How Digital Advertisers Can Overcome the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Crisis

Ever since the outbreak of coronavirus, there has been a visible change in consumer behavior, which has had a massive impact on the global economy. It’s important to understand how the coronavirus is affecting digital advertising.

Businesses must put the customer first, and keep an eye on changing customer behavior, particularly in response to changing ecommerce trends.

In this blog, we’ll take a look at the potential impact of COVID-19 on the digital marketing industry. Plus, we’ll explore proven tactics to help your business survive — and thrive — during this pandemic.

The Impact of Coronavirus on Digital Advertising

As coronavirus has affected every business, we’ve compiled a list of ways how the coronavirus is affecting digital advertising, creating an impactful change in the long-term that all companies must adapt to in the months and years ahead.

People are afraid to buy

The emergence of coronavirus has massively damaged the stock market. This is because economic uncertainty prevails throughout the world due to the health scare. As a result, customers are afraid to step out and shop like they used to before this outbreak.

There’s uncertainty around advertising ROI

As people are scared to step out, the businesses are not in favor of spending dollars on advertisements for their products because they expect less return from these ads, which is true.

Since the sales are low, and businesses are not certain about the turnaround of their ad spend, they would prefer not wasting their dollars on digital or any other form of ads at the moment.

Major marketing events are being canceled

Many major marketing events have been canceled, while others have been postponed until further notice. The marketers see no reason for carrying out any marketing event when there will be fewer people or no audience at all.

A smaller audience will not serve the purpose of these marketing events, and therefore, canceling them is a wise decision during this situation. As large gatherings are being avoided to reduce the spread of coronavirus, marketers are moving to webinars and online events.

There’s an increase in remote work

Since so many firms have closed down their offices because of the coronavirus, people have started working from home. Meetings are carried out virtually through softwares like Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, where teams can discuss important aspects of their work and operate without being in the same building.

How to Keep Up the Pace During Coronavirus Situation

The spread of COVID-19 has changed the entire advertising landscape overnight. With the majority of businesses shutting down across the US, marketers have to be agile with the ever-changing environment.

Here is how you can make up for the decrease in sales due to the coronavirus by reaching out to your customers through online forums.

1. Keep your Marketing Game on Point

Marketers need to be more agile to react to the changes occurring throughout the world and make the most of these changes to attract a larger audience through online marketing.

You need to reevaluate your business and products and question whether these goods are luxuries or necessities. Analyze why the customer would think about purchasing your product or service.

Here are a few aspects to consider when categorizing your product:

• Social distancing.
• Remote work from home.
• Online education.
• Family time.
• Entertainment and online communication.
• Necessities and medicinal resources.

 
If you think that your brand is producing something that can easily fit in any of the above areas, then you can tailor your marketing plan to that area.

Another vital aspect that your business must work on is your brand messaging on your social media accounts. Here are some changes you should apply:

Analyze your call to action

For instance, if before the emergence of this pandemic, your call to action was ‘Visit our closest store now,’ then you will have to change this to something that the customer can access virtually. You should make it easier for them to survive during these difficult days without heading out.

Create content that emotionally attracts your customers

Your marketing content can discuss how social distancing is required at the moment and explain how your company is taking action on this front.

Change work hours and shipping details

Update your Google My Business (GBM) by mentioning your new work hours. Also update your ad and website with shipping schedule as things are bound to be different due to COVID-19.

Review your messaging

Let the people know how your business feels about the impact of coronavirus on everyone and how you are working to satisfy any issues that a buyer would have when purchasing during this time.

Reconsider your Budget

You need to reconsider your budget as things have taken a drastic turn. You cannot be working on the same budget as it was before the outbreak of coronavirus. Circumstances have changed, and therefore the amount you previously were willing to invest in your ad spending will also alter accordingly.

Decide which products you will focus on by identifying those products which are of more value to the customers during the crisis.

Understand Your Consumers Through Their Online Footprints

While people are working from home and staying in, they still are online and searching for things that they might need. Online shopping has surged as a replacement for an old-fashioned trip to the store.

Read through the comments and feedback of people and communicate with them so that you can understand what they need. You can follow either of these two approaches:

• Reactive Approach is when you analyze the current COVID-19 keywords and content that has already been shared on the internet and utilize them in your marketing campaigns.
• Proactive Approach is when you predict and create a pool of keywords that can be utilized and altered with time for your marketing campaigns according to the prevailing situation.

