6 ways to keep marketing your brand during COVID-19
Businesses worldwide are taking a catastrophic hit during the COVID-19 hit.
As a knee jerk reaction, brands may be inclined to drastically decrease marketing spend, reactionarily pivot their core marketing strategies, or cut out their marketing initiatives entirely. This could be a mistake.
Sticking to long-term marketing strategies that work is the key here. Mark Ritson wrote a great article recently, that mentioned research has shown that brands who not only stick to their marketing efforts but increase them in recessionary periods, come out on top, both during the economic downturn and the boom that follows. Also, studies indicate that companies who lowered ad spend during a recession saw sales and income fall by 20-30% over the next two years as a result.
However, remaining consistent, and making small adaptations to long-term marketing strategy is no easy task.
We have rounded up 6 tips to continue marketing your brand during the COVID-19 crisis.
1. Adapt your ratio
There’s no denying the fact that, as a rule, during an economic downturn, consumers have less expendable cash, or are much more cautious with how they spend. Keeping this mind, you need to adapt your content accordingly - keep it consistent, but go easy on the conversion based content (product/service sales-y posts), and introduce a higher ratio of value-based content, entertaining and inspiring content, behind the scenes, share what your brand values are and what drives you to serve your customers/clients.
2. Get back to basics
Take it back to the backbone of marketing - building that know-like-trust factor. By creating that connection and sentimentality around your brand during this time, you strengthen and nurture the customer relationship. Make that effort to connect with your audience, and educate them about your values and what your brand stands for.
3. Invest where others are not
Capture more of the market with paid ads, while other brands pull back on their marketing spend. As other companies slash their marketing efforts, a potential gap could be created with less competition. More market share for your brand.
4. Change the topic
No need to talk about COVID-19 all the time. We are bombarded with constant information, updates and morbid stats about the pandemic in our day to day life, it is all the media talks about, it’s all over social media, and if you do happen to chat with a friend or family member or a neighbour, the conversation inevitably leads back to that topic. Your audience wants to consume content that is not related to the pandemic, so give the people what they need! A little bit of normalcy is good.
5. Let’s get personal
When you do talk about COVID-19, ask questions and show your interest in how your suppliers, customers or partners are going during this time. Call or email them. Chat about their journey and show that you truly care. Do you have a VIP group of customers? Studies show that acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. So show your existing clientele/customers/email list some love, with personalised messages, perhaps even offer a special loyalty discount to delight them.
6. Stick to what you know
Part of being engaged with customers who are facing new realities amid the crisis is sharing your experience and expertise while remaining sensitive to the changing needs and emotions of people during these uncertain times. In saying that, as a brand, you should stay in your lane when it comes to giving COVID-19-related advice.
Marketers should refrain from providing healthcare advice if they are not qualified health experts. This is not only dangerous; it could have a severely negative impact on your brand. Leave that up to the experts!
Instead, focus on sharing valuable expertise as it relates directly to your brand, industry or community.
Remember: The quarantine won’t last forever. It does us no good to speculate too much about when the “end” of this period will come. We encourage you to prepare for that transition thoughtfully and proactively. Plan for the time when we will be able to resume more normal movements and how your brand will adapt to the new normal.
