Digital Marketing During COVID

The widespread pandemic of coronavirus has led to vast changes in people’s lifestyles, preferences, working styles, business tradings – taking a huge toll on the economy. The industries are made dormant, the supply of raw materials at a halt, delivery systems risky and consequently a dip in the amount of money disposable for spending.

Businesses across the world are trying to come to terms with the changing dynamics of human behavior, legal restrictions, recession, and other uncertainties. Due to the disruption in the flow of quotidian schedules, people are engaging in different activities which, we, as marketers, should definitely ponder about. While it may be quite herculean to chart out the intricate impact of coronavirus, here’s an outline of the benefits and the disadvantages the terrain of digital marketing faces after the outbreak of coronavirus.

The Benefits:

• Digital marketers can make use of channels that can be accessed from anywhere, your bedroom, the toilet, or the living room. They have an edge over the traditional marketers who rely on hoardings and flyers as the way of getting across their message. 93% of the marketers are occupied in creating interactive content like videos, quizzes, polls and other sharable content to increase brand awareness.
• Talking about consumer behavior, there is an increase in the time spent shopping online. It is quite commonly visible that consumers are hoarding groceries, imperishable fruits, vegetables, and medicines. But also, it will be surprising for you to note that the sale of several fashion accessories, home furnishing, and garden tools have also soared high. According to ccinsight, pure eCommerce brands have seen about a 40% growth in sales with a promising increment. Online fashion orders have increased by 28% between 28th March and 1st April. Data from Stackline also shows that there has been a massive increase in the sale of gloves and breadmakers in the US.
• “It’s surprising how fast things have changed in just a couple of days.” said Brad Geddes co-founder of PPC management tool Adalysis in an email Friday. The cost of advertising has also gone down and so has the amount of ad competition. So if you have a market in the US or Europe with intact resources, it is the time for you to tweak your campaigns into laying the golden eggs.
• Amidst this, Social media plays an integral role in keeping people of all age groups engaged with the brand. The audience is more likely to give a quick response, keeping the flow of your website traffic steady. Quarantine provides time for you to engage in creating content for your social media strategies in order to increase the awareness of your brand and interact closely with your audience. Even emails can help you stand out. Emails that solve problems, ask about the well being or offering information/educational based training can offer value to the audience.
  

The Flipside:

• We see recession affecting the funds people have for spending on items other than necessities. This decrease in propensity to spend also tempts marketers to tighten their reins on the ad spend. Companies face the odds of losing the favor of their audience.
• Lack of highly skilled employees who can carry out different strategies without optimal support. The distance training can become time-consuming, leaving loopholes for confusions and privacy issues. It is imperative for your employees to think flexibly and be able to strategize quickly according to the trends.
• The supply chains for businesses are also running dry and would affect the revenue being generated. According to the influencer marketing hub, 65% of marketers have noticed a decrease in revenue. A luxury international travel business has cut budgets by more than 50% from previous months across all digital channels, said Michelle Morgan, director of client services at Louisville-based digital agency Clix Marketing.
• It is difficult to predict the consumer’s behavior and the laws regulating it. The search trends are changing, the content that people engage with is dynamically changing and the timing at which social media has a high engagement is also very arbitrary. This might increase the chances of misdirection and forfeiture.
  

Given the benefits and the disadvantages of the situation, even if you choose not to invest largely in advertising, there’s a lot that can be done. You can get a free audit for your website, measure its performance over time – you can examine the number of keywords, and strengthen the roots of your website. 

P.S. We’re always open to candid conversations with fellow marketers. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to talk about your business.