How to Increase Your Marketing Efficiency during the Corona Virus Pandemic?

The Corona virus pandemic has affected every industry. This is a hard time for businesses and it doesn’t look like recovery will happen any time soon.

As corona virus spreads in the world, many companies are required to close their shop or online business. It’s estimated that in total COVID-19 will cost the global economy $2.7 trillion.

However, this critical time calls for changing our current strategies to connect with potential customers. As a professional digital marketing company with decades of experience, we know how important it is for your company to maintain the digital search presence during these crucial times.

Discontinuing your marketing efforts can be quite naive. Even during this global pandemic, there are opportunities for your business to thrive if you know how to increase your marketing efficiency.

Here are the reasons why you should reform your marketing strategy:

• Large-scale quarantines, travel restrictions, and social-distancing have resulted in a sharp fall in consumer spending but digital search still reigns supreme. Google trends show that COVID-19 and SEO searches in the last three months have increased. Instead of putting a hold on your digital marketing, SEO efforts and marketing, you need to build your brand presence to prepare your business for an eventual rebound after the pandemic ends.

• Doing local SEO when people are quarantined would definitely help you boost your local business. According to Uberall data, local search impressions are fairly stable during the corona virus crisis. According to local search data analyzed by Yelp, it was found that search for food delivery services, fitness equipment, grocery, and pharmacies are up. This means people are definitely using local and near-me searches during this crisis. So it’s a better idea to continue your local SEO marketing during these unsettling times. Update your Google My Business Profile for local customers and inform them if you are closed, operating on special hours or taking special measures to avoid the spread of COVID-19?

• Some of your competitors are already leveraging marketing services in the current challenging situations, just to stay in the game. If you put a hold on your ongoing marketing efforts and resume after this crisis is over, your competitors will be far ahead.
• SEO is a continuous process. It needs time and the right strategies before it starts to show results. If you stop working on your website’s SEO process now, you will lose everything you have achieved so far. When the corona virus pandemic will be over, you will have to start everything again from scratch. Please find the traffic data before and during the Covid-19 with some of our SEO projects.

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• Marketing drives sales. Digital marketing supports sales goals by bringing relevant buyers to your website. Even if people are not willing to buy your products and services at this time, your website will come at the time when this crucial time is over, only if you continue working on your marketing tactics in the right direction.

In this fast-changing global landscape, it is important to communicate your brand identity and values. The corona virus outbreak brings new challenges for marketers.

You will have to use relevant marketing tools and the right strategies to prevent your business from crashing as the corona virus pandemic grips the world economy. Let’s check out how.

How to Increase Marketing Efficiency during the Corona virus Pandemic

1) Content Marketing

Billions of people around the world are quarantined. They are isolated and staying at home. For how long, nobody knows as of now.

Right now, people are looking for quality information related to corona virus, work from home tools, media, entertainment options, and what they are interested in.

That’s why you need to invest more time and resources in creating high-quality and relevant content for your audience.

People have got more time to surf the Internet and learn new things. You can create eBooks, articles, videos, Infographics, presentations, and short posts to talk about things that matter the most at this time.

For instance, the use of Microsoft team, Webex, Zoom, as video conferencing tools, soared in the months of February and March 2020 as more and more people are working from home. If you visit their sites, you will find a full page on COVID-19 with tutorials and demonstrate how to work remotely.

The same thing has been done by TurboTax. They have created a hub page that provides a collection of important articles about filing taxes during the corona virus situation when people cannot go out or have to maintain social distancing.

Here is how you can create content during the corona virus outbreak:

• Check top publishers and see what trending topics and news have been covered by them. Create content around those topics quickly.
• Go to Reddit for inspiration. People are free these days and they are going to forums to discuss important things at this time.
• Go to Google.com and see what people are searching these days. You will find certain topics in your industry that are trending right now.
• Perform a content audit to see which content pieces are being searched by people these days. Optimize them with new keywords and fresh content to improve your search rankings.
• Try to help people. Do not exploit this situation. Provide information. Do not promote your business.

2) Webinars and Live Sessions

91% of professionals say webinars are their favorite content format for learning. Working professionals, businessmen, and students are turning to webinars to learn new courses, understand market changes, and new topics.

Host relevant webinars and audio podcasts by subject matter experts. Webinars help you build your brand, establish your company as an industry leader, and generate leads. Here are some tips to host a successful webinar:

• People attend webinars to learn. Choose trending topics related to corona virus and its impacts on different niches and activities.
• Choose different webinar formats every time. You can select from these formats: single presenter, dual presenters, panel, interview webinar, and Q&A session.
• Create a landing page for your webinar and promote it on social media.
• If you are inexperienced and require expert help to curate a killer webinar script, take help from Fuel4Media.

Check out this webinar by Search Engine Journal that talks about the Future of SEO in an Unpredictable World.

