Contents
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- Introduction
- Be what your customers need right now
- Prepare for your digital comeback
- Provide topical, reactive, and relevant content
- Upskill your organisation
- We’re here to help
COVID-19 is a prime example of a crisis that monumentally impacted market behaviour on a global scale. Many businesses aren’t properly equipped when the economy finds itself in crisis – and the ones that thrive are those that are prepared.
Optimising your digital presence in the midst of economic uncertainty gives you organisation the ability to be:
- Better able to operate now
- Better prepared for the future
- Better equipped for the next crisis
Optimising your digital presence in the midst of economic uncertainty gives you organisation the ability to be:
- Get the most out of the digital elements of your offering
- Create digital offerings where they don’t currently exist
- Position your business for the post crisis market upswing
- Ensure you are adding value for your users, customers and prospects where possible
During (and in the aftermath of) significant global events like the COVID-19 pandemic, the online behaviour of your customers will shift to align with changes in their lifestyles. Of course, B2B and B2C businesses will differ greatly here, though the principle is the same.
If you’ve got a digital offering, push it. If you don’t have a digital offering, create one. Don’t be afraid to be bold, there is interest out there, and in some cases there may even be more opportunity than there was before.
Get on the same wavelength as your audience
Assess how the needs of your target audience have changed, then plan how best to target them in the current climate. Consider what your audience want to know, what they might need help with, and try to establish the appropriate emotional context to your products or services.
Reach out to your audience, but be sensitive
Reach out to your clientele on social media with helpful, relevant content. Many businesses offer extra digital assistance in times of crisis, including interactive competitions, engaging articles, and online support networks. Humanising your brand, building awareness, and providing value is where your focus should be right now.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Where are your users likely to be based now? Will they be at home or still going to a specific site?
- How may their circumstances have changed? For example, are they likely to have been furloughed?
- What might have changed in terms of what they now expect from your brand? How can you offer valuable assistance?
Getting your business back on its feet during or in the wake of such events may feel like an insurmountable task, but the bottom line is that your level of preparedness could be the difference between success and failure.
During economic uncertainty, many businesses are likely to see a significant decline in website traffic, or perhaps a sharp drop in revenue and purchases etc.
This too shall pass
Soon you will see customer interest switch and things will shift back to – maybe not business as usual – but something more familiar. That’s why it’s key to ready your business for the post-crisis market upswing, and that means adapting your digital marketing efforts.
SEO
Whether you’re currently seeing a healthy search market or not, interest in your business will either soon return, or potentially spike now. Seeing the benefits of your SEO efforts can take – on average – about 4-6 weeks. So by focussing on – and potentially even refunneling resource into – the more manual, time-consuming SEO tasks now, you’ll be much better positioned to see an upswing in rankings when economic circumstances improve.
SEO tasks to focus on:
- Technical site audits to review performance and identify any opportunities for improvement, such as site speed, site meta data, etc.
- Creating valuable, relevant content, both topical and sustainable – also known as “evergreen” content.
- Creating or optimising your Google My Business listing to provide users with valuable, reliable information/expectations about your business, such as opening times or operations information.
Conversion reviews
When the economy restabilises and things are calmer and clearer, you’ll want your website to be converting prospects as efficiently as possible. However, given the circumstances, now is not necessarily the time to rely on any live data you may have access to. Nor is it the time to make any broad, sweeping changes to your site structure. For now, take historic data into consideration and focus on conversion rate optimisations task that provide the most value and the least upset to users.
Focus on CRO tasks such as:
- Making simple changes to your website to ease the conversion journey.
- Simplifying any online forms where possible in order to make the way you capture data more efficient.
- Considering any minor messaging changes that may strike a more appropriate note in the current climate.
Paid activity audits
If you have paused or reduced spend on paid activity, now is a smart time to review previous paid campaigns and, where possible, take learnings for future optimisation and improvement.
Analyse previous paid activity to identify:
- What has worked well in the past? For example, what was your best performing ad copy, creatives, and campaigns?
- What hasn’t worked well before. Which channels underperformed? Were there any particular keywords or landing pages that didn’t convert?
As mentioned earlier, you may not be able to provide any goods or services in the midst of whatever global event is taking place, but you can still provide content for your customers and your target audience in general.
Engage your audience and provide value
It’s likely that your audience may have more time on their hands than the y normally would. They may need advice, support, or even entertainment, and they may look to your brand to provide it for them. If you’re not there to meet their needs, then one of your competitors will be.
When it comes to content, you should be thinking about:
- Producing — or continuing to produce – high value content.
- Rolling out organic content to boost your search prospects.
- Creating topical and reactive content, while making sure that it’s relevant.
Topical content
When creating content about current affairs, it’s crucial for your content to be influenced by the answers to these questions:
When it comes to content, you should be thinking about:
- Do you have anything relevant to say?
- Are your audience likely to be in need of specific guidance relating to your products or services?
- Have you been clear about your company’s current capabilities?
It’s important to avoid putting out content around a topic that’s been wrung dry – such as working from home. It’s also key to make sure that your customers are aware of exactly what they can or can’t expect from your business right now.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, online training courses sprung up all over the web across every sector and inclusive of any topic or hobby imaginable. In times like these, taking advantage of digital training providers to upskill your organisation’s digital knowledge stands your business and its employees in great stead for the future. What’s more, if some of your employees have been furloughed, this gives them the opportunity to stay productive and sharpen their digital skills.
Digital marketing training allows you to:
- Develop digital strategy and technical know-how among your team.
- Prepare your team for new digital opportunities as they arise, whether in the short-term or long-term.
- Equip your team with tools they can use to develop your business’ digital marketing offering.
Elixirr Digital Campus
Our marketing experts here at Elixirr Digital offer digital training courses in all aspects of digital marketing; from search and social, to digital copywriting and email marketing.
We provide personalised courses for both teams and individuals, catering to varying levels of understanding and a variety of digital interests.
In times of economic crisis, it’s not always easy to know exactly where to start when it comes to adapting your digital marketing efforts.
Our friendly team of marketing specialists can help you boost your online presence and achieve the best results possible.
If you’d like to speak to one of our experts about your digital marketing needs, get in touch with us today.
