7 Ways Online Marketing Can Give You an Advantage During the Coronavirus Pandemic

If your organization relies on traditional marketing methods, you might find this time to be a period of monumental change. With fewer people travelling and going outside, traditional marketing methods, such as billboard and off-screen advertisements, are becoming less visible to the public. In fact, we have seen an increase of video content and multimedia brand messaging on social media over the past month.

As the quarantine wears on, customers are turning to online platforms out of necessity and entertainment. For your business to continue growing during this period of commercial stagnancy, digital marketing might just be the best tool for your brand’s defence.

Rather than dwelling on your company’s decline in marketability, the team at Worldsites Toronto encourages you to use this downtime as an opportunity to assess your marketing strategy and expand into new areas. We want to help your company retain its market and ensure it remains a viable solution for consumers.

Here are a few things to consider when transitioning to online marketing during the Coronavirus outbreak:

1. Customer service can go a LONG way
2. Social media is key!
3. Monitor your channels
4. PPC advertising
5. Think local
6. Video messaging
7. Prepare for the upsurge

Customer service can go a LONG way

Stay visible to your client base by sending words of support and encouragement. Don’t go over the top with constant or irrelevant messages – a simple reminder your services are available will do. Also, remember to be flexible and accommodating when clients come to you with challenges. How you handle your customers during a crisis will be remembered when things return to normal.

Social media is key!

Any prospective clients your company might have attracted through traditional marketing will now be at home, and presumably online. To generate conversions, you need to take advantage of the platforms people are using, such as social media and online stores. Stay at the forefront of your audience’s channels by posting regularly and promoting your services (many of my clients are offering “special offers” to attract new customers and bring traffic to their website).

Monitor your channels

Analytics software, such as Google Analytics and social media analytics, will allow you to keep track of your online progress. Conduct analyses on your web traffic and content performance to see what’s working with your digital strategy. From there – market, market, market!

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

Pay-per-click advertising is a simple tool for diverting traffic to your website and social media channels. Under these circumstances, it can make all the difference with online brand visibility.

Think local

Don’t waste your efforts targeting demographics outside your immediate location. Prospective customers will likely be searching for products and services close to home to avoid non-essential travel. Although this is limiting, you’ll have more success targeting local audiences than the wider public.  In cases where this is unavoidable, offer free shipping or an extended return policy to help people in rural areas access your product or service.

Video messaging

We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again… Video messaging is an essential tool for online marketing. Now more than ever, businesses need to create personal messages that respect the sensitivity of the situation; however, this can easily be miscommunicated in a written message. Equally, words might not garner the same interest as a multimedia message. Video messaging is a strong approach to humanizing your brand and gently reminding customers that your products and services are still available.

Prepare for the upsurge

When the lockdown ends, there will be a surge in demand for products and services as people leave their houses and rediscover the world. Now is the time to make smart marketing investments that will later benefit the future of your brand. Fortunately, most digital solutions are inexpensive (i.e. social media) and will not be a gamble during this difficult time. As I mentioned earlier, use this downtime to assess the gaps in your marketing and strategize for the future.

With all this being said, I can’t stress how important it is to respect your audience’s current state of mind. Some organizations are exploiting consumer vulnerability to make a profit, which is undoubtedly the worst approach to marketing during a crisis (not to mention unethical).

Right now, you should be creating and adapting your marketing strategies to the current circumstances and focusing your energy on expanding into new marketing solutions, rather than increasing prices on essential goods and services or staying rigid with your regulations when consumers are demanding flexibility.

Your business is your life – I completely understand that. With the right solutions, we can overcome this hurdle and enter a new stage of online marketing.

Our team at Worldsites Toronto are available to help during the Coronavirus crisis. Contact us if you would like to discuss your company’s online marketing strategy further.