In the face of a global pandemic, what is best Digital Marketing Strategy?

Marketers now have to think on their feet and pivot to survive. Despite the natural doom and gloom, there are opportunities out there for brands that are adaptable.

The world is reeling from the outbreak of the new Coronavirus, and the highly infectious COVID-19 that it causes. For some, this is a new and unwelcome reality, unrecognisable from the ordinary lives they were leading just a few weeks ago. Naturally, the business impacts have been stark, with industries such as travel, events and catering on the brink of collapse and many others bracing for the effects of a physically isolated community.

The crisis is forcing companies to reevaluate many aspects of their financial plans for the foreseeable future and – particularly for those operating in the B2C space – to reassess their digital marketing strategy such as paid search.

In the last few weeks, many clients and industry connections have reached out to us for recommendations on what adjustments to make and how to best go about driving business forward. While this post isn’t aimed at solving every challenge you’re experiencing, hopefully it will help you better understand what to focus on in order to provide the utmost convenience to your customers and how to keep your marketing efforts alive, tactful, and impactful at this time.

First, The Considerations

To be able to pivot your campaigns and digital marketing strategy accordingly, let’s first take a look at the current customer landscape—and what that means for your marketing approach.

Digital marketing strategy has always required a mix of art and science, and the difficulties – and pressure – to get that mix right is heightened in times of uncertainty such as during the coronavirus outbreak.

Sensitivity is supreme.

Quite a lot of folks are struggling due to the loss of income and the gravity of the situation as a whole. It’s important to be mindful of and empathetic to this. Put the needs and sensitivities of your customers first, especially if you’re not selling critical essentials. 

All time high Interruptions.

Majority of customers are overwhelmed with uncertainty, urgent needs, adjusting to Work From Home, checking on loved ones—the list goes on. Consumers are already extremely distracted, and since working parents are now doing so while also watching and teaching their kids, there will be even more chances for interruption. Your customers are most likely not getting to the cart anytime soon, let alone completing their purchase. With hyper-distraction, your messages should be triggered when they haven’t been on the site in hours, not days later. 

Increase in website traffic.

With social distancing and stores closings, making online shopping a necessity, you might see an unprecedented amount of traffic to your site (and to your app if you have one). This is the most important time to ensure you have a way to properly identify all of these visitors without waiting for them to create or log into their accounts.

Flexibility is the Key.

As we all are aware, the things are changing every day. You don’t need to overcomplicate the processes or priorities right now. Your teams need to move quickly; keep execution simple so you can scale when or as often as you need to.

Bring focus to Campaigns & Strategies.

Providing you with a few of our top recommendations to combat some of the changes—to your site traffic, customer buying behavior and engagement, inventory stock levels – happening right now.

Anchor your Data to move customers online.

This might be a watershed moment in getting your in-store customers to embrace digital channels and all of the omnichannel resources that some of brands have invested in for years. Leverage in-store customer data to communicate with those who have been affected by temporary store closings and start engaging them online—make them aware of all that they still have available at their fingertips.

Simplify your website & Communications.

Your website is your storefront and your first impression for new visitors right now. Make sure it’s as straightforward to navigate as possible, with the most important information they need front and center. Use web pop-up and geo-targeted modals to showcase critical and timely messages around store closings, inventory, safety, new hours, etc. Use website transformations to feature a high-interest brand or category upon a visitor’s return to your site to make it easier for them to pick up where they left off.

Effective Product Notifications

Product alerts are a simple yet highly effective way to notify customers about the essentials they need or the products they care about. Price drop, low inventory, and back in stock detection allows you to quickly target customers who have interacted with specific products—based on viewed, carted, purchased, and wishlist activity—and automate high-conversion messages.

Utilize product recommendations

Product recommendations are a quick way to personalize your blast sends right now as well as offer relevancy and convenience on your website. They can also be leveraged to steer online purchases towards products with high inventory levels, as well as suppress products that are out of stock or low on inventory at the moment.