Post COVID Marketing Strategy: A Complete Guide

by Marketing Strategy TipsOnline Marketing TipsSEO Tips

Even for the strongest brands, COVID-19 has had a notable impact on businesses around the world. While some industries experienced a boom – (food delivery services have never been so rampant) – most saw a decline in revenue over the last few months. Unfortunately, we aren’t out of the woodwork yet. With a predicted second wave and the ultimate economic crash from a worldwide shut down, businesses are frantically looking for ways to just keep afloat at best. Then, thinking about marketing post COVID isn’t a farfetched idea.

The first thing business owners look at, usually to cut, is their online and offline marketing strategy. With less revenue running through monthly statements, it seems common sense to cut the expenses of marketing and advertising. That just might backfire, though.

In these uncertain times, there’s no argument that business owners need to adjust their post COVID marketing strategy. The key however, is adjustment- not exclusion- to help keep maximum dollars flowing through. Unsure of where to even start? Check in with us, and we can have a look.

Keep Your Customers (And Prospects) In The Loop

Consumers are looking for stability and timeliness right now. They are fearful and hesitant in many areas of life that are usually the norm, and they are looking to public figures and organizations for answers and consolidation. Open communication between businesses and their customers is not only important for customer relationship management and retention, but also to instill confidence within prospectives.

Keep your customer base informed of what your business is doing to keep safe and well during these times, how you are protecting your employees and any steps you are taking to help the community during COVID-19. Even when most people agree on how annoyed they feel about being constantly bombarded with COVID news, you should take advantage and creating momentum for your marketing post COVID.

Be sure to update your hours on your Google My Business listing if they are modified. Make ensure your online ads demonstrate the same correct information. Use social media and other avenues of communication to keep close with your customer base.

Get Your Business Online- And Thriving!

If your business isn’t online, or is barely on the SERP, you’re likely in trouble. With many retail locations still closed, hours reduced and many consumers still choosing to quarantine, online shopping has skyrocketed over the last few months. (To little surprise, Amazon saw a 26% growth rate in the first quarter alone!)

The people and demand are there. It’s just in a different place, and your marketing post COVID should show them the way to find you. People are still spending money, it’s just online. Consumers are still looking and browsing- in fact, more than usual, out of boredom – so the opportunity for brand awareness and sales is still prominent.

In short, if your business thrives on retail sales , it’s time to move online.

This could mean building an e-comm store from scratch to sell your products, or adjusting your online marketing strategy to get noticed and drive conversions as you would in your physical location.

Service based business? Yeah, those are tougher. Keep in mind though, when quarantine lifts, people are going to resume needing those services. Use this opportunity to generate brand awareness and (if you’re smart about it) offer incentives for pre-booking.

Don’t Stop Running Your PPC Ads

Admittedly, there will be companies that choose to eliminate their PPC ads for budgetary or process driven reasons. But, if you can continue to feasibly run PPC ads- do it! During these times, the fall out of some of your competitors will drive the CPC for your key terms down and shoot you higher on the SERP ranking. People are bored and online, so using your ads to offer sales and incentives can (and does) drive conversions and sales.

Even decreasing your budget, but staying within the Google Ads auction, helps you remain relevant on the algorithm and helps to keep establishing domain authority. Pausing your ads takes you off the map and when you re-enter the market, you start again as somewhat of a newbie.

On average, PPC accounts have seen their ROI go from 31% to 53% post COVID-19.

Re-Evaluate Your Communication Methods

The majority of businesses out there have transitioned at least a portion of their communication to online mediums like social media, blogs and timely website updates. Like we mentioned earlier, if your business has yet to come online- you need to. Like, yesterday. (Even as we are slowly emerging out of COVID-19, the way consumers shop won’t be going back to normal anytime soon.)

Buying is happening online, as is entertainment. Then, you need to communicate with people where they are- which is at home, on the computer.

  • Email marketing open rates soared from 2% to an average of 6% during COVID-19. That’s massive.
  • Social media engagement rates increased by 61%.
  • Messaging across Facebook, Instagram & WhatsApp increased by over 50%
  • Twitter experienced 23% more new users during this period.
  • Engagement rates with business accounts increased by 17.5%
  • Users are thriving off one-on-one interaction with users and business accounts alike

If social media and email marketing wasn’t really “your thing”, it has to be now. Even for those who do their part online, you should ideally look at how you’re addressing your consumers.

  • Are you ramping up your posts and communications?
  • The noise is bigger now on social media- so you have to be louder.
  • Are you providing opportunity to converse directly with your consumers?
  • In your narrative, are you keeping consumers up to date regarding COVID-19?

These are questions worth looking at when re-evaluating your communication strategies.

Look Into Offering Payment Plans

It seems a little random, but offering online payment plans for goods and services has helped some of our clients boost conversion rates and direct sales. Money is uncertain for a lot of consumers still, but the demand to buy isn’t.

Teaming up with payment plan providers is a great way to offer your customers easier and less overwhelming purchases during these times. Including payment plans within your offerings has helped many businesses see an average of 12% increases in their conversions and sales.

COVID-19 Pandemic and The Internet

by Marketing Strategy TipsOnline Marketing TipsSEO Tips

What the COVID-19 Pandemic Means for Online Businesses (And Tips to Adapt)

There is no shortage on fear, panic and anxiety surrounding COVID-19 and the halting affects this pandemic has had on our everyday communities. As the world dwindles down to ordered self isolation and essential services only, many business owners are left wondering how they can start planning ahead to survive post COVID-19.

The virus has either slowed or shut down almost every industry out there, leaving local businesses unsure of how to proceed in these times of major uncertainty. For many, the online space can provide relief by providing a platform in which they can continue operations.

