Coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19, has affected many businesses, large and small.
As a web development and digital marketing agency, here at Northwoods we are seeing how COVID-19 is changing the way people are approaching their digital marketing strategy.
How To Adjust Your Digital Marketing Strategy
As physical businesses are shutting their doors, digital marketing will play an even more important role. Thinking long-term about these strategies to maintain a marketing presence will make life easier after this crisis. Here are some specific digital marketing suggestions:
1. Enhance your digital presence
Considering a website redesign or thinking about enhancing your website with new functionality? Have you been considering ecommerce? Now is the time to shift your focus to serving your customers online, instead of in the store. There are lots of ways to improve your digital presence, including introduction of new technology, such as:
- Chat functionality
- Product configurators
- Augmented Reality
- Personalization
The time is now to think about how to improve your digital footprint and provide your customers with a better user experience as they engage more with your company online.
2. Increase social media activity
Now is the time to keep up with social media to reassure your clients that you are active and present. Staying engaged and entertaining your customers will help to maintain a connection.
Social media will also help you to keep your customers informed as your company adapts and reacts to the changes in the pandemic rules and regulations in your area.
Finally, social media is a great tool to get in front of a new audience. People are spending even more time on social media during the pandemic, so now is the time to get in fron to them. If you are not already, consider advertising your products and services on social media to reach a new audience.
3. Engage with your customers via email
We have all received countless emails in the last few weeks regarding businesses’ responses to COVID-19. If you have not already, send out correspondence to reassure customers of your company’s response to the pandemic.
Beyond the response, consider a new email campaign to engage with your customers. Since you cannot meet face-to-face, or in your store, use email marketing to connect with your customers on a digital level. Maybe consider a video series and send it out to your customers. Or craft new content marketing pieces in response to the pandemic.
Use your email marketing as a direct connection to your customers and connect with them about the services and products that matter most to them.
4. Expand Google search marketing
You probably already keep a close eye on your keyword rankings and searches. The global pandemic is changing what people are searching for and how Google is responding in the search engine results. Make sure you are paying close attention to your keyword rankings and organic traffic during this time.
Continue to evaluate the search engine results pages to determine opportunities for new content to respond to new types of queries in the search universe. Also pay close attention to Google trends to see what fluctuations in search volume have occurred for your target keywords.
Finally, continue to closely monitor the competition for their SEO response, as well as any changes they may be making to their PPC campaigns. Adjust your ad budgets to make sure you continue to capture top ad placements and drive traffic to your website when people at home are searching for your products and services.
5. Consider cause marketing
Cause marketing has become very popular over the last few years, and will only continue during the global pandemic. There are so many community organizations and nonprofits that need help during this time and your business may be in a position to help.
Consider donating a portion of your sales to a local community organization. Provide your customers with promo codes to get the message out. A simple “Get 10% off and we will donate 10%” message can go a long way for people who are looking to help during this difficult time.
The Coronavirus pandemic will continue to impact marketers in the upcoming months. Make sure your marketing strategy is agile to make adjustments in response.