2020 certainly hasn’t panned out the way anyone expected. For brands all over the world, this year has thrown most businesses into a state of uncertainty and has forced rapid agility across various departments. It is predicted that post-COVID-19, brands will have to continue evolving their business to be relevant in the new world that we find ourselves in.

Pivoting the marketing department is going to be one of the most important exercises for organizations. Companies need to realize that their customer has changed monumentally in the last few months, and things won’t be going back to “normal” for the foreseeable future. 

Companies will have to employ smart marketing tactics to attract and engage their customers in unique and savvy ways. Open, transparent, empathetic, and educational content will be essential, and messaging will need to be carefully designed to resonate with the customer. 

We, therefore, took a look at some tactics that you can start employing to point your marketing department in the right direction and develop a strong bond with your customer. 

How Strong is Your Content Game?

This is the first thing that any marketing department should look at, and keep focusing on infinitely. The content that you are putting out to your customers across your various platforms should be the biggest driver of traffic to your site. Whether it’s the killer SEO tactics to put you on the top of search results or the must-see content to keep the customer coming back for more, we can’t put enough emphasis on how important content is. 

Your content strategy needs to include the following:

• Regular and relevant content needs to be posted across your various channels (Site, emails, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.); 
• Your content needs to be informative and useful to actually capture your customer’s attention; 
• The content needs to be adapted to suit each channel and the audience; 
• Content needs to drive visitors to your site to convert to customers. 

So, what kind of content should you be looking at?

Blogs 

Your blog can be one of the most powerful marketing tools for your company. Educational articles that are posted regularly can keep your customers coming back for more as well as reach out to entirely new customers. The rule of thumb is to keep it as educational and informative as possible. 

Let’s take a look at an example. 

An online pet store needs to remain competitive during the lockdown and should be ensuring that regular, relevant content is being posted. Articles like “How to Keep Your Dog Healthy During Lockdown”, or “Exercising your Great Dane in a Smaller Area” will resonate with customers as this is the reality that they are currently facing. 

Post this on your blog, include it in your emails, share it over socials, and don’t forget to share it with affiliate sites to get it widely seen. 

The savvy use of CTA’s within the article will then drive up your conversion rate. Something along the lines “Get 25% off your dog’s new harness here” should be included somewhere in the article. Make sure that the product page is relevant to the article by planning articles according to the products on special offer for that week. 

Side note: Blogs do wonders for your SEO rankings, and if you have a great content writer who knows how to include relevant keywords, you will start seeing a marked improvement in your site rankings on Google.

Videos 

People are visual creatures and how-to videos are one of the most engaging ways of combining education with visual stimulation. Once again, these can be shared across your multiple platforms, but pay more attention to your socials here. Facebook and Instagram are powerful tools for video marketing and the more shares you get, the wider your audience gets. 

Let’s be brutally honest, the “In it together” and “Wash your hands and stay safe” stage has passed, we all know we need social distance by now. Let’s move on to advice we can actually use. 

People will be spending more time at home for the foreseeable future, so give them project ideas, step-by-step instructional videos, and entertaining ones that they can actually use. Why not partner with another brand and put together a campaign that will drive traffic to both brands while giving the customer something to do. 

DIY herb gardens, home improvement projects, cooking tutorials, and home exercise videos have skyrocketed in the search trends. Here is your chance to jump on that bandwagon and give your customer something to do, while providing them with the product to do it. 

Have You Gotten In Touch With Your Customer?

Now is the perfect time to start communicating directly with your customer. COVID-19 has forced a sudden surge in time spent online, with most people spending up to 25% more time online and in front of a screen. This means more shopping, more interaction, and more searching. It also means a heightened chance of a customer reviewing the products or services of your company. 

Reviews are vitally important for your business and if you are not encouraging your customer to leave a comment, start doing so immediately. Some of the most successful businesses we have spoken to contact customers who leave negative reviews directly to see where they can improve. In fact, they thrive on a customer’s criticism as they can pinpoint exactly where they need to improve to be relevant for their target market. 

Yes, you cannot please everyone, but in a number of cases, what one customer doesn’t like in your processes, could be representative of a whole portion of your market. 

You can send out surveys, create feedback forms on your site, or install chatbots to speak to the customer in real-time. Social media also allows for direct interaction with your customer. From Facebook messaging to the review section as well as the comment area, responding to feedback, especially the negative one is vital. 

One of the most impactful and easiest ways of speaking to a customer is picking up the phone and speaking to them. If something has gone wrong, this can be one of the most personal ways of remedying the situation, as well as fact-finding missions for you to understand exactly where you need to improve. 

Last Thoughts

Although this is the tip of the iceberg for marketing tactics that brands can start implementing in 2020, the most important takeaways for marketing in and after COVID-19 center on personalization. Whether it be educating or engaging directly with the customer to build up your brand resonance, brand loyalty stems from a well-conceptualized and personalized customer journey.