While the cultural shift during the pandemic has been tremendous, there are many facets that are likely to become the new normal for businesses and their marketing strategies in the future.
Businesses should not look at this time as a temporary normal that they can come up with some quick fixes for, but as a permanent shift for the future. There will be a new way of doing things and the business models and marketing strategies will be different – it’s already changing every day.
With people staying at home more often than ever, virtual has become the new standard. Video calls and online communication are more normal and saving consumers time, setting them with a new expectation of how they can communicate with companies and firms. For example, having a video meeting with a professional service instead of visiting their office, can be more convenient and efficient for a consumer – something they might want to keep doing in the future.
The reality is that people are developing new ways of doing things and new expectations are being set. Many companies will need to have a substantial online presence to meet their consumer’s needs. Is your business in line with adapting to the new virtual landscape of consumer behavior?
Three reasons to increase your content marketing budget in the Covid era:
1) Content Marketing delivers compound returns that grow over time.
2) Content is the most cost-effective place to reallocate part of your paused event marketing and paid media budgets.
3) With in-person events suddenly canceled, virtual events are becoming critical. When the focus turns to the screen, strong content becomes more important than ever. Mediocre presentations can’t be propped up by great food, booze, and networking opportunities.
During this time of crisis, it’s so important for local businesses and companies to make sure they are keeping all of their channels, including their Google My Business listing up to date with special hours, contact information and posts to keep their community informed to any changes or updates.
This was advice that Google had laid out not long ago, but now the listing service has been experiencing delays and functionality issues as local businesses and companies have been flooding the site and Google’s own staff is reduced. That’s not to say they haven’t been trying to avoid these problems – on Friday, Google temporarily disabled new local reviews as well as the ability of businesses to post responses to limit functionality during the crisis.
As such, it is critical to make sure your listing is updated and to be aware of any posting delays to your community. Remember to also update other channels such as your website, social media and local listings to ensure the information is accessible.
4. Reallocate labor flexibly to different activities.
For example, in response to a severe decline in revenue, more than 40 restaurants, hotels, and cinema chains optimized their staffing to free up a large share of their workforces. They then shared those employees with Hema, a “new retail” supermarket chain owned by Alibaba, which was in urgent need of labor for delivery services due to the sudden increase in online purchases. O2O players, including Ele, Meituan, and JD’s 7Fresh followed this lead by also borrowing labor from restaurants.
5. Shift your sales channel mix away from face-to-face towards new channels
For example, cosmetics company Lin Qingxuan was forced to close 40% of its stores during the crisis, including all of its locations in Wuhan. However, the company redeployed its 100+ beauty advisors from those stores to become online influencers who leveraged digital tools, such as WeChat, to engage customers virtually and drive online sales. As a result, its sales in Wuhan achieved 200% growth compared to the prior year’s sales.
Chat bots were central to Facebook Messenger’s strategy three years ago. Now they’re being hidden from view in the app along with games and businesses. Facebook Messenger is now removing the Discover tab as it focuses on speed and simplicity instead of broad utility like China’s WeChat.
At the beginning of this week, Facebook began rolling out a new update of its Messenger app. The update brings a much simpler design to the app, by removing the “Discover” tab and hiding chatbots, along with businesses and games. Users will now only be able to find chatbots by searching for them specifically in the app. Before, you could find business and bots in the Discover tab, but now that is long gone. That also means businesses will no longer be able to promote themselves through Discover and may now be limited to advertising through Stories and other paid marketing channels to promote their company and get users to communicate with their bots.
Messenger policy changes are coming on March 4, 2020. Learn how to stay compliant while using Facebook Messenger, and take the reins using new marketing channels to scale your business.
Today, March 4, 2020, Facebook’s new messenger policy changes have taken place. You can read the full overview from Facebook here. The update was created to help reduce spam and abuse, improve user experience and more. If your business utilizes the messenger feature make sure you review the policy changes and use the guide linked below to help you stay compliant.
Google advanced search lets you customize searches with a set of special instructions. Let’s take a look at how you can leverage it to conduct better searches.
Have you ever tried to search for something on Google but couldn’t find what you’re looking for? Many people aren’t aware of a feature that the search platform offers to help you find very specific results much easier. Advanced Search is a tool offered by Google that allows a user to fill in different rules and/or commands to narrow their search. These rules can be very simple once you have a good understanding of how they work – read the article for some tips and examples so you can utilize the tool next time you need specific results!
Webinars are highly-effective tools at any stage of the buyer’s journey. Learn what kinds of webinar you can host and start connecting with your customers.
Just like there are many types of businesses and customers, there are many types of webinar styles and formats. Webinars can either be live or recorded, can be educational and engaging or can be designed to promote a product or service. Each different style has a place to achieve your desired goal. Regardless of the format or style, webinars are a smart addition to your marketing mix.
