Whether you know it or not, COVID-19 has changed marketing forever. Brands have had to adapt their marketing strategies to ensure they are empathetic to the challenging times we are facing. Strategies to stop the virus from spreading, such as social distancing and avoiding human contact has meant that sadly, some companies have had to close their doors to the public. Thankfully, digital technologies have enabled lots of these businesses to carry on providing their services via websites and apps. Some businesses are even reporting an online shopping surge of up to 129%! (internetretailing.net). Using the online boom, brands are now looking to drive digital marketing transformation by investing in areas such as technology infrastructure, data and online customer experience. It is estimated that more than $1trillion was spent by businesses on expanding their digital technologies in 2020 during the lockdown period.
Here are a few tips we would like to share with you, to help your business make the right, strategic marketing changes to drive transformation.
Use First-Party Data
People want brands that are sympathetic and understanding. In the current climate, you need to focus more resources on first-party data analytics. Doing so will help you to understand how users feel about your brand, and its current marketing set-up.
Once you have gathered enough first-party data, you can start implementing the changes required to improve your brand and the experience you provide to your customers. Whether it’s functionality and ease-of-us of your website, or a change in communications and messaging, making a data informed decision will provide your consumers with a better experience and increased customer satisfaction. Now, more than ever, the consumer experience is key to success.
Remember to keep consumer privacy at the heart of every decision you make. The more we learn about how Google uses our data, the more challenging it becomes for businesses to gain the trust of their consumers. Being transparent about how you use their data will drive customer trust and loyalty.
Improve your Retargeting Strategy
As previously mentioned, people are spending more time and money online. This means it is the perfect time to think about how you can rework your re-targeted marketing strategy to convert more of that website traffic.
Usually, when implementing retargeted marketing, your data provides insights into visitors that have already engaged with your website or brand. It’s more likely that now, your percentage of new visitors will increase. With this in mind it’s important to look at how you can use retargeting differently, to bring back customers who may not be placing items in their cart or filling out an enquiry form, and instead need more nurturing before they convert. One strategy to improve your retargeted ad conversions, is to use your Google Analytics page flows and exit pages to work out user-journeys and intent. You can then use these insights, journeys and segments to create ultra-targeted adverts.
Personalisation
One thing a lot of marketing tactics still fails to achieve is personalisation. There are a lot of powerful tools with merge tags and dynamic content features that allow brands to tailor their message to the individual consumer, without too much hassle. But it seems brands are not using them properly.
The way in which websites, and online marketing are evolving, means that users are almost expecting personalised journeys that are built around the way they use and engage with your website and your brand. Easily being able to find what they need, in as little clicks or thought as possible, is a feature that is expected, and no longer seen as something that will make you stand out against your competitors. Provide your users with the best customer experience possible and they will want to give you their time, money and loyalty.
Paid Spaces
Understandably, a lot of businesses will be experiencing hardship, and for some businesses, this might be the first time they are entering the digital marketing realm. A quick-fire way to drive business fast is through paid advertising. Paid spaces are the way to go and are a lot cheaper than you think. When executed properly, even the return on investment (ROI) is high, especially in the current climate. Research has shown that the ROI of paid ads now, is actually 10-15% higher than it was pre-pandemic (Influencer Marketing Hub)
If you already have a Google Ads account and social media ads account, then think about ramping up your spending. With the boom in online users, it’s likely that your ads will be seen and engaged with more now, than ever before. Analysing metrics such as impressions, click through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and cost per click (CPC), allows you to understand whether you need to tailor your marketing efforts to promote brand awareness, lead generation or website traffic.
If you do not currently use paid advertising, we recommend you start! There is a lot of guidance online that you can leverage to get your paid ads up and running. If you have the ability and resources to outsource to a media or marketing agency, do it. Lean on their skills and resources to build a comprehensive paid advertising strategy quickly, and start accelerating your marketing digitally. These are just a few of the digital transformation techniques we believe businesses should be utilising throughout this pandemic period. Look into the future and grasp digital with two hands and make the most of a bad situation by prepping for transformation now. With studies saying that digital is here to stay, we think now is the perfect time to transform.
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by Listencat
