Adjust your Marketing Plan and benefit from the Crisis! Steps to take during COVID-19.
Some might say that it has been a rough year! Indeed, hardly you may name any industry or business that has not been affected by the Pandemic of COVID-19. But in contrast to the panic that has swept the market several months ago, today we see that some businesses seemed to pass the darkest hours with flying colors. Moreover, not only didn`t slip into oblivion, leaving unemployment and debt behind, they seem to have become even stronger! And we don`t only talk about the "Essential" industries like food, media, healthcare, and pharma. On the one hand, their raise is pretty predictable in the current situation. But at the same time, they have suddenly found themselves in an unprecedentedly competitive atmosphere and also had to adjust their marketing strategies. So let alone construction, entertainment, manufacturing, travel, transportation, and numerous other business segments that due to their nature have suffered from quarantine restrictions and social distancing! But even among them, today we see not just survivors, but bright examples that due to their timely action and ability to adjust marketing tactics during COVID-19 seem to have grown stronger, enriched with the new experience. We all know that a sage constantly observes others and learns from their mistakes and experience. Observation has always been named among the most efficient tools in any marketing strategy. So let`s have a detailed bird`s eye view of the most efficient marketing tactics applied during the pandemic and see how they have worked until now and whether they will be relevant in the post-Coronavirus market.
What is a marketing strategy and why does it need adjustment?
Marketing strategy is a combination of tactics that defines how your business will communicate with the target audience and encourage it to make a purchase generating your revenue. It can be imagined as a navigator app that shows your current location and directions to the destination. And just like during traffic, operating on a live market, you are constantly influenced by outer factors that don`t depend on you but affect your journey greatly. the Pandemic of COVID-19, social unrest, recession, and natural disasters that happened this year are exactly those factors. If you are traveling with a navigator, you may receive warnings and wor-out alternative routes. Otherwise, you risk getting stuck in a tremendous traffic jam or even a horrific accident.
That is why marketing strategy, no matter how thought-through it might be from the very beginning, has to be constantly adjusted. This was true before when marketing tactics were modified according to consumers` purchasing phases. But today, both businesses and consumers don`t have a clear vision of the future and have to combine a habitual lifestyle with the imposed precautions.
That said, the marketing strategy adjustment today differs from the one we might have been used to until now. Here are the top 11 steps you want to take today to adjust your marketing plan to the ongoing situation. Moreover, if you manage to react timely and adopt the new rulebook, you have a strong chance to benefit from the current situation and become a part of the fundamental forces of the post-Coronavirus economy.
Explore the new demand
The worst mistake you can do now is to start thinking that nobody needs your service in the current situation. Remember, demand does not disappear, it simply reconfigures. And so should your offer. For example, social distancing does not mean that people don`t need clothes. But the demand for lounge clothes and underwear today is as high as it has never been before. While outdoor apparel had to step back. In other words, instead of investing in more aggressive promotion of whatever you have to offer, re-stream your efforts into learning what the consumer needs. People still want to make a purchase and they need your help and direction today more than ever.
Sell relevance, not the product itself
In a time when people are anxious, worried about their health, jobs, education, they are constantly looking for solutions. The only chance to sell anything today is to persuade a consumer that your product is a solution for the topical problem. Therefore the promotion tactics are changing now focusing on relevance more than the product itself. Determine the pains of your target auditorium: anxiety, insecurity, boredom - and start persuading that your product is the solution.
Offer payment plans and options
Since we`ve been moving towards a cashless economy for quite a while, online payment options are not a novelty today. But considering the ongoing situation and financial insecurity of consumers, it is time to take a new step and offer payment plan variations. Payment plans significantly reduce the financial burden in a short perspective, becoming a strong psychological motivation to make a purchase now, without having to postpone it for better times. So eventually a business gets a chance to boost up the conversion even though consumers are aiming at cutting down their spending.
Online presence becomes the only presence
No matter how powerful, social media should not be the only stream of your digital marketing efforts. Since the world is forced to move online, even such traditionally offline industries like restaurants, entertainment, etc start to settle at the virtual space. The principle is simple: online presence becomes your only kind of presence. And while in the real world you have been restricted by the physical borders, rent prices, or working hours, digital space wipes most of those restrictions up. Arranging a website, creating SEO-friendly content, webinars, e-books, and Future Marketing Technique like Explainer Videos and Product Animation Videos - those are the marketing tools of the new world.
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