There’s no denying that the world is in turmoil, and over the past week or so, a lot has been happening when it comes to the marketing industry. Some businesses are cutting the budgets to virtually nothing, whereas others are increasing their efforts and the investments they make.
There are lots of businesses out there in Australia and beyond, who are approaching their marketing decisions differently. This article is going to explain what is happening amongst other businesses currently and some of the directions they’re taking. Whether you adapt it to your own company or it merely is food for thought, it’s worth knowing regardless.
Firstly, it’s important to keep a level head in all of this madness.
It’s easier said than done when a lot of countries are currently in lockdown, and there’s very little knowledge of how long this pandemic might last. However, as a business, the best thing you can do is to keep calm and carry on but to also be aware that this is going to impact your company and how you market it going forward.
The truth is that this is a moment in time, and although it might not feel like there’s any light at the end of the tunnel, it will eventually pass. Our economies will recover from this and the decisions you make right now could dictate what happens to your business once we’re out of this mess.
There’s no denying that some industries are going to continue to suffer regardless of their marketing efforts, such as travel companies, the event industry, and hospitality. However, there are some strategic measures that you might want to put in place to help utilize your time and money more wisely.
A word of advice – don’t make Covid-19 a marketing opportunity for your company. No matter how you think this will perfectly tie into your brand if you’re trying to make money off this terrible situation and you’re advertising it all over the internet, you’re going to get attention but for all of the wrong reasons. The last thing that you want to do is to be remembered as a company that tried to make profits off something that has taken the lives of many across the world. So avoid using it as a marketing opportunity in any way, shape, or form.
Start with your customers because after all, they’re the ones who are going to provide you with an income during this time and to help keep your company running.
If excellent customer service was ever needed then the time to make that happen is right now. Rely on your existing customer database to reach out and focus on overservicing them where you can. You want to keep that line of communication open with your customers, and instead of focusing your marketing on the virus, make it about what your customer needs.
For example, if you own a retail store and you can continue to deliver, then your customers are still going to want to shop online. For some, the money they’re saving from not commuting or going out and socializing will be beneficial to you. Regardless of how long we’re in this mess, the human race will still carry on as normal until they’re told otherwise.
Investing more money into your marketing can be handy for some, but for other businesses that’s not possible. It makes sense to cut down on unnecessary expenses that your company can thrive and survive without, but marketing is an essential part of any business.
You want to be in a position where you’re still recognized by your customers because if not, then you’ve wasted all that valuable time, and it could risk your company going under completely. If we want the economy to bounce back, then we all need to do our bit in making sure we’re spending money.
Damage control is necessary, of course, but there still needs to be a degree of normality in what your company does on a day by day basis, especially with your marketing campaigns and advertising methods.
What To Do Right Now
During this initial period of the pandemic, it can be easy to zero your marketing budget and anything that you pay out as a company and for some businesses that includes their staff. If you’re in the position to help your staff and have had some support from your local governing body, then it’s good to look at your current marketing channels.
The main ones are usually paid advertisements through platforms like Google and Facebook as examples. However, you also have organic/SEO channels, like your website and other content that you create, that belongs to you. Paid advertising is great because it provides that instant traffic, but if you stop paying for it, then that means no traffic for your business.
With organic content, it has more long-term gain, but perhaps that’s something that all companies need right now in order to have a business by the end of this storm?
With that in mind, it’s worth taking a look at your ad accounts in order to get a sense of how effective is the paid advertising doing with your current spend? If you find the results are going backward, then why waste that same amount of money if you’re not getting the same ROI that you got before all of this happened.
Instead, you could stop spending that money and instantly save yourself a wedge of money. With the organic side of things, you could actually benefit more from having content created and finding opportunities where you can get links on other sites that head back to your domain.
The reality of this is that you’re probably going to spend a lot less to do this, but you’ve also just saved all that money you were wasting with the paid advertising.
There are many businesses who are fearful right now of spending any money, but that’s an opportunity you can take full advantage of. Hold your nerve and start paying for content creation that can be churned out and will still be there when this is all over.
Yes, you might be losing revenue right now, but that’s the case for most businesses. It might be worth playing the long game and making long-term investments that create a strong ROI.
What’s Right For Your Business?
There is no right or wrong approach to this situation. Everyone is in the same boat, and it’s very unlikely that any business has gone through such a unique situation before. It’s important to do what’s best for your business. There are options to consider, and as a conclusion, it’s worth noting them below as food for thought on what your business could do next.
- You can keep to the status quo. This means that you act as if this virus doesn’t exist, and the marketing budget you have continues to fund the various channels you’re invested in. In some cases, businesses are investing more money to hopefully increase their efforts. Many are probably hoping that by doing this, it will encourage their customers to spend during this time or to spend even more once this is all over.
- Scale back paid advertising. Don’t just take an axe to your budget straight away and instead look at what the analysis is showing you. How well is your paid advertising performing, and if it seems like your money is returning a lot less, then it might be worth cutting back or, in some cases, removing the budget completely until you’re back to normality.
- Work on organic and SEO-friendly content. This is the long-term game to play for most businesses and one that will hopefully pay off when this has all passed. By creating plenty of content and backlinking your sites to other domains, you’ll continue to boost your traffic, and that should help you in the future.
- Pause everything and wait it out. Not every business can afford to keep hold of their staff, let alone continue as normal. With that in mind, pausing on everything and doing nothing at all might be more beneficial.
Again, there’s no right or wrong answer in this situation, and it’s a situation that all of us will continue to monitor and judge as things progress.
The bottom line is finding the best solution for your business because each one is different to the next. It depends on your financial situation, the circumstances you’re in, and the resources that you have available to you.
It can seem like right now, there’s nothing you can do, but as a business in any industry, it’s essential to try and adapt where you can. Adapting to change is important, whether you hold the fort by pausing on everything or investing more than usual into your marketing fund.
Do what feels right for the business and the people in it. Hopefully, many of us can continue to weather this storm and have a financially booming future ahead for all of us.
