The novel coronavirus is seemingly showing no signs of slowing down as it is continuing to spread globally, with over 67 million infected to date, in more than 180 countries. Both public and private sectors are doing their best and scrambling to create ways to slow down the spread of the virus and find solutions to contain it.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic not only continues to threaten the lives of billions of people across the world; it also wreaks havoc on businesses worldwide as it puts the global economy into a screeching halt.

As of today, no one really knows the full extent of the impact of the pandemic, but one thing is for sure: the effects is ultimately felt by all businesses, big or small, across all industries—from retail, healthcare, and banking to finance, real estate, fintech, and even ecommerce.

It’s no different in the field of marketing, either, as the pandemic changed consumer behavior almost overnight. Along with the rest of the world, marketers are forced to work harder to quickly pivot and battle with the unprecedented challenges brought about by the novel coronavirus. It has pushed sudden shifts in advertising and marketing trends, as well as promotional and media spends.

Backed into a corner, marketers have been forced to reevaluate their strategies and rethink their approach to meet the demands of the current market landscape. But like any other obstacle, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. It may sound cliché, but this adage rings true even as we face the uncertainties triggered by the pandemic.

As we start to transition to the “new normal,” with the global economy starting to reopen, and new studies and critical data becoming more and more accessible, businesses are now on track to slowly but surely bouncing back.

As brands cope with the challenges and sudden changes in consumer behavior and trends, it will help you to know some of the most effective, must-know digital marketing strategies. These can help your business not just stay afloat but also thrive in today’s cutthroat economic landscape:

1. Reevaluate Your Communication Strategy

According to Impact, 89% of Gen Z and millennial respondents say that they expect brands to take action and offer help in containing the spread of the coronavirus. Younger consumers also appreciate it when businesses provide relevant and timely information about the pandemic, as well.

As they make up the majority of the workforce today, it is essential to reevaluate your communications strategy to adapt to the shifting trends and needs of the current market. What have you done recently to help with the world’s battle against COVID-19? Let your audience know about your efforts and the concrete steps you’ve taken towards stopping the spread of the virus.

Apart from sharing the safety measures that you’ve set in place, you can also rethink your tone and how you communicate with your audience to make them feel safe, heard, and reassured. Although, it is important to note that you should be cautious in how you approach a new tone and angle—make sure not to go for the humorous communication strategy, as 40% of consumers think it’s surely the wrong approach given the current situation.

2. Make Building Relationships One of Your Top Business Priorities

On that note, once you’ve revisited and adjusted your communication strategy, you must then work to continue building and strengthening relationships with your customers. Just like everyone else, your customers’ lives have been turned upside down, and most are still going through a rough patch. So, this is an ideal time to provide revolutionary offerings that will ultimately help them get a sense of normalcy or assure stability.

Being there for your customers and building stronger relationships with them is crucial these days as it can help you turn casual browsers into actual, raving fans. Simply taking your time to connect with them on a human level and offering genuine support and help by providing essential tools or a new service or product necessary during these challenging times.

You can also look for ways to offer thoughtful promotions—explore having some of your services available for free or at a discount, even for a limited time. This could ultimately go a long way in terms of building connections and customer loyalty. Keep in mind, though, that the key to pulling this off is to care genuinely about your customers—anything you can do to help some people tread water—and not primarily to make a sale and boost revenue.

3. Maintain a Strong Online Presence

In line with the second point, it is vital to maintain a strong online presence, as social media starts to be more important than ever before. With travel restrictions and quarantine measures put in place in hundreds of cities across the globe, nearly half of consumers polled reported a sudden change in their social media usage, with 39% using social media even more than usual.

As social media experiences a surge in the number of daily users, brands must take this opportunity to stay active and strategic across social media platforms to continue building trust and communicating and engaging with their audience. Now is an excellent time to push and go big on creating relevant and timely posts that are not only shareable but also delivers value to your social media audience.

With people trying to keep away from or limiting their consumption of news and looking for entertainment instead, video is a great way to start engaging more consumers. However, make sure to remember not to focus on making a sale and instead put emphasis on genuinely and selflessly helping your customer base.

4. Revisit Your Email Marketing Campaigns

It’s not only social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that are experiencing a surge in average daily usage; even the open rates of marketing emails are up. Take this opportunity to adapt your email marketing campaigns to the current needs and expectations of your audience.

