Marketing Hacks For Firms During The Pandemic.

Every company is going through a crisis right now. They need to allocate funds wisely and use them in the best possible way. This is the time when you can make it or break through it. Companies are trying to set off the losses with their declining revenues. They are laying off employees, cutting salaries and capping them too. Even the wealthiest man of our country who was in Forbes, Ambani decided to cut the salaries of his employees. If the finest can do this, what about the small companies? The sales team of every company is being fired right now because their existence seems weird right now. How can they work without having any fieldwork? Here are a few ways by which companies can indulge in marketing during this time and this won’t cost the firm a lot.

Make your online presence visible: everyone needs a social media platform to make a name for themselves. This was not followed by many traditional business models but in order to sustain during this pandemic, word of mouth won’t work and you must create an online presence. After creating that, the profile must be updated with all the correct information and must be updated rapidly. People are on the internet all the time right now; they will notice your profile if the content is good.

Set a target audience: if you are going for the paid kind of marketing, it is essential that you do your market research and find the customers who will be willing to buy your product during the pandemic. Then you must focus on them. For example a juice company can target everyone but a high-class watch brand can’t.                       

Find a critical moment and connect with the customers: talking continuously about the pandemic gets on everyone’s nerves. Find a critical thought-provoking topic that happened and start talking about it. Try talking to the customers and give attention to them. Personalization is the key to success. Since the main outdoor marketing is not allowed, a firm can use those resources wisely and put them for digital marketing tools and techniques.

Using influencers: influencers are the people who have a large number of followers on social media platforms and try to influence the youth. Companies can pair up with them so that both parties can have a win-win situation.

Promote with a motive: companies like Swiggy and Zomato have started their promotions by stating that they are delivering the essential commodities right now. They have chosen delivery as their motive which has always been delivering the commodity. They are still operating at a reasonable rate because of this. Some gyms have started advertising themselves by stating that they will provide personalised packages for one’s overall development. This is how various sectors are marketing themselves right now.

In the wake of the current situation, humour can be your best friend for marketing!

Change according to the need of the hour: various companies are directly targeting the pandemic in this scenario and changing and adapting themselves accordingly. Just like food delivery apps have moved onto delivering the essentials, Hershey’s as a brand which used to promote kisses through its campaign is now promoting handshakes in the light of the current social distancing norms.

Understand the challenges the customers are facing: just because it’s a pandemic and people are at home, there will be issues regarding everyone’s mental health and it will take a toll on them. Various NGOs are advertising themselves and are flourishing right now by helping people after stating that women are going through domestic violence right now. The catch here is that the NGO has understood the challenge and is working on it.

Offer remote services: Companies that are suffering the most during this time are the ones which have a lot of human interaction in them like restaurants, cinema halls etc. human interaction must be reduced and the companies must tell the customers that even during this time if they have an issue, they will be provided remote services and will be given full satisfaction. Skype, zoo and social media networks are working right now because of social distancing. This will stay so the companies need to pitch the customers by telling them that the firm will follow social distancing at the max and not deplete the quality of its services.

Brand building campaigns and not short-term rules: companies must focus on changing their whole strategy and make it more digital. Rather than advertising a simple product at this time, they can advertise the whole firm and go for umbrella branding. Just like Zomato has always been forward in the marketing race by promoting the brand and not its cloud kitchen, the companies can do this too.

Using the digital trends: if today PPC seems valuable, the companies can invest a chunk for that but if tomorrow content generation seems appealing according to the stats, the firms must reallocate their resources and not waste any more money on PPC.

Hold webinars: rather than just following blatant marketing techniques, the companies can think about hosting webinars for the already existing customers for retaining them. The existing customers are the key to success right now. If not the new ones, the companies can vouch on the old ones.

Get the leaders involved: this is a very unsettling time for everyone. During this whole time, everyone needs support and help from the top-notch people. The head of the family is binding the family together and in the case of the corporates and companies who want to advertise, they must tell their corporate heads and the bosses to go ahead and advertise themselves and their own experience with respect to the company. Experience builds trust and trust is what we need right now.

Create Facebook groups: create groups of like-minded people and customers with similar interests. Share regular updates with them, advertise yourself with the current trends and don’t go for blatant marketing. Adding a personalised touch with care during times like this is a total hit.

Meaningful and social content: meaningful and heart touching content needs to be generated which will force the consumers online to read your post and act on it. It shouldn’t be offensive and defaming, it must be about what makes you speak and what opens up everyone else’s perspective towards your own product.

All these steps and strategies if followed diligently can-do wonders during times like today.