To say the business landscape has changed since early 2020 would be an understatement. COVID-19 has left an indelible imprint on consumerism, which has businesses rethinking their strategies for catering to customer needs. Marketing models have had to evolve for businesses to stay alive.
A few months into the pandemic and resulting lockdowns, Internet usage shot up 50% to 70%, which means consumers were doing their research on purchases online. This pushed marketers to get more creative with their content to connect with potential customers. By Q1 2021, online purchasing had increased nearly 40%, making it obvious that digitized marketing strategies will remain important for the foreseeable future.
Connecting With Customers
There has always been a push to establish loyal customers who make frequent purchases, but that retention goal is even more important now. With so many marketing strategies working harder to please, the winners are those who personalize their content and prove to customers how much they mean to the brand.
Making good on commitments to customers has involved thinking about them in segments rather than a target audience as a whole. To personalize content, segmenting customers into specific groups and zeroing in on the most minute details about their needs is crucial.
Beating the Competition
The intent in marketing traditionally relied heavily on outdoing the competition, which is still a valid concept, as it always pays to see what works and what doesn’t work in competing brands. But marketing has evolved to competing more with the things you provided your customers and then outdoing that last effort.
This is due, in part, to the fact that customer expectations have changed since the pandemic began. While the digital transformation had already been adopted or was in the process of being adopted by many companies in virtually every industry, the pandemic put that into overdrive. Customers began to demand a positive digital experience and failing to meet that need could spell disaster.
From rebuilding the company website for better functionality to improving online customer services, using real-time analytics for tracking the customer journey to boosting social media content – doing everything possible to make the next connection with your customer as positive as the last one must be a priority.
Outsourcing Marketing Assistance
Improving the customer journey is easier when you outsource to marketing professionals. They have a broad skill set and can do everything from build a strategy, research your target audience and break them down into segments, write your content and produce the all-important visuals that go with it. Outsourcing also allows you to stretch your marketing dollars, as it is often less expensive than hiring a full-time marketing team.
At SJC Marketing, we have industry and competitive insights that help our clients make connections that matter. If you want to expand your relationship with your target audience, contact us and let’s discuss a customized strategy that will speak directly to your customers’ needs.