These Are The Biggest Marketing Challenges Facing Brands In The Age of COVID-19

Almost two months into life amid COVID-19, we’re still learning about how this unprecedented crisis is affecting us. 

Doctors are identifying new symptoms. Scientists are looking at how the prolonged social isolation could affect children. Social scientists are discussing the financial and economic ramifications of the virus. 

And marketers, like me, are watching how this new way of living is changing the way people do business. 

The effects have already been massive, but we’re only at the beginning. A recent study by Newscred looked into some of the biggest marketing challenges that COVID-19 is bringing to brands—here’s my take on what they found, and how your brand can turn these challenges into opportunities. 

Challenge #1: Managing shifting priorities and strategies

According to the study, 56 percent of brands see managing shifting priorities and strategies as a major challenge. 

For example, brands that were planning to attend or host trade shows, conferences, or other events have had to quickly pivot to virtual events. 

Brands that had major projects on the horizon may have had to scuttle those plans for now, or rework them with a smaller workforce or budget. And while the need to change priorities quickly can be daunting or even disorienting, it also presents an opportunity to try new things—perhaps even things you’d written off as too difficult or risky. 

The thing is, there’s no time like a recession to take a risk—as counterintuitive as that may sound. I started Zen Media during the last recession, and we’re going on 12 years in business. I know many other entrepreneurs and businesspeople who’ve used uncertain times as a springboard to something great, too. 

Shifting priorities mean the chance to focus on something you’ve had to put on the backburner for months or years. 

It means seeing how you can pull off a virtual version of the project you’ve been working on. 

It means bringing more creativity into what you do and how you do it. 

Challenge #2: Changes in investment are reorganizing budgets

As those priorities have shifted, so too have the investments that marketing departments are making. 

Not surprisingly, investments in live events have gone way down—all but evaporated, in fact. 

Conversely, marketing departments are increasing investments in a variety of other channels. Here are the stats on which channels marketers expect to increase or significantly increase their investments: 

• Virtual event creation - 78 percent 
• Web content - 72 percent 
• Webinars - 67 percent 
• Social media - 66 percent 
• Blog content - 57 percent 
• Video - 50 percent 

This means that marketers are either having to venture more deeply into areas they’ve only dabbled in, like video for example, or that they’re needing additional resources to help them create the content they need to survive in the coronavirus climate. 

So not only do brands have a chance to expand their reach through the use of new channels, but agencies and freelancers have a major opportunity to serve new clients with new and creative services. 

At Zen, we’re working with clients on innovative projects to help them serve customers with empathy and efficiency. OneDine, a restaurant technology company, is offering its Parking Lot Order & Pay technology free to restaurants across the country, to help them meet the booming need for touchless, online ordering and payment solutions.

Another client in the manufacturing sector is leveraging their decades of experience to help guide other manufacturers through this time, becoming a de facto thought leader in the industry in the process.   

These opportunities are emerging because brands are pivoting quickly. They’re asking themselves, “How can we still be of service to our customers—even if it means doing something we never thought we’d do?”

It’s that kind of innovative thinking that will help brands win in these difficult times.

First published on Forbes. Check out more free articles, videos, and resources at www.ShamaHyder.com.