It is undeniable that almost everyone has felt the strain from the on-going COVID-19 Pandemic regardless of industries. The Digital Marketing Industry is no exception, but here are some steps you could take to try and keep afloat during these trying times.

Know Who’s Ahead

Take a look at the industries and platforms that are excelling during this period. Identify which platforms have had a spike in users and craft your messaging and media spend towards them.

#Tip 1: The Gaming Industry has seen a 25% increase in media spend. (Source: singular.net)

(Image Source: singular.net)

#Tip 2: Search Traffic has increased for… (Source: SEMrush)

●   Remote Working Platforms

●   Home Fitness Platforms

●   Streaming Platforms

●   Food Delivery Companies

●   Online Grocery Delivery

#Tip 3: Total messaging has increased by more than 50% over the last two months.

●   Voice and video calls have more than doubled on Messenger and Whatsapp. (Source: Facebook)

(Image Source: Facebook)

#Tip 4: News and information companies jumped over 11X from early January to the second week of March. (Source: singular.net)

Re-evaluate Your Bidding Strategy

With many areas across the globe implementing lockdowns that result in an increase in working from home and a reduction in online shopping for certain industries, being on top of these will ensure you’re adapting your campaigns to meet your audience’s changing behavior.

#Tip 1: Switch Back to manual bidding.

Businesses that use Smart Bidding should think of using Manual Bidding instead for the time being considering the fluidity in conversion rates and CPRs. You should be more hands-on with your media spend and monitor the changes.

#Tip 2: Review device preferences.

While there are no longer in need for users to commute to work due to the lockdown, it’s probably best to re-evaluate your preferred devices when buying ads.

#Tip 3: Review location data.

Like the above (Tip #2), as users travel less to work or working from an office, you might want to review if it’s still necessary to target customers living in the city. Take note as the location data may shift during this time.

#Tip 4: Relook into Electronic Direct Mail (EDM) Marketing.

Take this time to re-explore EDM Marketing, a cheap and effective method to reassure your customers that you are still around. Take this opportunity to also build and strengthen the on-going relationship you have with your customers with EDM instead of relying on social media platforms.

#Tip 5: Take a step back.

If your business is in an industry that is declining, you might want to slow down on your media spend. Take the opportunity to release PSA type content instead until the situation improves.

Re-evaluate Your Marketing Messaging

Your messaging now, should come from a place of empathy towards the current situation and not appear to be profiteering and fear-mongering. Show the world that you care, and structure your messages like you are educating, more than advertising. Here are some examples from esteemed brands:

(Image Source: Adidas)

(Image Source: Apple)

People are also looking to trusted brands to provide them with safety and security in testing times. They want to be assured that the brands they choose are in control of their supply chains, transparent and trustworthy.

(Image Source: Texas Chicken)

(Image Source: Shopee)

The content that you produce should also be action-oriented. Have people do something after viewing your content, like Dalgona Coffee, Challenges, etc. Also, remember to be relevant to the times and include hashtags that are currently trending. (#StayAtHome, #FlattenTheCurve)

(Image Source: V Soy Malaysia)

 

Plan the path to recovery

Start planning for the success of your business post-COVID-19. Just like anything in life, the crisis will eventually come to an end. Start making provisions and develop a comprehensive marketing strategy to roll out once the crisis is over.

#Tip 1: Enhance digital marketing capabilities.

Prepare to enhance digital marketing capabilities for effective outreach; utilize social marketing & effective CRM to stay engaged. Plan ahead “bounce-back consumer consumption” campaigns. Shift resources to digital/ O2O/ eComm channel and enhance capabilities in channel operations

#Tip 2: Closely monitor consumer trends & emergence of new demand spaces/occasions.

Build stronger relationships with ecosystem partners for better data-sharing. From there, look out for opportunities on joint marketing campaigns. It could be rolling out packaging updates catering to new needs, i.e. occasion-based stock-up bundles.

Conclusion

To sum it up, now is not the time to stop marketing efforts but to strategically implement them. At times like this, we should be looking out for each other. We hope these few tips help you one way or another. Stay safe and stay positive! We’ll get through this together.

Put the words “retail”, “online” and “internet” together and you cannot be condemned for e-commerce or online retail immediately springing to mind. Coming from a background of retail and digital marketing, I tend to take a much broader perspective of these terms. I’ve come to recognize that there are some commonalities in these industries that when brought together will provide astronomical benefits. The time has come for business owners to look beyond their industries and seek out the best practices, principles and strategies used by others so that they can adopt them and improve their processes.