3) AI-enabled Marketing

Artificial Intelligence can be a powerful tool for businesses at this crucial time of worldwide pandemic, while ensuring cost-efficiency and optimum utilization of resources.

AI-enabled marketing tools can help you analyze and process data for customers, understand their searching patterns and help you select the right platforms to communicate with them. Below are some of the ways AI-powered marketing can help you fight COVID-19:

• AI chatbots can be easily built for your website, Facebook and WhatsApp Profile. Chatbots can quickly answer queries of your customers amid the pandemic situation in real-time.
• When you use AI tools for identifying current market trends, you get to create trending content in real-time for the users.

• AI tools can perform predictive analytics at a time when the market is changing fast. If you use AI-powered advertisement tools, you can place customized ads in front of target customers after foreseeing future conversions and returns.

• Use online AI tools to know the strengths and weaknesses of your website. For instance, Atomic Reach is an AI tool that helps you understand what makes your content perform and how to perfect it. Use Cortex to improve post engagement. Google Cloud AI helps you build chatbots and analyze videos and images. At Fuel4Media, we utilize AI tools to market your business and assist you in creating content, videos, SEO-optimized pieces, personalized for your audience, so you can win in organic search.

4) Outreach Strategy

Outreach marketing is all about reaching out to the right people at the right time to help you tell your brand’s story. The goal of your outreach campaign is to bring awareness to something of value. 

Outreach marketing should not be about buying attention. Create content that people want to engage with it and want to link to it. So here is how you can leverage outreach marketing tactics:

• Host an online video space, such as a webinar where people can ask you questions and discuss trends in your industry. You may provide them tricks or tips relevant to your product or service.
• Public corona virus-related information from authentic sources and publish it in a blog or your email newsletter.
• Encourage conversations on social media about concerns that they have regarding corona virus and its impacts on different industries or daily activities.

5) Video Marketing

Strengthen your focus on video marketing to maintain normality in these crazy days. Video marketing will give you a competitive edge over competitors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your company can create corona virus response videos sitting at your home.

Through these videos, deliver strategic insights, critical market data, and advice to the users. For instance, many companies created videos on how to make your own hand sanitizer if needed.

This was at a time hand sanitizers were selling out. Right now, people are posting videos on how to make your own mask as the world is facing shortages for masks.

Create ‘Help’ Content on the YouTube channel. Post ‘help’ content on the corona virus or post Q&A on COVID-19. Think beyond your own brand and self-interests.

The best example of how to do it is to learn from this video by Lifebuoy. The company encouraged people to use any soap that they have at home to wash hands and stay protected from corona virus.

When you create videos, embed them in blog posts, take screenshots and use them as images in social media or create short videos from a long one to promote on Instagram in the coming months.

At Fuel4Media, we help brands and small companies to create videos from scratch. When you choose our video marketing services, we’ll help you with all aspects of your company’s video creation from writing a script to promoting on social media channels. Here is how we help you:

• How to create content for your prospects and existing customer base
• How to leverage your online community to maintain your customer base
• How to be a good source of information for your audience
• How to get creative with producing content

6) Employee Advocacy

It is the right time to involve your employees in your marketing efforts. They rate your business highly on Google. Likes and comments on your posts on social media. Essentially they are the marketers for your business. Ask employees for ideas.

Put them on the frontline. Share what they are doing at the time of quarantines and social distancing. Open up your blog to staff guest posts. Ask them to put up a video on what they are doing to stay productive while working from home.

Putting employees at the center of your brand communication, you attract customers who value relationships and employee health.

Like many companies, Gazprom Energy shared how their employees are working from home in the corona virus pandemic. 

Millennials and Gen-Z’s want to engage with authentic brands. When your staff is engaged and regularly contributes to social media, people notice. People will know you care about your employees and celebrate all you’ve built.

As the corona virus pandemic hit the world, people have begun to realize we need to care for each other more and give back to nature more. Employee advocacy will help you fulfill these expectations of your audience.

7) Pay-Per-Click Marketing

It’s the best time for businesses to use PPC marketing. Google is giving free credits to small businesses, which you can utilize until the end of 2020. So you can save some money within your digital marketing budget. 

Google pledged to disburse $340 million dollars in credits to SMBs (Small and Medium Size Businesses). You can utilize free ad credits to work on high-ranking keywords and scoop up that lost market share from others pulling back during this time.

If you need pay-per-click marketing services, we are here to help you. Fuel4Media wants to support the business community at these challenging times so that everyone can thrive.

We can help you capture traffic and conversions at a small budget because of reduced competition, at a time when the situation is uncertain.

 Conclusion

During an economic downturn and a period of recession, you’ll have less competition, which means it is easier to get results. So if you don’t stop your marketing efforts and follow the above-mentioned ideas during the corona virus pandemic, you can stay in your game after this ends.

Stay home! Stay safe!