If there’s one thing the COVID-19 outbreak has taught us, it’s how fragile the global economy is. Part of the reason is many SME’s inadequacies or lack of safety nets. Even some multi-national corporations were forced to lay off employees and reduce production to stay afloat.
Cities are finally reopening, but that doesn’t mean the crisis is over. Even with a vaccine available, people will remain wary. It will take a long time for economic activity to pick up speed as brick-and-mortar businesses will continue to experience lower than normal foot traffic.
This sudden change in consumer behaviour, however, benefits businesses that operate online. And even if your business doesn’t operate online, you’ll find it easy to adapt to the changes brought by the pandemic if you already have a stable online presence.
Here are some of the reasons why going digital can help a business recover:
More and more people are going online. A significant portion of your target audience now relies on the Internet when making purchase decisions.
Your suppliers are going online, too. It’s only a matter of time before your current and prospective clients start turning directly to your suppliers if you do not get back on track.
Your competitors are already online. Many of your competitors have started recalibrating their marketing strategy and adding more funds for online marketing. While you are deciding to take the same action, you are already losing customers to them.
The new normal is not going to end anytime soon. Even with the vaccine available, there is no guarantee that things will go back to the way they were. Odds are the new normal will continue, so if your business is not postured to at least advertise online, you will have trouble catching up with your competitors.
How Relevant Online Marketing Is Now and in the Future
The world has been dependent on the World Wide Web for over three decades now. During the first couple of months of the pandemic, we’ve seen that this dependence has just grown stronger. Sticking with traditional marketing approaches, hoping that they will still work out for your business, is not an option anymore.
Going online doesn’t necessarily mean putting up an online business. You only have to be able to communicate with your clients online and to provide your products or services remotely. Doing so may add a few steps to your business process, but it’s the only way to get to your clients and keep cash flowing in. Fortify this effort with an effective online marketing strategy.
That said, taking your business to the Internet, or at least bolstering up your current online marketing stratagem, is easier said than done. The Web, after all, is a different platform that takes a whole new set of skills to wield. The best course of action is to work with a digital marketing company. Just make sure you know how to choose an agency.
Online Marketing Methods to Invest In
Hopping on the digital bandwagon is one thing. Keeping the momentum until your business recovers is another. This is where digital marketing comes in. Like everything else, digital marketing after COVID is not going to be the same as it has to adapt to the abrupt inflow of internet users, consumers, and service providers alike. Here are some of the strategies and methods that are guaranteed effective for recovering from COVID for business entities.
Local Citations
Transportation is among the most affected sectors during the pandemic, and it is unlikely to recover quickly. Therefore, unless you have your transport fleet, you cannot expect to reach beyond your locality. This predicament makes local citations more critical than ever, as most of your sales will come from areas within a few miles from your store. Local citations help local clients locate you or at least know that you are accessible from where they are.
Social Media Marketing
If there is one place COVID survivors will flee to, it is social media. After all, it is where they can freely get in touch with each other and receive updates about the virus. Even TV and radio stations are now connecting with people through social media. Take advantage of this upsurge in social media activity by posting relevant and shareable blogs. You can also create videos and infographics that provide valuable information on how to survive and start again from this crisis.
Search Engine Optimisation
Remember when some quack experts predicted SEO to die soon? Guess what—they are wrong before, and they are wrong now. If anything, SEO has never been more in demand. With resources running out, it is hard to keep up using paid ads on Google, so SEO is the best way to go. It will cost you a significant amount of money but not as much as you would for paid ads, and the traffic you will gain is guaranteed organic.
These are just three of the online marketing methods that are guaranteed to work at this critical time. You have to realise, though, that these methods belong to a discipline that takes years to master. Only a digital marketing company can help you make a profit out of this investment.
If you try to do it yourself with your limited experience and resources, you will end up squandering hard-earned cash. With a professional digital marketing company working to ramp up your online presence, you can focus on running your business while growing your website traffic and conversions exponentially at the same time.