6 Must-Read Tips For Marketing During The Coronavirus
The coronavirus pandemic, or COVID-19, has turned the world upside down in a matter of a few months. For many, changes happened in just a few weeks. One common challenge for businesses – marketing during the coronavirus.
Many businesses are temporarily shutting down, but numerous others are able to let their employees work from home and stay open. Some online businesses are even seeing an increase in business.
The right marketing strategy right now can help keep your business running. It’ll even help it keep growing once this pandemic is all just a distant memory.
1. Focus On Customer Service
Excellent customer service is an often overlooked marketing strategy. Instead of using social media marketing to push a new product, try to make life easier for your customers. Give them insight into how your brand is responding to the crisis.
Be available to answer questions, such as explaining shipping delays. Taking the time to focus on what your customers need in terms of support builds customer loyalty. In fact, 86% of customers are more likely to repurchase from you after a great support experience and 77% are likely to recommend you to others.
2. PPC Is Your Friend
Pay-per-click ads might not seem like the best strategy for marketing during the coronavirus, but millions of people are quarantined right now. They’re working from home. Kids are being homeschooled. That’s millions of more people spending hours more every day in front of screens.
Focus on ads that help people in some way. Promote useful digital services, such as anything that might help parents with homeschooling. Advertise helpful articles, such as not going stir crazy. With a bigger audience looking for things to do online, PPC is a good investment.
3. Content Marketing Is Critical
Once again, more people are online right now. While some are just searching for coronavirus details, most are looking for entertaining, engaging and/or educational content to occupy them while they’re stuck at home 24/7.
Some companies are putting a hold on their content creation strategy right now, but you shouldn’t. Content marketing during the coronavirus is the perfect way to stay connected with your audience. It’s even ideal for jumping ahead of your competition by showing you’re there for your customers no matter what’s going on.
4. Use The Right Hashtags
When it comes to social media marketing during the coronavirus, it’s all about using the right hashtags. This doesn’t mean tag everything with #coronavirus. Instead, try to keep things relevant and light-hearted.
For example, a popular hashtag right now is #JOMO. Joy of missing out was born as a parody of #FOMO, or fear of missing out. Of course, #socialdistancing, #stopthespread and #flattenthecurve are all popular options too that seem much more positive.
Ensure you’re using these to spread messages on social media that help people. Don’t use them for blatant marketing or it will backfire.
5. Show How You’re Being Responsible
Customers are increasingly preferring socially responsible businesses. In fact, 87% of consumers said they’re more willing to buy from brands that show they care about relevant social issues.
Take this time to market your business as socially responsible. Blog about what you’re doing during this time to help your employees and make lives easier and safer for customers. Promote your commitment to doing your part in saving lives versus pushing products and services.
Customers will see you actually care and support their views. As a result, they’re more likely to purchase from you.
6. Optimize Everything
If you’ve been putting off optimizing your blog, website and even social media posts, your brand will suffer more than others right now. With so many people searching for information online due to being stuck at home, an optimized website is one of your top marketing tools right now.
Plus, when this is all over, you’ll be well ahead of your competition. You’ll have developed a great SEO strategy, which is a long-term marketing tool. Invest in optimizing your site from the ground up. It’ll keep your business running throughout this pandemic and ensure customers are able to find and interact with you.
Marketing during the coronavirus will help you reach more customers. Just be empathetic and pay close attention to what your customers want and need right now.
