Re-think your digital marketing strategy in the ‘new normal’
It’s got to be said that this year has been a bit of a rollercoaster for most businesses (and individuals!). With the global coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the path for many has been unclear. During this time, technology has enabled us all to stay connected both for businesses and on a personal level.
What this also means is that businesses are more reliant than ever on their digital marketing strategy. With the events and conference scene coming to a standstill and the lack of doing any face-to-face business or networking, it has challenged businesses in how they develop new sales and build customer relationships.
Particularly for those reliant on trade shows and exhibitions to network, and for smaller businesses – COVID-19 has made it harder to get new customers through the door.
What that does mean is that those budgets can now be reallocated to digital marketing. As a result, businesses need to really start thinking of their digital strategy including social media, SEO and content marketing.
So, how do businesses shift their marketing strategy during the coronavirus pandemic?
We’ve put together a guide on how to review your digital marketing in the ‘new normal’.
Re-define your business goals
With the disruption to 2020 marketing plans and the environment constantly changing, you’ll want to reassess your business goals to find out whether your marketing strategy is still supporting them.
If before, you built networks physically, rather than digitally, it might be time to revisit new methods. Your previous strategy may no longer be relevant and so you’ll need to see what you can do to replace that in a digital environment. Especially as customers are asking for potentially new avenues to gain information and purchase products.
Your marketing messaging needs to support what you’re customers are asking for in order for you to be able to be relevant and deliver. Therefore, it may be important to spend some time researching your customers both new and existing – what are they searching for online? How has this changed during the Coronavirus pandemic? How are they purchasing products and services without being able to do it in person?
These questions can be vital in determining a digital marketing strategy in order to move forward and align with your business goals.
Improve your inbound marketing
When your customers are now more likely to be searching for products online, it is a crucial time to analyse how you’re able to compete for some of that new business and drive inbound sales.
How are customers finding your website? Are they searching for you directly or indirectly, arriving at your website through SEO or paid search?
At this stage, it’s important to analyse your website traffic to find out where it’s coming from. But also, look into ways you can improve getting your site seen online.
If you haven’t looked at your SEO or website optimisation for a while, now is the time to give it a refresh.
Spend some time updating old content posts, writing online brochures or white papers to benefit clients and check all your meta tags and descriptions are all up to date. You can even give yourself a little SEO audit to see if there’s anywhere your site may be letting you down.
Furthermore, if you’re not spending your marketing budget on events, you can always invest in an SEO agency, to help you get your site up to scratch to increase visitors to your site organically, rather than investing in paid search.
Re-evaluate your communications
When Covid-19 first struck, individuals and businesses were being hit with hundreds of emails a day relating to the virus and what companies were doing. People’s inboxes were inundated with similar messages over and over again.
‘Unprecedented times’, ‘we’re still here’, ‘we’re here for you’ – messages we’ve all heard now time again since March. If you want to stand out in a crowd, really think about your communications strategy and how you want to come across to your audience.
Segmentation and targeting can really help to send emails to your customers on a more personal level. But more importantly, save your outbound messages for crucial communications such as customer orders, promotions or virtual events you are running.
You want to remain valuable and relevant to new and existing customers, rather than use COVID-19 as a marketing ploy. It might be time to re-evaluate your communications to make sure you’re adhering to your customers’ needs at this time so that they come to you, rather than you overwhelm their inbox with emails.
Analyse, review and adapt
New trends are emerging daily as we watch the pandemic pan out. In the office, out the office, stay at home, stay safe - It’s difficult to keep up. That’s why it’s so important as a business to constantly analyse and monitor data to find out what’s working for you and your customers.
Finding website pages that consumers are visiting the most can help you adapt and fine-tune other pages and your overall marketing strategy. You’ll want to deliver relevant and engaging content for your audience.
It’s for you to find out if they are looking at social media, and which channels, what search terms they’re looking for, and the pages that they are looking at the most.
Different approaches and tactics will have differing levels of success. But now is the time to get started as your digital marketing strategy will play a key role in how you now reach your audience. Who were your offline customers and how can they now be converted in a digital environment?
Look into a long-term digital marketing strategy
There’s no reason why your digital marketing strategy should be just a fill-in during the pandemic. If these strategies work for you – there’s no reason not to continue long after corona has gone.
Investing in the time and effort in digital marketing on a reallocated budget now can give you a long-term gain in the ‘new normal'.
If you’re interested in investing in digital marketing, such as a new web, SEO or content, to make your marketing budget work harder and more effectively. do not hesitate to get in touch or give us a call on 01794 725 454.
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