The COVID-19 pandemic has definitely affected global economies and impacted businesses on a large scale. In fact, the damage wrought by the crisis has cost hundreds of trillions of dollars in only a span of several months since the outbreak started.
While millions of people have been left unemployed and businesses are struggling to survive, there’s a light at the end of the long and arduous tunnel- one that continues to shine a ray of hope for the future.
Rising up
As cases are starting to drop across cities and countries around the world, certain restrictions have been lifted and several businesses are getting back up on their feet
Companies and businesses that have been affected by the lockdowns and quarantine measures are looking for ways to cut back on spending since revenues have not been coming in and overhead expenses drain remaining resources.
Cutting back on spending
Managements and business-owners are looking for cost-effective ways of doing business under the new normal and many choose to cut back spending on marketing investments, such as advertisements and digital marketing.
But is that the best decision to make?
Wait, hold that thought! While making budget cuts may be at the top of the list, suspending marketing activities may be a short-term measure that could cause long-term negative impacts for your business.
The key to sustaining your business’ marketability is to maintain its visibility and presence in the market, especially at present where consumers assume businesses are suspended until further notice.
While you may be financially constrained to minimise spending for your marketing activities, the best way to do so is to plan strategically on how you can make the most out of your limited resources and focus on areas that you feel would give you the most impact, and hold back on those that you can afford to let go at the moment.
Maintain your existing customer base
Maintaining regular contact with your customer network can be one of your priorities and one that may not cost you much. Always bear in mind that it costs less to keep an existing one than to win a new one.
Here are ways to continue maintaining your relationship with your customer network.
Produce content- Develop content that you can share with your networks such as innovative ideas, to-do tips, and practical financial advise, just to name a few.
Marketing automation– Send out personalised emails or messages to customers who may want to hear from you and for you to let them know that it is still business as usual. It pays to make them aware that you are still there for them.
Stay social- Stay socially active, on social media, that is. You may not want to miss out on what people are discussing, trending issues, or market trends that can be helpful for you and your customer base as well.
Make every effort to stay visible
Being visible makes people aware of your presence- both your existing customer base and potential customers, as well.
While many businesses have closed down during the pandemic, making your presence felt is crucial and can help a lot not just to promote your exposure but for word-of-mouth as well.
Focus on driving conversions
Increase your conversion rate by developing your rate optimisation strategies. This can be done by tweaking your user experience (UX) website design that can give you the most impact.
Look at case studies and share positive stories, as well as incorporating positive reviews and recommendations on specific touchpoints throughout your marketing activities.
You can also consider redesigning your website and make it more mobile-friendly to promote improved UX.
Maintain your performance measurements
There’s more to just knowing how you are doing with your marketing activities with measuring performance, rather it can help you identify areas for improvement that may cost more or does not provide much value for your business and your customers.
Do this by configuring your business analytics tools and find ways to measure your sales performance, lead generation rates, referrals, and other key performance indicators essential for your business.
Discover, challenge, and reinvent
This is another way of defining how you “learn, unlearn, and relearn” marketing thrusts for your business. While digital marketing is not a one-size-fits-all solution, you can assess your marketing goals and re-evaluate your approaches that need scrutiny or thorough review.
Make sure that when you experiment on ideas to implement it must be cost-effective, do more of those that work, and terminate anything that does not work.
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