No matter what industry you’re in, or what type of business you have, now is NOT the time to stop your online marketing. Quite the opposite - you should be ramping things up! People still need products and services. This pandemic wont last forever and once it passes, people will go back to work, they'll head back to the gym, and they'll go out for dinner again.
While people are working from home, self-isolated and socially distant, they're going to be online. Whether it's doing searches for work-related information, browsing Social Media for the latest updates or reading the news from major and independent outlets, there's millions of eyes online and they're looking for something to do.
Here's some tips to keep in mind during this time.
Get your website in search
Keep your SEO activity going. Create new content to help your users, keep it positive and relevant, and most importantly, share it with everyone you can.
Move from analogue to digital
Your previous marketing efforts in the offline space are of little use during these times. Take 90% of your current offline marketing activities and shift that time and budget to digital. Update your website content, engage on social media channels, tell people what you're doing to help the community. All of these things will help.
Diversify your content
It's important to create content that is topical and relevant to the current climate but keep a balance. You can post about the obstacles you're encountering, but it's equally important to create content that reassures people that it's business as usual. This will create certainty and will help build trust and confidence in you and your brand.
Review your budgets
Now is as good a time as any to review your current budget allocations and redistribute the spend to the areas that are working for you. Digital marketing shines because you can easily track your marketing spend and measure it against any number of metrics. Whether its clicks, enquiries or sales, most user engagements are trackable and can give you a measure of performance and return on investment.
Get help from people you trust
There's always lots of individuals and businesses offering to get you to number one in Google Search (you know the emails i'm talking about). While this is possible, use caution when engaging someone you don't know to help with your search marketing as they may not be doing things the right way which could have an impact on your rankings later.
Stay up to date
Use your downtime to browse articles and tutorials about improving your digital marketing efforts. Participate in business groups online to ask questions (and answer other people's questions). There will be so many resources online in the coming weeks to help businesses navigate the market in this time, grab hold of them and make the most of it.
What next?
Over the coming months, digital marketing will be the most effective way to reach your customers. Take this time to learn as much as you can, and re-position your business to take advantage of the many opportunities still available.
If you're not sure where to start and would like some assistance with your digital strategy, please reach out. We'd love to have a chat about your business and help you during these times.