The past couple of months have turned many of our normal routines upside down, and, like others, you may have found yourself developing a new “normal”.
But all this doesn’t change the fact that you have a business that not only needs attention, but also has to adapt and flex to the changing needs of customers and clients in order to see business growth and realize longevity.
That’s why you should keep pursuing your growth objectives, particularly through digital marketing.
Why Digital Marketing? With changes in both work and leisure routines, people haven’t been seeing a lot of signage or traditional advertising. What they are doing is scrolling through social media, checking emails and browsing online sites.
The work world is even more digitized than usual, and that’s why your brand needs to be highly digitized, as well.
People Crave Connection. That’s not only during a coronavirus pandemic; it’s just human nature. But at a time when in-person contact is at an all-time low, people will want to feel a personal connection with your brand.
How do you do it? There are a couple of important ways you can reach out to your customers in a highly personal way:
Social Media is attracting a lot of users who normally just check in now and then, but are now spending more time on Facebook and LinkedIn. They’re looking for connection, but they’re also using it as a way to not miss out on what’s trending in news and business. It’s serving as a replacement for the water cooler, the break room and the lobby.
Use social media to engage potential customers with highly targeted and personalized content that adds value. Sure, you may have advice or insight specific to this unusual time, but you may also offer information that feels timely because it’s looking ahead to when things are back to normal or being the one company that’s staying on-task, on-target when everyone else seems consumed by a single topic.
You can also use social media for some pure fun. Create some polls, do a silly video or song parody or conduct a contest and remind your audiences that while the world is feeling scary, you’re someone they can count on to keep things normal.
Email allows you to segment your audiences and offer them personalized content based on their job roles, their place in the buy cycle or their level of previous engagement with your company. You can offer promotions or send a video clip with a how-to that they may otherwise not have had time to try.
Companies are currently sending out a lot of “our response to the COVID-19 epidemic” emails, so it might be a good time to send a particularly entertaining video designed to lighten the mood. Differentiate your brand so that you stay current in the minds of your audiences.
Tomorrow Will Come. While this pandemic was unprecedented in anyone’s lifetime, this isn’t the first time many have experienced a seismic shift in the business world. The aftermath of 9/11 and the Great Recession are two experiences that many can look back on to see that despite heavy loss and difficult tragedy, life does go on. Your business will, too. Keep planning for the future, and keep investing in your digital marketing strategy so that when the economy is strong again your brand emerges as a leader.