COVID-19: 5 Ways Digital Marketing Will Keep Businesses Afloat

Ever since COVID-19 made its name known, our daily lives were never the same again. Routine was put on pause and daily operations were interrupted – more especially for businesses.

Needless to say, offline events alongside the likes of trade shows, conferences and any sort of face-to-face transaction with clients and customers, have been cancelled or postponed. With these occurrences being put to a pause, an economic loss is highly likely. Smaller businesses that rely on connections with customers and word-of-mouth, in particular, must be having it extra tough.

As you might have witnessed, businesses have been grappling as they try to find a solution that can keep their brand afloat and not lose too much to the prolonged pandemic. Thankfully, digital marketing exists and can be a saviour to businesses in this trying period of time. Essentially, this includes improving and adapting factors such as social media marketing, online campaigns, content marketing and SEO to suit the current market.

Here are 5 reasons why digital marketing is important and can help business owners keep their companies up and running.

1. Build Up a Stronger Digital Marketing Strategy

With the lack of events and networking opportunity, the percentage of direct interaction and engagement with customers has taken a plunge. But remember, when one door closes, another door opens.

Combat this challenge by building a better online marketing strategy. Take this opportunity to improve your existing strategies and work on ways that can heighten your presence online. For example, instead of waiting out, host your consultation services online or take your on-site events online through live shows or virtual live streams.

Needless to say, digital marketing is the most cost-effective way to reach potential clients and makes for a very good source of promotion for smaller operations.

2. Daily Operations Are Shifted Online

What used to be greeting your colleagues “Good morning!” upon stepping into the office has evolved into speaking into microphones and pixelated rectangular screens on video conference calls. With tools such as Zoom, Skype and Google Meet, communication with staff members and conducting internal and external meetings have been a lot more efficient.

Same goes for services in businesses. Formerly, presentations to clients are presented on-site but are now conducted through video presentations. Likewise for staff training and webinars to educate clients. All of these have been made possible online and since education and upskilling is important, why not take this time to upgrade your team’s skills?

Online courses can be easily located and you can ensure your employees are getting their necessary training even during the pandemic. For example, digital marketing courses can instil knowledge on how to make the most out of their tasks, even in this current situation.

3. Potential Clients Are Staying Online

If your job scope involved meeting clients face-to-face pre-COVID-19, you should know by now that adaptation is key. As your prospective leads are staying home, there is no way that real-life transactions can take place.

Hop on to social media and make yourself widely available on the Internet so you can keep the leads coming in and continue fostering relationships with both the old and new.

4. Online Visibility Improves Credibility

Since transactions and deals are made official online, your prospective clients will always look at your credibility first. To portray this, past client testimonials and reviews, as well as case studies are elements that can help you gain their trust. More than that, having an active presence on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn add on to your credibility.

Pro-tip: Get your employees to connect with the company’s page on LinkedIn for extra credibility!

5. Competitors Are Leveraging on Digital Marketing

Just like yourself, your competitors are now based at home. Also just like you, they now have the time to sharpen their digital strategies and might be looking into launching a new e-commerce channel. If not, they might even be considering tapping onto a new resource such as influencer marketing.

If your competitors are already doing this, why shouldn’t you? Be it creating a new account on a social platform or restructuring your website for the better, you should consider using online channels to keep your business alive.

The next few months will be undeniably hard only if you do not start adopting changes and come up with methods to replace lost opportunities. Adapting your digital marketing strategy to the current trend does not have to be difficult if you are aware of the tips and tricks. For the best and timely advice on how you can approach this challenge, business owners like yourself can always seek qualified help from a digital marketing agency in Singapore! This way, you can be guaranteed results that will not pile on more stress on your plate.