This COVID-19 pandemic that we have been living through for more than seven months has affected our businesses in many ways.
For some businesses, inertia has set in, making marketing fall in priority. For others, the ways in which the business approaches marketing activities has changed, but has, in fact, been essential. When you can’t get out to meet your customers face to face or your customers are prevented from visiting your place of business, best practices for marketing shift to other ways to maintain top-of-mind awareness.
The need to keep customers informed is more important now than ever before. Of course, finances may limit or prevent the same level of spending on advertising or marketing activities. There are, however, ways to maintain connections with customers and prospects without spending more than you can afford.
A study by the American Association of Advertising Agencies found that 43% of consumers find it reassuring to hear from their vendors. A whopping 56% said they enjoy learning how the companies they do business with are helping their communities during the pandemic. Only 15% said they’d rather not hear from companies.
Identify with Your Customers
Have genuine empathy with your customers. Engage with your customers through phone calls to simply ask how they are faring during these challenging times. Listen to their stories. Stay in touch.
Highlight Those Who are Helping
Support those on the front lines by highlighting their stories in your newsletter, social media posts, and/or emails. If you can help in some financial way or by sponsoring a fund-raising effort on behalf of a local organization that is hurting, do so and get your employees on board too.
Think about the New Normal
For some time beyond the here and now, social distancing may be the new normal. Businesses have already implemented practices that adopt social distancing that will live on. Let your customers and prospects know what you have done so that they will feel comfortable doing business with you.
Reassure Your Customers
Send out regular email updates and post on social media. Let them know you are conducting business and that you are there for them. Invite them to informative Zoom meetings or to call you to discuss whatever is on their minds.
Be Creative
Send a product sample or a branded advertising specialty item to your top tier customers and prospects … a gift with no strings attached, just to remind them of your brand and to let them know you are thinking of them. Follow up with an email to be sure they receive the item and ask them for feedback on it.
Boost Your Social Media Presence
Post tips on your social media sites … tips about your industry. How to articles that pertain to your field, product line, or service. Take photos or videos to increase engagement. Ask questions that readers can answer in the comment section. Create a contest or post special offers on your favorite social media sites.
Build Relationships
Use downtime to build relationships on social media sites, like Facebook and LinkedIn. Use the Request function to ask members to connect with you. Go through your networking business cards and add the names of those you met to a call list or email database. Contact these people to remind them of when you met and to initiate a virtual relationship.
Improve Your Website
Review your website and determine where it needs to be updated or improved. There may be tweaks you can do now to increase your SEO (search engine optimization) that will yield higher rankings in search results on Google and other search engines.
These are low-cost ways to maintain a marketing presence during and after this Pandemic is over. Add them to your regular activities now and they will be routine and a part of the “new normal.”
If you have questions on how to implement any of these marketing best practices, call Noel Choquette at 978-505-2783 or email.