It’s a time of huge uncertainty for many businesses and the typical reaction by many at a time of crisis is to cut their marketing budgets. However, by doing this you first need to understand the long term impact this may have on your business and the long term consequences.
Pausing or slowing down marketing activity could potentially damage your business and lower your online presence when your business needs it the most. Now is the time to be looking at re-evaluating and ramping up your digital marketing. When this time passes, and it will, having to restart your marketing activity within a crowded market will be costly and time consuming.
For this reason alone, we’d advice you maintain some kind of presence online, but consider also the effect of ‘going silent’ may have on your brand.
REALIGN AND REFINE
In a time of uncertainty now is the time to protect your brand and, instead of cutting marketing activity, realign plans and refine and adapt the way you communicate.
Talk about your business; what’s going on behind the scenes, share the history of your business, your achievements over recent years. Think about what you can share that isn’t a direct sales pitch and that will instead keep you in the forefront of people’s minds. Be sensitive to the situation and do not use this time to capitalise. Ensure your communications are timely and relevant if you want to make an impact.
UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE
Probably your best sales tool, with everyone now spending considerable time online, now is the time to really get to grips with refreshing your shop window. Look at how you communicate your offering to your customers. You may not be able to carry out your normal day to day tasks but use this time wisely and ensure your website is up to date. Utilise features within your site to keep your customers updated at this time, but also consider the user experience. Is there any conversion work that could be undertaken, are your call to actions positioned and linked correctly etc? Over time, as more content is added, user experience may have become compromised and chaos and disorder is often created.
GOOGLE ANALYTICS AND SEO
Ensure you have Google analytics installed onto your website and track performance. Look at your organic reach over a long period of time, could this be improved with some SEO? If so, undertake some keyword research and implement this into your website.
Track where your traffic is coming from, be it organic, Direct, Referral, Email, Social or Paid. Google analytics really allows you to study what is working and what isn’t, enabling you to measure growth against real business targets and goals.
Tools
- Google analytics https://analytics.google.com/analytics
- Moz https://moz.com/free-seo-tools
- Google ads and use their Keyword planner https://ads.google.com/aw/keywordplanner (account registration + billing info required)
CONTENT IS KEY
Really drill down into your content, look at how you are getting your message across? This is an effective way for you remain in touch with your customer base whilst also potentially increasing your lead generation. Inform and educate instead of selling. For example, if you are a tourism based business, look at the environment in which you sit, are you surrounded by beautiful wide open spaces, could you create a conversation about looking to the future? You may not be able to currently open your doors to guests, but you can still encourage browsers to plan ahead. No matter what your individual situation is, communicating and engaging with your audience should remain undisrupted.
Put a strategy in place and draw up a schedule of considered content to share over social platforms or within newsletters. Don’t just hide away from your engaged audiences!
Tools
- If you are looking for inspiration for content generation use Answer the Public www.answerthepublic.com
Simply determine the subject and by using keywords on search, questions will demonstrate how people are most likely to search for particular words or services
Use this free resource if you are looking for content generation and follow these trends with offers, blogs, targeted email campaigns etc
ENHANCE AND GROW YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK
Try not to just focus on your offerings. Be a good friend to your network by liking, commenting and engaging on your networks post, everyone is looking for as much engagement as they can get at this time.
MONITOR CURRENT TRENDS
Do you keep up to speed with what your competitors are saying/doing?
Research what is happening in your sector, to your competitors, and to products and trends in the present moment. You’ll be surprised how regular trends have altered.
Tools
- Study your social insights and discover new times to post.
- Look at Google Trends https://trends.google.co.uk/trends
Use this free resource if you are looking for content generation and follow these trends with offers, blogs, targeted email campaigns etc
If you are really struggling getting some ideas together, or would like a help in creating a digital marketing strategy, we are offering free 121 sessions to help get your digital marketing back on track.
Stay safe and keep positive!
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