If you’re just about ready to apply the above scenario, here are some retail principles you can use to effectively market your website.

 

RETAIL IS DETAIL

Retailers know, all too well, how crucial it is to understand customers’ buying behavior. Insights like these dictate the products they sell, how the products are displayed and the type of promotions that deserve their focus.

APPLYING THE PRINCIPLE

Promoting a website should be no different. Are you paying close attention to the way customers behave on your site? You should be.

Analyze. Tweak. Analyze and tweak some more. Sometimes you’ll need to change the navigation, other times it might be the content or product images that need changing. The important thing is to make the changes until customers are doing what you want them to do.

Your evaluation of the website must include a review and interpretation of your web analytics. Make notes of who is visiting and how they’re finding you, but equally important is an evaluation of your visitors flow, in page analytics, landing pages and site search (for sites where a search box is implemented). This data will reveal what your visitors are interacting with most, what they’re searching for and where they’re spending the most time when they land on your site.

You cannot overlook search engine marketing. Are you focusing & buying the right set of keywords in your PPC campaigns? If not, use keyword tools to gain valuable insight on how users are searching for information in your industry, and include them in your campaigns.

Use power words in your ad copies to increase your click through rate and conversion. Would you click an ad that said “complimentary”, or would you much sooner click an ad that said “free”? If you want real results, you have to start thinking like your customers.

 

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

You won’t set up shop in a run-down area of town, would you? Every retailer knows just how important location is. The population density, neighbourhood, demographics, competition and purchasing power of the people in the area are factors that influence choice of location.

APPLYING THE PRINCIPLE

Developing an attractive website is not enough. Your goal should be to have your site positioned prominently in the search engines. Get the site published on relevant directories. Get featured and active on social media. It’s all about location.

The principle of location also applies to your ad campaigns. Your click through rates and conversion will skyrocket if your ads are appearing on relevant websites. A simple tip to get your ads strategically positioned is to bid on keywords that have good conversion rates & minimal competition.

 

POINT OF SALE

Point of sale messages influence customers buying decisions. Signs like “50% off” and “Buy One Get One Free”, compel customers to open their wallets even when that was never their original intention. Placement is also important. Retailers position signs at the entryways and in the windows to draw passersby in.

APPLYING THE PRINCIPLE

Call to action prompts like “contact us”, “free 30 days trial”, “newsletter sign up” and other banners and sliders can be likened to POS signs.

They must be strategically positioned on the page to capture attention and draw visitors in. Header banners or sliders must be eye catching but not overwhelmingly so. The graphics should never drown out your message, which needs to be clear, telling visitors exactly what you want them to do.

Split tests and event tracking will help you to identify the ads that work. With event tracking, you’ll monitor visitors’ interaction with certain website elements. The goal with split tests and event tracking is to tweak your elements and campaigns until you arrive at a working formula.

Don’t throw advertising dollars behind ads with no call to action. Studies reveal that visitors are compelled to act when they feel a sense of urgency. Your job is to create a sense of urgency and communicate it in your ads.

Again, split testing will help to find a winning strategy in your ad copy. Develop at least two ads and run them to see which one works better. If you must tweak, limit it to one element at a time, so you’ll know exactly what element is hampering or improving the results.

 

SECONDARY DISPLAYS

Retailers use secondary displays to increase a product’s sales, prominence and availability. The secondary displays showcase fast moving and impulse driven products such as snacks and soft drinks. They might also feature non consumables such as batteries, tissue and razor blades.

APPLYING THE PRINCIPLE

You want to sell your key product; that’s obvious. Then why limit it to only one page on your website? Think outside the page. Include links to the key product on other product and content pages on the site. Banners in the sidebar and header also call visitors’ attention to the product. Repetition lends itself to the permanent storage of information in our minds, use it wisely.

The principle of secondary displays can also be applied to search engine marketing. Ad extensions, where additional links are included in the ad, are a form of secondary display. Visitors can click these alternative links if they are more relevant to their search.

 

Look beyond the desert of your competitors. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot you can learn from them. But the pastures could be greener when you look to other industries to see what works.  Apply the principles learned in your own business. It will take you miles ahead of your competitors and into unspeakable realms of success.

What are some other retail principles that can be applied to website marketing?