Channelize

By being homebound, online activity has seen a significant increase with people using the internet to work and entertain themselves. Utilize this opportunity by marketing your services on the forums that potential customers are using at the moment, including:

• Google Display Network.
• YouTube and in-video advertisements.
• Pinterest advertisements where people are looking for a similar product will find yours through their search.
• Twitter to create a positive image of your brand.

2. Focus on Search Engine Optimization During COVID-19

Since you will be advertising your products through online mediums, utilizing SEO for your marketing will bring you major advantages.  You need to make sure that your advertisements follow all the digital trends that other businesses are also leveraging.

For instance:

• Use keywords like “stay home, stay safe,” “wash your hands,” and other similar phrases in your content. This will help you become more searchable for the audience.
• Create informative content on your webpages and social media accounts that keeps your audience up-to-speed with the latest developments. You need to tell them through your digital marketing efforts what your brand is doing to reduce the negative impact of this pandemic. This will attract more coronavirus traffic, bringing more visitors to your page.
• You need to give out the right message at the right time. If you feel like there are emerging topics that you can use for marketing your brand, then make the most of it.

3. Leverage Social Media Marketing

Social media forums are being widely used during isolation. This can act in your favor if you use this opportunity to display your products to the online audience most efficiently and creatively.

Plus, social media is key for building relationships with your potential customers. Use it to reach more of your audience during COVID-19.

Take full advantage of ‘Facebook’s Live Session’ feature

More people are watching live videos on Facebook right now than ever before. You can use this platform to attract more customers to watch you live and learn more about you as a brand. Plus, you can answer relevant queries about coronavirus and the precautions you are taking to deliver your products.

With viewership at an all-time high, now is a good time to conduct live sessions on your traditional and evergreen topics, which you can repurpose later on after the coronavirus is over.

Make the most of all coronavirus hashtags

Hashtags are a popular trend on social media forums like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And digitally marketing your brand means that you need to leverage the trending hashtags to the fullest.

Since the most trending hashtags these days include ‘coronavirus,’ ‘COVID-19’, ‘pandemic,’ ‘stay home,’ ‘stay safe,’ ‘we are in this together,’ and the likes, all of these can be used when you are posting digital content on any of these forums.

All you need to do is be a little creative in altering these hashtags. For instance, if you own a pet store, instead of using #Coronavirus2020, you can use #Coronaviruspetsafety. This will help you reach out to more people who are following these specific hashtags.

Make your captions relevant to coronavirus

Using content related to coronavirus can get your Instagram or Facebook posts a little more attention than expected otherwise. Here are some writing guidelines for Instagram captions to appropriately reach your Instagram audience:

• Write motivational captions that would help people feel better.
• Make sure to run an authenticity check when posting tips and facts about health and safety.
• Keep your updates short and precise, giving important and relevant information to the audience.
• Make use of words similar to ‘still available’ when making a pivoted offering.

4. Take Advantage of Email Marketing

You may think that social media marketing needs to be your main focus right now. But the truth is that email marketing remains the most effective tool for engaging and converting users. It is  more effective at generating sales than the major social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn put together.

You can take advantage of this situation by using email marketing to promote your brand and products. With this in mind, make sure that you:

• Write messages that connect your customer to your brand.
• Understand that our new normal has changed. So do not declare anywhere in your message whether your product is a luxury item or a necessity.
• Make your email content positive and more sensitive to the COVID-19 situation so that people can relate to it.
• Don’t use words like ‘Hurry up’ or ‘Stock now’ that push the people into a state of fear and uncertainty.

5. Make your Content Speak to the Audience

Marketing your product during a pandemic can be a very tricky situation. This is why it is crucial that you create content that’s sensitive, relevant, and displays your empathy towards the reader. For instance:

• Write blogs that people can relate to on your website.
• Share positive and motivating content on social media. With the flooding of panic-striking messages on social networks, your brand should try to appear calm, cheerful, and empathetic.
• Create visually appealing video content that would attract customers, eventually compelling them to share your content with others.
• Be available on all your social media accounts to address any query regarding your products and services.
• Write content that would impress potential customers and not just bring visitors to the page.
• Always share authentic content. Your brand should not be the cause of fear among people.

Wrap Up

There you have it — five tried-and-trusted tactics to help your business sail through the crisis.

We all know how the coronavirus is affecting digital advertising all over the globe. By including these tactics in your marketing strategy during COVID-19, you can help boost your virtual existence and might as well bring in more sales.

You can learn more about adapting to changes in our blog post, Effective Seasonal Marketing Strategies for Increased Sales.