Sending out your regular weekly sales-centric newsletters just won’t cut it during these troubling times, as 87% of consumers today appreciate businesses that go out of their way to deliver timely and relevant news, data, and information. Unlike social media platforms, emails aren’t a source of entertainment, but rather of useful information.

This is why it’s the best platform to be a credible resource—keep them in the loop by sharing industry-related regulations, guidelines, and news, or something as simple as letting your customers know your new hours of operation. Through effective email marketing campaigns, you can let your audience feel at ease while keeping them in the loop by being honest and transparent.

5. Offer Useful Resource Content

One digital marketing strategy that has been proven effective time and again is blogging. Aside from developing a solid social media marketing strategy and robust email marketing campaigns, amp up your content efforts by integrating blogs into your overall content plan. This will boost your business’ website traffic and your brand’s visibility and recall to keep your business top of mind.

Creating content, including blogs and resource articles that provide valuable insight on relevant topics, can ultimately improve the overall brand experience, as well as awareness. Although, keep in mind to tie everything together by weaving a strong Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy into your content to rise above the overly cluttered digital space and get your articles to the right audience at the right time.

6. Experiment with Other Content Formats like Webinars and Podcasts

Apart from writing blogs, resource articles, and other content you put out regularly, you can also experiment with unconventional content formats such as hosting podcasts and organizing webinars to help you boost your brand’s credibility and customer experience.

As a way to help out your community and better serve your customer base, you can choose to give back during such uncertain times, too. While there are endless ways to give back, creating valuable educational and informative content is one of the best options for businesses, as it hits not just two, but three birds with one stone.

First, it boosts brand awareness; second, it shows goodwill and solidifies customer loyalty and advocacy; and third, it strengthens partnerships. If you currently don’t have the bandwidth to organize webinars or launch a podcast, there’s no need to worry. You can actively seek opportunities to simply appear as a guest speaker or panelist to help your brand gain more exposure to your target audience.

7. Rethink Promotion Campaigns and Paid Ads

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, 97% of marketers noticed a drop in in-person marketing engagement and, in turn, 83.8% of respondents reported an exponential increase in the value placed on digital experiences. This is good news for businesses across industries, especially in the ecommerce sector.

On top of that, marketers are also seeing that paid ads are increasingly becoming cheaper due to less competition. Additionally, as more and more people are spending time on the internet, marketing experts have also reported an increase in ROI when running paid ads during the COVID-19 pandemic as compared to pre-pandemic.

With millions forced to stay home in an effort to control the spread of the virus, the total internet hits have surged by between 50% and 70%, according to preliminary statistics since the pandemic was declared. With that, it is essential that you experiment with running paid ads while considering the best placements and content that will work for your brand.

A study conducted by Morning Consult shows the following ads to more likely be effective:

• Ads that demonstrate how products and services can help fight the spread of coronavirus (48%)
• Ads that explicitly show how products and services aim to improve the comfort, happiness, and well-being of customers (46%)
• Ads that showcase how a brand genuinely cares about their customers’ well-being, including mental and physical health (45%).

Key Takeaways

While there are various strategies and opportunities available to scale your growth even during the pandemic, you must be cautious in implementing them, as there are several things you also must steer clear of to avoid a marketing blunder.

The top marketing don’ts today include being too pushy and focused on selfishly making a sale by over-promoting your products or services without regard to your customers’ current situation and needs. Similarly, avoid trying to brush off the pandemic as if it’s not happening. Instead, acknowledge the current state of affairs, offer timely and useful information, and provide advice, tools, and resources that add value to your audience.

Additionally, remember to rework your content—avoid sending out the same pre-COVID newsletter content, as it may seem disingenuous or insensitive to your audience. No one can predict how the current COVID-19 pandemic will end; only time can tell, as the future looks very uncertain as we remain in uncharted territory.

As good citizens in the era of social distancing, we can only really follow safety protocols set by our governments in the hope that things start to get better. But the important thing when running a business amidst the chaos is to keep moving forward and remember that you still have the option to continue to be proactive and get your brand in front of the right audience at the right time through effective digital marketing strategies apt during these times.

So, which of the mentioned strategies and opportunities will you be exploring?