See how this webmaster built a platform that allowed food truck owners to keep making money during COVID-19 Pandemic.
Many businesses are turning to the net- scrambling up advertising campaigns, websites, online stores etc. To help continue driving sales within communities that are practically in hiding. With critical emphasis on no human contact, the online space has become the only way to safely shop, communicate and keep up to date with the world.
And while we live in times where the Internet seems to rule the world, it isn’t until it’s our only option that things begin to change. In the case of COVID-19 Pandemic, the Internet is certainly not immune- and the digital space has shifted massively in the last few weeks.

The team here at RAD shares the five biggest impacts that COVID-19 Pandemic has had on the online space. And some suggestions on how to cope.

How COVID-19 Has Shifted the Digital Marketing Space

COVID-19 Has Dominated Google Search

Not surprisingly, the virus is a leading search term on Google. In fact, Google is calling it the biggest search term trend in searching history- and that’s a pretty big title to have.
Direct searches about the virus have increased an average of 4000% each day. But the influx of searches related to the virus has presented our team with a different set of data than we’re used to seeing.
Our PPC Queen, Alex, has seen a massive increase in searches not common to our everyday lives. The term “national emergency” has spiked 1950% in less than six hours, while there have been similar increases in terms like:
“what fast food restaurants are open ?”
“will grocery stores be open tomorrow?”
“is the housing market going to crash?”
“when are taxes due Canada 2020?”
What does this mean for businesses?

It means that people’s focus really isn’t on much else right now.
Rightfully so, the panic has shifted a huge chunk of daily searches to the virus and everything surrounding it. And the noise of the virus is drowning out a lot of businesses looking to thrive online.
Alex shares that there isn’t really a whole lot you can do in terms of redirecting focus. Rather, you should look at how you can direct your business into the line of focus. Monitor search term reports, actively add to your negative keyword list & adopt those long-tailed keywords in your campaigns!
Mobile Search Traffic Has Dropped 25% (h3)
It’s been a while since desktop searches have grown, but with everyone stuck at home, it seems the mobile phones have been put down.

Website Optimization:

For us, it means two things. Alex mentioned that the costs of PPC advertising may rise, as mobile traffic is generally cheaper than desktop.
However, the biggest concern lies in website optimization. And how a shift of what the user sees- will affect conversions during this time.
Because mobile has led the majority of web traffic for the past few years, mobile optimization has been a hot, hot topic. But websites have almost been over-optimized for mobile, leaving the desktop experience falling short in comparison.

AJ, our SEO & Web Development Boss, shares that a websites design and content should be reviewed and modified to ensure a positive desktop experience for the user.
Example? The CTA rich pop ups you banned from your site to improve mobile experience? Those could make a comeback as you revert back to different conversion paths.

What You’re Reading Everyday Has Changed

Centre content around leading search terms.
Sounds like the classic principle behind online content creation, right?
It is- but when the entire Internet has shifted their focus to something a little out of the ordinary. It can be difficult to align content with what’s popular at this moment.
But if you can, you should. Just as with more routine content marketing, don’t create completely irrelevant content in the hopes of joining the masses of similar content.

Our content expert, Joel, suggests incorporating the COVID-19 virus and it’s effects into your content if you can naturally do so, and

keeping the following in mind:

Use your content to keep people informed. The community expects a response from your business, during these times. They are seeking security and comfort, and that includes being kept in the loop by familiar faces- and brands. Use this time to try and instill well being into your customers, fostering and nurturing relationships with them as you remind them that you are beside them in these times as well. Provide relevant policy updates, proactive measures you’ve taken or hours of operation etc.

Don’t add to the panic! Be a credible, reliable and neutral source- even as a company. Avoid spreading anything but pure facts, and watch your language; it can be easy to talk in an alarmed or dramatic tone.
Convey empathy, compassion & humility. People will remember who and what helped them during these times- be a positive voice amongst the negativity when creating content at this time.
There is no level of tact that’s acceptable- at this time, anyway. “HOT COVID-19 Sales!” -Don’t do that.
Social Media Usage is Through the Roof Not surprising.
Scrolling the ‘gram really does help pass the time of quarantine boredom, but communities are also turning to social media for help, answers and- shopping?

Yep, that’s right- online shopping and particularly on social media, is up by 35%.
Call it impulse buying, boredom shopping or catching up on purchases they haven’t had time to make in store. Whatever it is, businesses are finding some relief in the increase in online shoppers.
With social media usage being sky high, it also gives you a great opportunity to keep your brand and business relevant. Use this platform to introduce reformed content (see Joel’s suggestions above) but to also stimulate conversions using organic or paid initiatives.

Remember though, content for social media differs. Having a sound social media strategy and lots of visuals will help drive engagement with an audience that’s listening more than ever.
Organic Web Traffic Has Decreased In Almost Every Industry (h3)
We’re talking like a decrease of 25% on average, over all industries- with only four seeing increases (healthcare, finance, food & media.)

The biggest? With a near 50% drop in organic traffic, the travel industry is suffering during this.
And let’s be real here- we can’t really counteract this. There’s going to be a drop in traffic, sales and business. These are scary times, and people rightfully are focusing on other certain things.
This won’t change for a while, but you can look at ways to drive as much traffic as you can during this time. Here’s what has worked for our clients lately:

Content!

Create content that supports people at this time. Create content that gently reminds users of your brand and your mission. Use this time to separate yourselves from the vultures of the net. Those that exploit and capitalize on the fear and panic of COVID-19.

Promotions and offers.

People are still shopping, just in a different format. To help drive conversions, consider promotions and offers to add. That further incentive shoppers may need- and to help generate a buzz.

Join in the Conversation.

Offer support, offer sympathies, share valid information and helpful content. Immerse yourself in the current conversation, instead of trying to create a new one.