The global community is facing a huge threat due to the coronavirus pandemic. It has caused havoc in our society forcing all of us to stay in lockdown. The outbreak caused many businesses to shut down their operations, or work from home, and change their marketing strategies to cope up with the tough time.
As per a survey, more than 80% of business leaders are anticipating a significant fall in their revenues for the upcoming months. The figure looks threatening for our economy, the survival of businesses, and the jobs of so many people around there.
If you run a business, you must know, what are the best digital marketing strategies to make your brand survive and stand strong amidst the uncertainty?
Here are the 10 best marketing strategies that you must follow.
Be Sure About The Online Presence of Your Business
Due to the extended lockdown, the majority of the people are sitting at their homes in front of their mobile screens. People are continuously browsing and scrolling online looking for updates and latest happenings in the society. This has raised the search traffic significantly and it is likely to grow even more in the coming weeks. Anything that is online right now is likely to get more traffic and engagement.
So you must make sure that your business is present online. Keep your website, social media pages, etc updated and be found online.
Use Social Media to Connect With Your Customers
Due to the extended lockdown, the majority of the people are sitting at their homes in front of their mobile screens. People are continuously browsing and scrolling online looking for updates and latest happenings in the society. This has raised the search traffic significantly and it is likely to grow even more in the coming weeks. Anything that is online right now is likely to get more traffic and engagement.
So you must make sure that your business is present online. Keep your website, social media pages, etc updated and be found online.
Use Social Media to Connect With Your Customers
Social media is a powerful tool that has connected the global community inspite of the geographical distance. Now, at this time when we are all dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, it is a good time to use the power of social media to connect with your customers and empathize with them.
This is the time to not be pushy about your brand promotions, but an opportunity to support people, educate them about the necessary precautions to be taken and motivate everyone to stay strong. By doing this, your brand will become an inspiration for people out there and you will earn a reputation.
Souce – Parentology.com
Do SEO Actively to Stay on Top
SEO or Search Engine Optimization helps you to increase the organic traffic on your website leaving behind your competitors. It is the most effective way to come on the top page of Google SERPs and make your brand visible to potential customers. However, the process takes time and strategy to do so.
At this time, make sure to implement SEO strategies for your business by optimizing your content and website regularly. Stay ahead of your competition and get more traffic from your targeted keywords.
Give a chance to Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
Now, when most of the people are at their homes glued to their screens, it is a great opportunity to try PPC Advertising and reach a wider audience. As per a recent report, Cost Per Click (CPC) rate has decreased by 6% over the last week.
It is expected to decrease even further so the time is accurate to save some amount of money within your digital marketing budget. As many advertisers are going offline this time, you can capture more traffic and conversions.
Local SEO is more rewarding
Due to Covid-19 Google has marked most businesses as temporarily closed. But if you have an essential products store, or you run a business which is still running, then this is a golden chance for you to attract local consumers and turn them into your loyal audience.
You can update business hours, post your covid-19 updates, and do not forget to reopen your location if you are open at this time.
Make sure your business is following the local SEO strategies and the website is optimized for “near me” searches.
This will help the customers in your geographical location to find your business with ease and they will come up to ask for your services first. That will make your business a reliable option for customers who live nearby and are struggling to find needful things.
Offer Free or Paid Online Services
You can use the video streaming method to offer your services to the consumers. Suppose, you are into the education industry, you can take online classes through Skype, Google Hangouts, or Zoom, etc. If you are into the fitness industry, you can take online sessions of your customers and provide them live training.
As per your convenience, you can choose to offer these online services through free or premium modes. It is a great way to keep your customers hooked to your platform and develop goodwill while making your customers happy.
Launch Special Offers and Discounts
During this lockdown, people are actively looking for some special offers and discounts to save some money. So this is the right time to show support to your customers by keeping your services active with some special discounts and offers. Identify your targeted product market and create an appropriate offer for that.
You can advertise your offers through social media and PPC advertising. It will create a strong image of your brand in the time of unrest and they will probably engage with you to fulfill their needs. For example, if you own a grocery store, give additional discounts on bulk order along with free delivery services.
Target Global Market through SEO
Coronavirus has hit more than 150+ countries globally and has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Still, it has affected some countries worse as compared to others. For instance, South Korea has impressively managed to control the spread of the virus in their country. On the other hand, the USA and Italy have been hit drastically.
With the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 every day, the economy is suffering and people are losing out. At this time, it is hard to maintain your traffic and engagement rate. To deal with this, you should diversify the regions from where you get your traffic.
Do not rely on getting traffic from one country, and instead target different economies geographically. Optimize your website to make it suitable for the international audiences too and this way you can save your business from losing out the traffic.
Make use of Trending Hashtags
Sounds weird? But yes, Hashtags are needful, and your go-to choice during the troubled days. Using hashtags are a good way to increase the reach of your business and tap on to the the potential customers. Here are some of the trending hashtags that you can use in your posts to keep your business going well with the time.
#SocialDistancing: This hashtag suggests the need for people to practice social distancing which currently holds great importance to fight with the coronavirus pandemic.
#COVID-19: The hashtag carries the latest updates and breakthrough news about coronavirus and its after-effects.
Use your Free Time to Pick Up Extra Things
This is the time when everyone is working from the comfort of their homes. So you must be having some extra time saved from daily commuting and attending in-office meetings. Things that are lying idle in your to-do-list for a long time can now be addressed. You can think of redesigning your website with a fresh look.
You can also work on increasing your online brand presence through social media marketing and campaigns. Do an SEO audit of your website to carefully plan your optimization strategies. Plan about your business expansion and the things that you always wanted to do but never got the time to.
Source: imgflip.com
Conclusion
As a business owner, you must not sit back and feel helpless during the COVID-19 crisis. Make good use of internet marketing strategies and thrive your business online. The above marketing tips will give you an ideal direction about the approach that you need to take for the survival of your brand and stay ahead of your competition.
