The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the landscape of marketing – both print and digital. Print marketing’s effectiveness has been declining for years, while the rise of technology has created immense demand for digital marketing solutions. However, this pandemic has meant that most businesses will need to adapt their marketing strategy and business plan in order to survive. Businesses that are not optimized to generate sales & leads via digital channels are behind the curve. Many businesses are in a position where they need to determine if it’s time to close or time to invest in a digital presence. Today, we’re discussing the four essential digital marketing services that will help your brand weather the storm of COVID-19.
The four digital marketing services that will be the most effective in keeping brands alive during the pandemic are: Responsive Website Design & Development, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing, and Email Marketing.
Website Design & Development:
Website design is going to be the first step for any business that doesn’t have a website or strong digital presence already. Or, if you already have a website, it may be time to consider updating it. A website has many functions, but the first and foremost is giving your customers and potential customers a place to really engage with the brand by learn more about the background, the process, and the product & service offerings.
Make sure that with your brand’s website, you consider:
- Sales Funnel Creation – Your brand’s website should be designed as a sales funnel that drives website visitors to a conversion, whether that’s submitting a form or purchasing a product.
- User Experience (Load times, website usability practices, etc.) – To improve the on-site experience and the quality of your website, the user experience should be carefully crafted by utilizing best practices.
- Responsive Design – The website should be responsive, meaning it will automatically adjust to any screen size – phone, tablet, etc.
- COVID-19 Banner – Showing your customer’s that you are up-to-date and doing all that you can to protect them, your employees, business, and yourself is an important piece of communication. It’s a small, but subtle change happening to websites all over the world right now.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
Getting found on search engines is more important now than it has ever been. Once you’ve created a high-quality sales funnel to do business online, it’s time to dive into traffic generation. While Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising may be an appealing option for some, it requires a larger ongoing marketing budget. A well-constructed SEO campaign will help visitors naturally find your business in search results. With traffic visiting your site, it just becomes about the quality of your sales funnel.
Make sure that with your brand’s SEO, you consider:
- A Professional SEO Strategy – You’ll want a strategy that offers both on-site and off-site optimization. This will give your brand the best chance possible of being found high up on search results. A professional strategy will also cover some of the components of SEO that are commonly left out by freelancers.
- Local SEO – Local SEO strategies really help to get your business out in front of visitors in your local area. It’s about making sure you show up on search engines, maps, etc. and that the information your business is listed with is always correct.
- COVID-19 – To address the pandemic, it’s important to update your business’s Google My Business Listing with updated hours and/or service descriptions for COVID-19.
Social Media Marketing:
So you’ve got a sales funnel in place, and it’s optimized to get high-quality traffic. Now we’ll utilize social media platforms to keep your business relevant and keep your customers engaged. Social Media Marketing keeps your brand in the conversation!
Make sure that with your brand’s Social Media Strategy, you consider:
- Social Content Strategy – You’ll want to create a strategy that keeps your customers engaged and always coming back for more. A good social content strategy builds a loyal following and drives engagement.
- Profile Layout – It’s important to follow best practices when setting up social media profiles. Make sure all of the necessary information about your business is easily accessible.
- Social Best Practices – Following best practices for posting on social media is important as well. This can mean testing different posting times and even using different promotion techniques, such as stories, to drive engagement.
- COVID-19 Update – Posting a COVID-19 social media update keeps your customers informed about how your brand is handling the pandemic. This shows initiative and credibility, but it even tells customers that you’re a responsible brand.
Email Marketing:
The final component to keeping your business running during the pandemic is Email Marketing. Email Marketing allows you to interact with customers and potential customers by creating a much more personalized experience. It’s a great way to communicate with your audience about how you’re handling COVID-19, upcoming promotions, new business policies, and even to communicate reopening plans for businesses that had to shut down.
Make sure that with your brand’s Email Marketing, you consider:
- Email Best Practices – Utilizing email marketing best practices will increase open and click-through rates for your email correspondences. This increase in engagement will help the effectiveness of your message and it’ll help drive brand loyalty.
- COVID-19 Communication – A very common solution, but it’s important to follow up with your customers and let them know how your brand is handling the pandemic. This is an important way to communicate the kind of changes that are being made to protect staff and customers alike. This is, again, an important solution that shows social responsibility from your brand.
If you’re a business owner, right now is the worst possible time for you to stop marketing. But it’s also no secret that it’s a lot harder to commit to that marketing right now. It’s the double-edged sword, right? You need to keep your customers talking about and engaging with your business, but you also need to invest in those services and hope that they do what you need them to do.
But without these four essential digital marketing services for pandemic marketing, businesses will suffer.
With no web presence, your brand is immediately perceived as having less credibility.
With no optimization, search engines will not naturally point interested visitors to your brand.
With no social media, there is no running conversation between your brand and your customers.
With no email, this pandemic completely cuts off your line of communication with customers.
Make sure your business doesn’t get lost in this pandemic. If you’re interested in getting started with the pandemic marketing services discussed in this article or additional digital marketing services, contact New Moon Strategy today!
New Moon Strategy is a certified, full-service digital marketing agency.