Five ways to kick start your marketing post COVID-19

We are all navigating our way through the tattered landscape of COVID-19 and many businesses are realizing their tried and true ways of marketing are no longer relevant. Hard push sales, funnels, etc. are not effective when dealing with a traumatized public. People want to know you CARE and that a real person/s is at the other end of that Instagram post or Google ad. Businesses no longer have the luxury of pushing out content ad nauseum without regard to its perception. We need to listen, adjust and evaluate.

Here are five tips to help kick start your marketing strategy for the last half of 2020.

1. Be empathetic

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Empathetic marketing is making an emotional connection with your customers. You want to BE your customer. Customers aren’t always rational; emotion plays a large part in buying decisions. Coming out of COVID-19, emotions are even higher. Anxiety over personal finances, health and business sustainability are very real and businesses need to ensure they are prioritizing community over competition.

When customers feel they share the same values as a brand, they become loyal and encourage their family and friends to support it. This leads to higher sales and can even protect your pricing as customers are willing to pay more to support their favourite brands. Just look at Apple, Nike, lululemon or even Starbucks. I fully admit to spending six dollars on coffee mainly as I know no matter where I am in the world, I will get the Starbucks quality and experience.

2. Be authentic

This may seem like a “no brainer” but it’s amazing how many businesses have an online persona that is completely different from the in-person experience. This sort of “salesy” tactic is easily ignored by the public and can cause long-term damage to your brand.

The key to a quality brand is to project authenticity to your audience. Show the successes and struggles; be vulnerable. Behind the scenes content is some of the most popular at the moment as people love to see the inner workings of businesses. It levels the playing field.

Next time you head to Instagram, see if you can pick out the authentic content and how it makes you feel then reflect that in your own brand.

3. Be agile

Regardless of how long the COVID-19 crisis lasts, it will forever change the consumer landscape. Businesses can’t go back to their old marketing strategies. Being agile in your business means identifying and focusing on higher-value and impact projects.

If your current marketing plan indicates five key objectives, focus on three of those. The three that will provide the greatest opportunity for growth and can be done efficiently. The key moving forward is to not get bogged down in a sea of projects. Do a few things exceptionally well rather than multiple things mediocrely.

4. Be innovative

You don’t have to have a large marketing budget to make a great impact. Being innovative means using your community to leverage your message. Word of mouth marketing is the oldest and most effective forms of marketing. Your loyal customers sharing their love of your business with their network is immeasurable. So be sure to nurture that community, offer sneak peeks to product launches, VIP pricing and share their testimonials on your social media channels and website.

Also, your employees can be your biggest advocates. Ensuring you have the personnel that reflects your brand and providing them with the skills and resources to best showcase that brand to customers is imperative.

5. Reset, Rethink, Reposition

This unstable situation can be the perfect opportunity to challenge yourself to rethink your business plan and strategy. I would recommend conducting a SWOT analysis of your current business state. Really dig deep into your strengths and weaknesses and your competition. What is your value proposition? What makes your business unique? What does your business FEEL like?

Who is your ideal customer? In marketing, we create personas and stories about those personas to really identify who that person is. What do they do? How old are they? Male/female? Income? These are just some of the questions to ask as you develop your key ideal client personas.

These activities may seem silly to many but if you don’t know your business and its customers inside out…who are you talking to? And what are you saying?

If you need help organizing your new marketing strategy, connect with us. We are here for you.