Marketing Your Business in a Post-COVID-19 World

As those of us who operate within the business realm will have already experienced during the coronavirus pandemic, the situation has had a significant financial and behavioral impact on our consumers.

The crisis has placed an unprecedented burden upon enterprises all over the globe, as they work behind the scenes to respond to sales drops and reduced projections for 2021 and beyond.

During these uncertain times, business owners and unit leaders must be prepared to react and adapt their marketing strategies accordingly to not only survive — but to emerge stronger than ever.?Likewise, all marketing professionals must apply their understanding of industry changes as these emerge and adapt their techniques appropriately.

More emphasis must now be placed upon developing consumer-centric practices and the delivery of end-to-end customer journeys. In addition, such methods will need to be backed by measurable approaches and stringent research.

This guide provides an overview of specific measures that can be taken by your business to forecast the evolving climate and explores new procedures that can be utilized to ensure that your company can only ‘weather the storm’, but thrive in a post-COVID-19 world.

Re-activate, Re-engage and Relaunch

Many companies have already navigated the first stages of managing their business through the initial lockdown phase, also known as austerity and the period of ‘shock and adjustment’. Following the outbreak, organizations naturally shifted focus on brand positioning, crisis communications, and the halting of media investments.

However, as the situation begins to stabilize brands must now begin the process of ‘reactivation’ and ‘re-engagement’, as opposed to disconnecting and shutting down their various social networks. As we move into this phase, businesses should shift focus towards driving brand awareness and generating new leads and investments.

Now is the time for companies to invest in tactical digital media buying and concentrate on the delivery of web, blog, and social media content.

It will be crucial for organizations to define their revitalization approaches and effectively pre-empt their exit from the crisis [source ].

Revenge Spending

Brands that have firmly adopted the above approaches will be well placed to enter the final phase of ‘revenge spending’ as lockdown measures begin to subside and some form of (newly established) normality resumes.

Whilst many months of economic uncertainty have created understandable concerns over the prosperity of business, this will actually be the time when we may see consumer behavior take a ‘U-turn from self-preservation to a returned willingness to spend.

An initial victim of the coronavirus pandemic, China has reported an upsurge in high-end and luxury purchasing during their recovery, which can likely be attributed to changing behaviors associated with overcoming the outbreak [source ].

Should these bounce-back findings give any indication of the months to follow for international corporations, implementing the right marketing strategies ahead of time will be essential to meet the potential demand?

Greater insight into what post-pandemic society will look like through the lens of business marketing can be procured through various listening tools such as?Martech Solutions ?and could be considered a strategically effective investment at this time.

Martech Stack Optimization

Organizations that are trying to transform and accelerate their digital marketing performance should invest in measurement tools that can identify key insights that will inform the strategies they use.

Martech stacks are groups of technologies designed to help marketers deliver, assess, and enhance their marketing returns across the consumer lifecycle. Optimization allows you to build your stack for the purpose of maximizing your marketing efforts, aligning insights to your individual business objectives. Platforms such as these will then be able to recommend the technologies you need and the investments you should plan for.

To assist businesses with stack optimization, research-based group?Ascend2 ?conducted?a survey ?of 265 marketing professionals, the findings of which identify the ways marketers should adapt their approaches for 2020 and beyond.

Ultimately,?business leaders must give serious consideration to increasing marketing investments as lockdown eases.?Competition is expected to increase exponentially, therefore deploying creative and powerful marketing strategy and optimization tactics are essential.

Invest More in Digital Marketing

The concept of increasing marketing expenditure in a financially protective climate is daunting, however, studies indicate that this is a necessity with 49% of consumers professing that they are reassured by hearing from brands [source ]. 56% have also indicated satisfaction in learning how brands are assisting the community during the crisis [source ].

With this in mind, here are some ways in which your company can tailor its marketing for a post-crisis audience:

·?Tell Authentic Stories

Focus on creating campaigns that showcase your business’s efforts to benefit customers and the wider community. Place ‘emotionally driven’ emphasis on promoting your contributions to society.

·?Be Empathetic

Society has changed and so have your customers. One study found that at least half of their subjects that have developed new habits in lockdown intend to maintain them [source ].?Any marketing data procured for your business in recent months is likely already outdated due to fundamental lifestyle shifts.?You must, therefore, be vigilant in monitoring behavioral changes and how these could affect the purchasing needs of your customers.

·?Double Down on Consumer Engagement

As part of your coronavirus continuity planning, make sure you emphasize community outreach. With fierce competition and changing, values comes a need to demonstrate acknowledgment and appreciation for your customers.

Make sure that your marketing teams are vigilantly analyzing data and implementing insights. Re-cater your offering and product to stay relevant to your target consumers.

·?Altruism over Exploitation

There is a key distinction between operating within the current climate and exploiting it. Clients and customers will be less receptive to activities deemed opportunistic from brands, so capitalize on opportunities that put them first.

·?Debrief — Re-Evaluate — Plan

As you begin to plan your post-crisis activities, gather your marketing team to discuss acquired learnings, and establish what they have been hearing from customers. Use this opportunity to pinpoint changes that have already taken place and those that you anticipate.

From this, identify measurables that remain ‘unknown’ and then move to gather the relevant data and insights. Look at the wider trends that have emerged in the marketing sector and use hard facts to inform your continuity plans.

Where possible, recalibrate your messaging and targeting to maintain authenticity and relevance to your customers — prospective and existing.

VISIT MT WEBSITE