There are three things that you’ll probably never forget.

Your first crush.

Your first job.

And the coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus – it creeped in from behind and rapidly spread like wildfire. The humanitarian crisis and economic impact of the pandemic is nothing short of a disaster. From country-wide lockdowns to people hanging on to their dear lives with ventilators – the virus has truly turned the world upside down.

Like everyone else around the world, you’ve probably experienced it firsthand. That ‘List of Things To Do for 2020’? Well, the virus definitely tore it to shreds and incinerated it, somewhat like this:

Of course, this also includes your plans for your business. Now that you’re working from home, you’re probably thinking about growing and marketing during a pandemic. If you’re clueless about where to begin, then don’t worry, we’ve jotted down some important things for you:

Marketing during a pandemic: Things to consider

Before you dive headfirst into the intricacies of marketing during a pandemic, there are a bunch of things that you should consider about your business.

This Harvard Business Review article has adapted management theorist Henry Mintzberg’s 5Ps strategy to bounce back from this situation. In this blog, we’ll relate these 5Ps in terms of marketing during a pandemic:

Position

Ask yourself: What is my business’ position in the market? Can I alter my business model to adapt to the current situation? Emerge as a market leader? Or discover a new opportunity?

Take the example of Zoom. The video conference platform saw a 30-fold jump in its use in April alone, as the pandemic forced millions to work from home. It happened to be in the right place at the right time, right when the world decided that it needed video meetings to get work done. Around this time, Zoom leveraged this opportunity and offered premium services and packages for organizations including schools, colleges, corporations, etc. In essence, Zoom is an example of marketing during a pandemic done right!

Plan

Under normal circumstances, you’d probably develop a quarterly, monthly or a weekly plan to begin with. However, with the pandemic throwing your plans into disarray, you probably don’t even have a ‘pla’.

So, what do you do next? Analyze the current situation and start planning! A lack of planning will only worsen an already dire business scenario. Firstly, plan out a way to sustain during this pandemic. Next, think of a way to bounce back once things look up in the ‘new normal’. To understand how you can plan your marketing during a pandemic, continue reading through the next section.

Perspective

A global crisis like this can mean two things: bringing people together – or pushing them far apart. This is applicable to you and your team. How? This crisis can jeopardize your team’s brainstorming, communication, and sense of camaraderie. These factors are essential to devise remarkable campaigns for marketing during a pandemic.

Projects

While you may be done with 2020, the projects you have lined up and running aren’t.

The challenge here is priority. With several people being laid off, and/or paid in half, your customers will probably think twice before spending. Focus on the marketing projects that are relevant and deliverable. For instance, you may have to consider running sales promotion campaigns now to encourage purchase.

Preparedness

Finally, assess your company – are you prepared and capable to execute the projects you’ve planned? Your team, resources, speed, quality of decision-making processes – are these ready? If yes, then head over to the next section for some tips about marketing during a pandemic!

Before you dive into your strategy for marketing during a pandemic, remember the things you should consider. What’s your position in the market? How do you plan to sustain? How is your team’s take on this situation? Which projects are relevant and deliverable? And lastly, are you ready for it?

If you think you are, then read this section below!

Marketing during a pandemic: Things you can do

With people practically cooped up in their homes, they’re spending more time on their phones and laptops. For a brand, this leaves room to rethink and invest in your digital marketing strategy. Tighten up your comfy pjs and put your work glasses on because this ‘work from home’ season, we have a list of things you can do for marketing during a pandemic:

Get on the first page of Google!

What better time to be on the first page of Google than when people are at home, looking things up, thanks to boredom? In fact, there has been a dramatic rise in search volume of search terms in the grocery, bulk and online productivity categories. It’s not surprising, given that fear of scarcity has led to panic buying. Plus, people are looking for different ways to spend their time at home, and indulge in some hobbies.

In terms of marketing during a pandemic, this means that you should start investing in SEO. As a long-term tactic, SEO can help you build value over time so that you’re able to continuously stay relevant. You can start off your SEO efforts with blogging, backlinks, optimized pages, mobile optimization, among others. How?

Take blogging, for instance. With a huge chunk of your customers now spending more time online, blogging can help you to provide useful and valid information. The more they read, the more your website traffic increases. This increases your chances of ranking on the first page of Google.

If you’re in a bit of a bind, you can try out these SEO tools, or simply connect with us to help you put things into perspective.

Focus on video content

Here’s a fun fact: 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.

What does this imply? Video content is one of the most interactive content out there. You see, our brains process videos 60,000 times faster than texts, making them memorable. With social media feeds cluttered and new content popping up every minute, videos can help your audience remember your brand. This is why it’s important that you focus on creating videos that are entertaining, informative and inspirational for marketing during a pandemic.

It’s all about building relationships!

At a time when everyone is far apart, building a connection matters now more than ever. In this digital age, where everything exists on your feed for a couple of seconds, cultivating a relationship with your customer is essential. So, how can you do this?

Begin with good content. By creating meaningful content, you can connect with your audience while also staying relevant to their needs and interests. You can increase your brand visibility, grow revenue and know your audience better with valuable content.

Another important step in building relationships for marketing during a pandemic is via social media interaction. With consistent conversations, feedback and informative dialogues, you can connect with your audience at their level and understand them better. So, rather than pushing content, you should concentrate on developing curated content – your customers will dig right into it.

Take brands like Sony, for instance. If you’re a big fan of PlayStation, then you know what we’re talking about. Following the Black Lives Matter movement that occurred during this pandemic, Sony matched donations made by developers to support it. With gestures like these, Sony has crafted its image and its relationship in a way that has created a well-loved community of its own.

Above all else, empathize with your audience.

Leverage customer data

We’ll lay it out straight: Data is everything.

Marketing during a pandemic is tough because the situation is highly volatile and uncertain. During such times, data is probably the only thing you can rely on. Learn about what your customers are seeking right now: Is it safety? Assurance? Reliability? What do they prefer? How do they want to be reached? What type of content do they like to consume? How long do they scroll through their feed?

Digitally, getting the answers to these questions is relatively easier. In case of digital marketing during a pandemic, you can collect customer data in the form of website metrics like website visits, bounce rate, real-time data, along with social media metrics like impressions, engagement, reach, click-through rate, bounce rate, and such. You can effectively use this data to modify and adapt your existing digital marketing efforts.

Invest in digital marketing

As we’ve mentioned before, your consumers are online – now more than ever before. If you want a cost-effective way to reach them, then digital marketing is the perfect form of marketing during a pandemic. Data-driven, result-oriented, while also being able to connect and empathize with consumers on a personal level, digital marketing is the ideal fit right now.

Lone Tree is here to help you with marketing during a pandemic!

Now that you’ve come far down this blog, we’ll give you a pretty neat offer as reward. Buckle up, because this is really tempting! We’re offering a 20% discount on the standard fixed price of our services – on the grounds that you mention about this blog to our Business Development Manager. So, what do we really do?

At Lone Tree, we bring different approaches of digital marketing together that maximize your online reach and presence. Our team of digital marketing and branding experts help you create digital experiences, reach and connect with more customers, and grow your business online. We help you develop and execute digital marketing plans that hit the mark, even during such tumultuous times.

Connect with us today for digital marketing consultation and how to get started.