Going Digital Is the Only Recession-proof Business Strategy
Digital marketing has become imperative for almost all times of brands. However, with the outbreak of covid-19, businesses across the globe has been affected in unprecedented ways. It is critical for marketers at the moment to understand and see beyond the current situation and strategize long-term view. Marketing expense and activities for most of the small and medium-sized enterprises have paused and looking at the present, this seems to be the right step. However, it is critical to manipulate the existing digital marketing strategies and carefully define the forward goals.
The economy of marketing during COVID-19
One of the major advantages of digital marketing is that it does not require any face to face interaction and this is in tandem with the present social distancing norms. That being said, let's have a look at what's happening around digital media and brands as we speak now -
• The Airlines, railway and cruise industry have either postponed, reduced or paused their marketing and advertising campaigns. Given the global crisis, it does not really make sense to pay for media if there are no consumers at the moment
• The act of social distancing and staying at home is the new normal which means driving traffic for brick-and-mortar locations is also significantly reducing
• There is a decline in the trade shows, business events and seminars. In fact, they have been cancelled for times unknown. This is when the spending into digital media can rise because such companies may want to make up for the missed opportunities
• Even the not-so-frequent online shoppers are also slanting towards e-commerce specially in CPG
Being responsible marketers
Seeing the grim across the global economic condition, people are looking up to experts, institutions and leaders for guidance and reassurance. It is important for brands to share the right information through the right channel and reinforce a sense of positivity. That being said, this is all the right time to get an uptick for the digital marketing agencies. It should not be taken only as a marketing opportunity to capitalize on. It is the best time to think and innovate ways in dealing with insightful questions such as –
• what are the existing offline marketing podium
• how can branding with better than with offline channels and effectively use the online space
• which online platform can reach out to your relevant target audience
• what is the best budget you can set for advertising on each medium
One of the major changes in marketing during COVID-19 is a shift in the ad spend -both online and offline. As spending has become a sensitive issue, the ad agencies is most likely to retain their budget for paid search advertising. With the major economics in lockdown, it is only natural that there is a spike in online traffic. Concerns such as cyber security, cloud and content delivery are now getting more attention than ever. Many commerce websites have seen growth fortunately even during this phase while many are forced to rethink their marketing strategies. Marketing now needs to manage and shift the priorities much differently then what it used to do. Brands need to realign the budgets for initiatives based on priorities and customer communication. A remote marketing team can help repurposing and discovering the marketing assets.
Before understanding why digital marketing strategy is the only way to look forward, it is also important to understand why people are focusing on empathy. The brands will be more reliant than ever on digital marketing strategies and it will pose an enormous challenge to develop the right marketing campaign to fight against this loss.
The top marketing Trends for 2020 during the pandemic will include the following trends as per the experts -
Interactive content
This is the right time to let people give the opportunity to connect with your brand. This means, it should have the right amount of virtual and augmented reality depending on the type of commerce. There can be shoppable posts, engaging content such as polls and quizzes, 360 degree video (which is the new fad) and other winning content strategies. All such pieces of interactive content should be a part of the digital marketing strategy and can result in creating a call to action in itself. Unlike traditional marketing, these are possible through digital marketing and are extremely shareable with the peers. This, in turn helps to increase the brand awareness and therefore keep your company afloat during the challenging times.
AR and VR
More than 70% of enterprises will be experimenting with augmented and virtual reality by 2022 and if everything goes the way it is going, about 25% of them will be relying on these for production. This means, visual impact will have a huge boost in sales presentation. AR will help to create three-dimensional thinking and will be one of the most immersive reality technologies. Brands working in leveraging these new age technologies can help to enhance the customer experience and eventually increase the sales figure. With people being reliant on online shopping, it doesn’t take much to recognize why the new age technology should be a part of the digital marketing strategy. The right implementation can help create a new set of customers.
The new breed of SEO
There will forever be a debate on whether to spend on traditional or digital advertisements. Pandemic has taught us that the world is going through a paradigm shift. This calls for more of online marketing as people do not have to move out of their houses. Keeping up with the new normal, brands also have to look for experts who can market their products and services. One of the pillars of digital marketing is SEO but in these trying times, the challenges will be different post the crisis and the competition will be fierce. This is why, you need to update the existing SEO methods which even though lands your website on the first page of the search engine but might soon become outdated if they fail to keep up with the search algorithm updates.
Social commerce
Social commerce is the buzzword for the smart marketers for both E-Commerce and social media. This is going to be the norm of the business. Simply stated, the brands are now ready to sell their services and products to directly on social media channels. With more and more people interested in online shopping, this is absolutely required to maintain your brand awareness during this crisis. A proper digital marketing strategy can help to create shoppable posts and stories on various platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. You can also create Apps that can be installed on the hand held devices. The ads on social media are equally and sometimes more impactful these days along with the traditional advertising.
Smart bidding on Google ads
This is also called auction time bidding and is a very new usage of machine learning (ML). It can help to optimize bids for conversion and will prove to be a game changer if you are working with the right digital marketing agency like Carney Technologies Services. The PPC account managers need to have the right ability to choose conversion actions and take the marketing campaign to different level. Whether it's about tweaking the existing marketing strategy or making a new digital marketing campaign, this trend is definitely going to make your mark even during this crisis.