2020: EMBRACING THE DIGITAL WORLD
With the uncertainty of this global pandemic, it’s rather challenging to determine what your business’ next move should be. Social distancing has resulted in marketing demands shifting to embrace the powerful digital realm and therefore, many brands are facing the difficult task of adjusting their media strategies accordingly; in order for their business to survive the devastating economic effects of Covid-19. While we begin to rely more on the online world and explore ‘The New Normal’, how do you continuously keep your audience engaged in new and uncharted waters? Here, we share with you our thoughts and advice on how YOUR brand can tackle this challenge!
LOOK FOR WAYS TO PIVOT YOUR STRATEGY
Now is the time to adapt your media strategy in order to suit this new landscape – if you have the opportunity to. From fashion brands embracing and prioritising lounge wear; to restaurants pushing deliveries – realigning your strategy to address what is most valuable to your consumer right now, allows your brand to be perfectly positioned to adjust to the new customer demands shaped by Covid-19.
It’s not solely about marketing to new customers and increasing your lead generation – ideally, you want to utilise this time to consider fresh and relevant tactics to build goodwill or educate your current customers. It is imperative, now more than ever, to nurture the relationship your brand holds with your existing customers and make it more meaningful.
IF YOU ARE ADVERTISING, THINK ABOUT YOUR MESSAGING
The widespread impact Covid-19 is having across all markets and sectors is rather explicit. The impact this holds on advertising is of far less priority than those of the larger economic and health challenges the worlds’ citizens are currently facing. Does this mean that if brands aren’t able to sustain their marketing efforts at the moment, that they should reduce their investment? Essentially, advertising needs to be put on the back burner. However, this is the time for reflection, forecasting and planning for the day that your brand is able to utilise this tool again. If you are struggling to envision and decipher what ‘The New Normal’ means for your business – Your Marketing Team offers a FREE online consultation in order to aid your business with a winning strategy to overcome these obstacles; should you wish to implement what we propose.
For the businesses who can continue to advertise, we recommend you think carefully about what messaging you rollout – taking inspiration from those who are already successfully listening and responding to the tone of the conversation. Nike’s recent ‘Play inside, play for the world’ campaign slogan is a great example of how effective advertising can still be implemented during this global pandemic.
How can your business ensure that you get the tone and sentiment right? There are a handful of important questions to answer in lieu of the current situation we find ourselves in and how brands can continue delivering obligations and their ability to contribute in a valuable and meaningful way. In order to execute this effectively, your current messaging should create a sense of connectedness and unification with your present audience. Their struggles are your struggles – use this knowledge to your advantage.
USE THIS TIME TO ASSESS YOUR DIGITAL PRESENCE
Inevitably, Covid-19 has prompted many businesses into recognising that they need digital transformation somewhere along their current business model. We believe that now is the time to reflect and understand your brands’ digital maturity and where the gaps for improvement may lie – and find a means to help plug these gaps. In the long run, businesses will need to acknowledge, welcome and embrace a more digital world – whereby digitally mature strategies will become ‘The New Normal’. Now is the time to delve into your current media and advertising tactics and see whether you are implementing them in the most beneficial way. This can be done by: evaluating your existing digital assets, cleaning it up, making sure there is consistency and that your brand message is aligned with what your audience wants to hear – therefore, ALL assets (shared or owned, as well as paid) should take top priority for evaluation within the times we currently find ourselves in. Take a step back, review your current practices and implement digital transformation opportunities that have previously been deemed as ‘low priority’.
MAKE THE MOST OF REDUCED ADVERTISING RATES
Should your business continue running some media campaigns, we predict a few changes along the way. Due to a large proportion of the digital inventory available being auction-based and bought programmatically, supply and demand heavily influence the cost. Therefore, expect some media to deflate as businesses turn off their spend because there’ll be more inventory and fewer bidders.
There are numerous reports of cheaper media being available from publishers. If brands are in a fortunate enough position, they may be able to sign guaranteed future media deals now at a much better rate than they normally would. For some businesses, the opportunity to run campaigns might still be impacted by Covid-19 – regardless of whether or not you have the budget. However, this makes provision for planning, reflection and forecasting.
BE READY TO ACT WHEN THINGS PICK UP
To give yourself the visibility you need to act, Your Marketing Team recommends keeping brand, shopping and generic campaigns running – albeit on a smaller budget. Instead of running just your brand campaigns and switching off the other two, we’d recommend spreading your spend across all three campaigns. That way, you’ll still have a full-funnel view of what’s going on, and can flag changes in consumer behaviour at every stage. It is extremely important to note that when brands begin to see an end to the current conditions, they may need to have bigger commercial conversations about whether business models have been fundamentally changed, or just temporarily due to Covid-19.
As we face ‘The New Normal’ that entails intermittent periods of isolation around the world, the need for businesses to pivot their thinking will go beyond just media decisions. Businesses will need to start considering how they can offer more flexibility and reassurance to consumers going forward. One thing is for certain, Covid-19 has held a massive impact on societal priorities and attitudes. Moving forward, it will be beneficial for brands to think about how they should appeal to customers post Covid-19. What’s going to matter to these consumers, that didn’t before? Getting this right could make all the difference to what success your business will celebrate in the future. We acknowledge that these decisions and changes are rather daunting. Your Marketing Team is on a continuous pursuit of business excellence. We believe that every organisation, brand and business has the capacity to excel, improve and transform challenges into opportunities – let us make your decisions and adjustments more digestible and effective.
