COVID-19: 7 Ways to Adapt Your Digital Marketing Strategy

As the digital world continues being flooded with news of the global COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are expected to deal with difficult decision making for their online presence and digital campaigns. When a pandemic is forecasted to stay for a long-term, companies would have to be smart about their actions. A long-term crisis can bring on negative effects financially so marketers like yourself have to be quick on your feet.

Don’t wait for problems to crop up, but swiftly adapt your digital marketing strategy to the pandemic with these 7 steps instead.

#1 Make Fast & Sound Decisions

Find out which platform will work best at reaching out to your target audience. After shortlisting, you can place your utmost focus in increasing visibility and promotion strategy. It is essential that you deduce insights fast to decide on the best ways to complete your ad spend and ROI.

To accomplish this, you’ll need all your data to be centralised, easily accessible and actionable.

#2 Listen for Changes in Clients’ Sentiment & Behaviours

No matter the field your business is in, some parts of your daily operations are bound to be affected. Even then, your clients’ needs and concerns should be put first. If you are in the finance industry, you might want to look into producing content that speaks about being money-smart or share tips on how businesses can adapt to a declined sales figure. Meanwhile, businesses should roll out measures and put up notices on your official pages. This amplifies the trust between your company and your clients because they know their concerns are heard.

Through social listening, you can also monitor and assess the daily situation, as well as other updates that are relevant to your line of work.

#3 Adapting to the Dynamics

Since there’s an increase in the number of people working from home and online shopping, other than for essentials, you should diligently keep tabs on your budget, ad copy and scheduling. Having these in check ensures your campaign adapting well to the changing client behaviour.

Utilise your budget on campaigns and keywords that can meet demand. Schedule your ads to make sure they are shown to the right people at the right time. Make changes to your call-to-action if necessary too. If no one is stationed in the office, don’t tell your audience to call the office and lose a potential lead.

Consider changing your device preferences. Yes, mobiles are the preferred device for commuters but if they are working from home and are using laptops more, you should review your plan again. Keep your eyes peeled for the location data and reconsider your KPIs so they accurately reflect the current situation.

#4 Get Social on Social Media

With WFH and social distancing implemented, the best way to be social is of course through social media. Due to the lack of face-to-face interaction lately, social platforms have been benefitting off it from the evident steady rise of social media marketing activity. Ad spend in March 2020 has seen a 29% increase (Singular, 2020) and people cannot stay away from platforms with live and real-time video functions.

If you haven’t worked on your social media presence, you should get to work now. Make sure all your information are up-to-date, start uploading content that keeps your brand afloat and address your audience’s changing needs in this trying times. While you’re at it, do create some capacity for enquiries. Craft sincere and proactive emails and get qualified team members to help manage demand from your service channels.

#5 Eyes on Analytics

Another step to adapting your digital strategy is to keep an eye on your website’s analytics. Without numbers, you wouldn’t know what changes should be made.

Within Google Analytics, use annotation markers to highlight key events, announcements or changes to your marketing plans. This should help you understand any changes in traffic better. Keep note on the visitor behaviour pattern for a better grasp of how COVID-19 has affected their online habits. Here, you can tell if they are seeking out a specific service/content and if your website is lacking what they need.

Before calling it a day, make sure to also set up alerts and be immediately notified when abnormal website activity takes place. This includes big drops in traffic or a sudden jump in views, enquiries or sales.

#6 Going for a Greater Cause

It should be noted that several top luxury brands have received applause for their prompt recalibration since the pandemic was declared. Some have chosen to repurpose outdoor advertising boards while others swiftly provided support or donations to their local healthcare. Engaging and giving back to the community is a solid way of increasing your brand awareness through non-digital means.

Not only does it elevate your reputation but it also targets and optimises your campaigns, both existing and new.

#7 Co-exist with COVID-19

Make sure your staff members maintain a “business as usual” stance. Periods like these are when you should prioritise survival over market domination. Remember to keep cool and collected, and follow your newly thought-out digital marketing strategies. When the necessary steps are taken, your business and clients should be able to walk out of the storm undefeated.

Still not too sure about how your new strategies would hold up in this tribulation? It isn’t too late to get some professional advice from a digital marketing agency in Singapore with qualified expertise and experience to ensure you get through this tough digital marketing period unscathed!

P.S. Remember to do your part in minimising the spread and in flattening the curve. The most important thing is that we all get through this pandemic safely.