We’ll admit: this is an uncomfortable subject to raise. Many of the people reading this will fall into one of two groups: (A) marketers who are struggling, in many cases because marketing budgets have been slashed, and (B) business operators who are up against the wall, many of whom see “severing a finger to save the hand” as the best available option.
For businesses that have experienced the need to cut nonessential spending due to the losses caused by the pandemic, marketing is usually one of the first areas to go. However, taking a deeper look sheds light on why investing in marketing is a good idea, if possible, during tough times.
The Harvard Business Review found that companies that cut marketing costs faster and deeper than their rivals later have the lowest probability (21%) of pulling ahead of the competition once times improve.
If your business slashed its marketing budget, take time to look at the sources and reasoning in this article to think about bringing it back. Keep in mind that anything that is put off now, will need to be rebuilt later. Being able to adapt your marketing to the post-COVID will benefit in the long run, since your new strategy will already be built out.
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.
Think your B2B customers aren’t using mobile? Think again! The Boston Consulting Group found that for more than 60% of B2B buyers, mobile played a considerable role in a recent purchase. B2B buyers are using mobile devices to conduct research on their needs and find other sources of information, potential vendors, and service providers. Look at your own analytics to determine the importance of mobile for your business and make sure your mobile presence is optimized.
“Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands!” For any business to succeed, it needs to uncover its USP or unique selling proposition; without placing a distinct and memorable stake in the ground, it is in danger of falling into the black hole of “everyone else”. Research your competitors to see what sets you apart and create buyer personas (detailed descriptions of your ideal customer) to help you make a list of everything that makes you different. Use your unique selling proposition in everything you do to help make better connections with your customers.
Ever wish you had more time in the day to devote to actual strategic initiatives rather than attending to more mundane tasks, like customer emails? We all know how important it is to engage in a regular and timely manner with both new and existing customers, but it’s so time consuming! Enter: marketing automation. Marketing automation can you help you execute and organize email outreach more efficiently while saving you something that you desperately need: time. A good automation system can help you gain new leads while keeping your current customers happy.
Connecting our customers’ problems to the solutions we offer is perhaps the most important task of marketing: If we can show that we understand their problems, they will listen to our solutions. There are a number of very effective – but underused – ways of understanding your customers’ pain points, including keyword research, customer surveys, and review management.
The term "strategic ambiguity" might be enough to send your heart rate racing and your stress level into the stratosphere. However, this article acknowledges an under-appreciated reality: we often find ourselves managing in situations when it isn’t clear where we’re going or how we’ll get there. Discover some practical approaches you can take to emerge from periods of change a stronger manager and an exceptional leader.
