pandemic due to lesser business, but with over 2 months into the lockdown- brands/businesses must plan their road to recovery if they want to survive and thrive in the future. As communication is going to be the key for generating demand, brands need to take baby steps – in alignment with its budget, and focus on the various available channels and platforms to tap upon to reach their target audience:
- Social Media Platforms: The continuous rise in user-generated content and conversations on various social platforms is a clear depiction of where the audience is. Industries- both B2B and B2C must accelerate their adoption process of tech and digital to create meaningful, relatable and quirky content to engage with the audience and work on building their brand equity before the space gets cluttered.
- Virtual Events: Experiential marketing can never take the back seat in any brand’s life, as it is the stepping stone towards building a strong relationship with the customer. While the pandemic keeps everyone inside the box, brands/agencies can take small baby steps by thinking and hosting out of the box virtual events to build image and entertain the TG.
- Pay-Per-Click (PPC): Many brands have started offering their product/services as the GOI loosens the lockdown rules & regulations. Due to the general behaviour shift of the consumer to avoid offline store purchases for safety reasons, there is more focus on building online marketplace and selling via digital retail stores. The scenario has made it imperative to be digitally equipped and promoted to appear first in people’s searches. PPC though is a short term option to generate leads- but it significantly creates an impact on the minds of the consumers.
- Search Engine Optimization: PPC can work as an immediate lead generation tool, but SEO can build the brand for the long-run. Any brand/website which aims to rank amongst the top searches in their industry must start investing in publishing rich content, ensuring enough on-page & off-page SEO activities are being completely harnessed
- Digital PR: There is never a better time to build brand image and to be emphatic towards your target audience. With digital PR, the brands can build media relations, publish relevant and informative content and leverage the reach to talk about their contribution towards the global crisis and how they are a part of the society- taking care of what they can & have the potential to.
Investing in marketing may seem to be a luxury for most of the brands, but taking those baby steps towards getting back into the game can open doors and generate demand for their products/services as and when the opportunity arises. Furthermore, it will not just build a brand but also real connections with the target audience for the times to come.
Benefits Of Investing And Building An Online Market For Your Customer
Investing and building an online marketplace has not just become crucial to be in business for now but also for the long-term, as life will continue with the New Normal and people would choose to stay indoors. Here are some reasons why building an online market will be beneficial for the brand:
- Safe Shopping Experience: Humans have a need or desire to shop for both essential & non-essential items, and with online marketplace you can tap on the opportunity by offering a safe shopping experience where in the consumer does not come in contact with the outer world and receives a well-sanitized and contactless package at their doorstep.
- Make Up For In-Person Business: Investing today in e-commerce can build a gateway to getting orders and building the business again that was lost from the lockdown of commercial space. Online is the new commercial space and can offer businesses the opportunity to make-up for all the in-person business loss.
- Be Ready For The Future: It is still very uncertain when the lockdown will end or how many lockdowns are we away from the Coronavirus-free future, but brands/businesses can make it certain to be ready for the good times to come and meet the current demand of the people by digitally evolving and transforming.
- Access To Wider Markets: Government has exempted e-commerce businesses from the lockdown rules and regulations to continue serving the essential to the general public, and now with 4.0- it has also permitted the delivery of almost everything. For business investing in e-commerce at this point will help overcome geographic boundaries and opportunity to meet demands from a wider group of audience.
Keeping Your Consumers Engaged In Meaningful Experiences Post-Covid-19
While the future can yet not be predicted as the whole world hangs loose on the pendulum of Coronavirus pandemic, we must prepare for what may come. Creating meaningful experiences is an on-going process, and the brands that are communicating and are being empathetic towards their target audience in this hard time today will be remembered.
The post-Covid-19 times will be pivotal for businesses as consumers will be less driven by material things, and instead would like to invest their time & money in experiences that are meaningful to them. Further, to sustain, brands must focus on the new approach of safe and healthy experience-driven economy, purpose-driven actions and human-centric messages that will create happy memories, and will inspire consumers to share it with their friends, family and acquaintances.
Additionally, the enhanced adoption of digital technology amongst consumers is unlikely to reverse, thus markets should maximize their strategic efforts on multiple digital channels to match expectations in the new normal post-Covid-19.
In A Nutshell
Brands must unnervingly thrive to curate and share creative content to woo the audience and build brand image and credibility, and the ones who have put marketing on halt must analyze their current brand equity and restore a certain mix of digital marketing to get back on track post-Covid-19.
