7 Marketing Strategies For Brands In The Post Covid Era

Marketing as we know it has changed. We live in a time, where people have moved from ‘Live and Let Live’ to ‘Hardcore Stay At Home Survival Mode’. As companies dabble with this unprecedented situation, your marketing strategy needs change — not just to create profits, but in order to survive and stay relevant.

This too shall pass — however, your response right now shall be paramount in defining your brand value in the future.

ETB 2020 Report Fig 1: Brand’s Response To Pandemic Shall Affect Future Purchase

The Brand 4 Impact team brainstormed this over and came up with a quick list of brand strategies to adapt for brands to thrive in the post Covid 19 era.

1.Know Your New Customer Profile â€” Because if you don’t, you are throwing tons of money to a black hole, with no human at the end of your message.

Your customer has been thrust into one of humanity’s most massive crises — without any warning. This has put them on active safety mode, pushed them through massive deviations from their routine and made them reflect hard on their values and what’s important. This is not the same person you spoke to a few months back. Understanding their core, psychology, habits, and values are vital to the new strategy you build — and not just when it comes to marketing!

Pic Courtesy: Getty Images

2. Swap Your Brand Value For Purpose

ETB 2020 Report Fig 2: Profit vs Purpose

Customers are now more demanding than ever and are keen on associating only with brands with a strong emphasis on impact. Not just that, most will actively go out of their way to influence their circle to disengage with “meaningless” brands.

ETB 2020 Report Fig 3: Brand Engagement Statistics

Its high time to repurpose your brand purpose and make it more human. If you only care about profits, your customers shall not care about your products!

3. Adapt — Your Product, Distribution & Marketing

Luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Prada are producing face masks. Brands like H&M, Zara, Fanatics and Bauer are swapping their core products for making masks and hospital apparel.

ETB 2020 Report Fig 4: Brand’s Need To Adapt

Now, at-home delivery and pickups are the only way to go. Brands need to keep this in mind and make the processes as trustworthy and secure as possible. The most creative of the lot can also use this to their benefit for their upcoming campaigns.

4. Be Transparent — Communicate With Facts & Empathy

We know your sales have taken a beating (unless you’re in food or pharma) — but that doesn’t mean your brand vision has. Acknowledge the change and convey your measures to handle this and help the situation at hand. It is a two-way relationship and these conversations shall be remembered once we ride through the wave. Keep it real, transparent and empathetic.

ETB 2020 Report Fig 5: Brand Communication Statistics

Product-based promotions would not work anymore. A mind on a “fortressing mode” doesn’t care for sales-driven messaging and is more equipped to see through the bullshit.

5. Lead The Wave Of Caution, Impact & Positivity — Don’t Just Survive, Thrive!

ETB 2020 Report Fig 6: Brand Role In Society

A great crisis can sometimes be your greatest opportunity. Now more than ever, people look up to brands as the voices which can shape societies. They trust them to come up with innovative solutions that create actual impact, not just sell products anymore.

Google has created a $50 Million Fund to support Covid 19 causes and the other giants are following suit.

Be more human. Don’t just pretend you care, care! Let your brand be the change-maker that goes down in history for the good it creates.

6. Stay Creative — Collaborate!

Almost every fund in the world, every government known, every NGO and every research center has prioritized the Covid19 research and created projects to support the education, research, and incentives to address the crisis. The best of marketing has always been about moving out of the norm. So how about switching the traditional ads and campaigns (which are already witnessing abysmal dropouts) for research and education-based collaborative marketing?

ETB 2020 Report Fig 7: Expectation For Brand Collaboration

Another trend that has come up is that parents are now home with their kids — dealing with home office and online schools. Can your brand teach something? Create educational branded content for the kids? Nothing like pure education as your marketing strategy!

7. More Digital Than Ever

Unsurprisingly, a ‘stay home, stay safe’ regime, has most spending long hours on the internet. You are addressing a new group of ‘sofa surfers’ who are the most digital they have ever been — your campaigns need to be digital too.

Another issue to handle with digital marketing has been the amount of hoax and false alarms being circulated around — brands have a huge scope here to bring in the truth and encourage more positivity.

The word ‘crisis’ comes from the Greek word ‘krisis’ meaning ‘judgement’ or ‘turning point’. With every crisis, there is a unique opportunity to debate and decide on what the new shift should be. For economies and businesses worldwide, no doubt this is a trying time, but this is also the time to prove their mettle and the opportunity to leave their mark in the post Covid19 world.

For a free brand marketing consultation for your brand, reach out on contact@brand4impact.com.