Marketing Process will not be the Same Post COVID-19: Questions Answered

Everyone is talking about Coronavirus these days, which is indeed one of the worst pandemics humanity has ever faced since its inception. Even the strongest economies of the world have been badly affected by COVID-19 causing billion dollar loses in every sector.

At this point of time, the most important objective of businesses is to bounce back from the setback framing robust and effective marketing strategies. However, the strategies will not be the same as they used to be pre COVID-19 as many channels of marketing, which were earlier effective will not be advantageous.

So, the big question - What will work and what will not?

Marketing Channels that will perform includes:

• Social Media Marketing
• Search Engine Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Influencer Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Video Marketing

These are mostly the digital marketing channels, which I have included here as a major shift will be seen from the traditional marketing process such as Events, Exhibitions, and Road Shows etc. to the digital mediums.

As we move ahead to follow social distancing, we can very well understand that any marketing process that involves social gathering will be a complete 'NO'. Even digital spends in categories such as tourism, travel, and automobile have stopped altogether. According to a report released by AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research, advertising expenditure on digital decreased by 26% in April 2020 as compared to March 2020.

Although the size of digital spend has also decreased to some extent due to COVID-I9, a steep rise in Ad volumes was seen in laundry, telecom products and personal healthcare segments.

Is Traditional Marketing Dead?

Certainly not! Conventional marketing, which are mainly advertising mediums such as Television, Newspapers, and Hoardings etc. will still hold its importance. However, spend on these mediums will decrease due to a major shift from conventional to digital. Another reason for the decline is that major advertisers in the automobile, travel, retail sectors have reduced their advertising cost on the mainstream mediums. 

Revival 2.0: Why Advertisers See Opportunity in Digital Marketing?

With the cancellation of major events by brands, marketers now want to utilize their marketing budget to advertise on digital platforms. Even small businesses such as restaurants, retail shops, coaching centers, who earlier used to solely rely on traditional form of promotion are now going online either by launching a website or through social media.

This provides an opportunity for digital marketing companies to render their services to new target markets. So its time for all marketers and brand managers to gear up and take this new challenge.