Covid-19 demands change

Digital marketing efforts everywhere are under scrutiny and change due to the COVID-19 crisis. Companies are scrambling to get important messages about these changes out while also focusing on the health of family, friends, and co-workers. To provide some ideas and peace of mind, we’ve compiled seven ways to help you shift your digital marketing during this time:

1. Enhance your skills

While you’re working from home or finding yourself with downtime, stay up to date on successful digital marketing strategies and current marketing trends. This will prepare you and your business to hit the ground running when things start to return to normal. We recommend reading articles from Marketing Land, Search Engine Land, and eMarketer, getting Google and HubSpot Certified, or viewing webinars like The Crawl, Walk, Fly Approach to CX.

2. Plan ahead

While it may not seem so now, this period of isolation and stay-at-home will come to an end and we’ll have gotten through it together. As quarantine lifts and people get back to being consumers and spending money, you want to be ready to meet their needs. Discuss (virtually that is) with employees and coworkers about upcoming objectives and tactics you’ll take to accomplish them. Think of the messaging you’ll want to use that resonates with consumer mindset as it relates to the ‘new normal’ or plans to change up creatives to be more visually appealing. This is a good time to take a hard look at business analytics and evaluate what has and has not been working. If changes to the overall strategy or execution of tactics are needed, take this time to refine your marketing approach.

3. Focus on content

We also recommend taking this time to focus on your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Start by putting together a list of keywords you want your business to rank for on search engines, such as Google and Bing. By using helpful tools, like MOZ, you can track how your website is ranking for each of those words. Not ranking on the first page? No problem! SilverTech can make content and metadata recommendations for your web pages that’ll get it to the top. Beyond just SEO, evaluating content for clarity and customer needs is essential. Perform a content audit and decide what can stay, what can be eliminated, and what should be updated.

4. Keep campaigns running

Your first instinct may be to turn off all campaigns and stop spending. For some industries, cutting back on paid media campaigns is a wise decision. However, we’ve done our research and looked at the data, and noticed an increase in people online. They may not be buying products or scheduling services right now, but they’re certainly browsing. Now is the time to send the right message to those people. Banks, advertise your online banking and premiere customer service. Restaurants, make customers aware of your take-out and delivery services.

5. Optimize your website

Your website, when equipped with the right tools, can be powerful. In the last few months, we’ve seen an uptick in traffic to many of our clients’ websites, especially in the financial and healthcare industry. People are coming to the website and looking to engage - maybe in a new way but they're still looking to engage with you. So, you’ll want to ensure your social posts, email marketing, and paid campaigns are leading people to an updated and optimized website. Be cautious of your users’ journey. Are they getting the information they need? How often do they click before converting? Where are they dropping off? All of these are important questions you should be answering.

6. Socialize on social media

Social isolation doesn’t mean you have to cut off all communication with customers. Get to know your fanbase. Optimize your social media channels so they align with your brand and devise a strategy to get your followers to engage with you. The longer people are in isolation, the more they will crave interaction. Be the brand they want to interact with.

7. Engage through email

Similar to social media, you can also engage with consumers through email marketing. You should highlight what you’re doing to help people through COVID-19, beyond just cleaning facilities. It’s a tough and uncertain time for many people. Things like reduced interest rates or quick loan decisions, food delivery, free parking lot WIFI, and video conferencing are all things people need to know about. What can your business provide that nobody else can? Tailor your email messaging to make this clear and unique to you.

This is a difficult time. Having a trusted business partner can help you get through it. SilverTech is here to help in any way we can. Send us a message!