Marketing Tactics to Use During (and After) the Pandemic
Marketing during the time of a pandemic may not be a priority for most small businesses right now, but it can play a very important role in helping sustain a business in the long run if done properly.
The marketing landscape hasn’t changed entirely due to COVID; in recent years, businesses have relied on technology just as heavily as they rely on technology for their marketing strategy now. However, it is now more important than ever for businesses to employ technology to stay in touch with their customers, remain relevant and engaged, cultivate their presence and relationships online, and build lasting relationships through mutually beneficial partnerships.
Your customers are the most important part of your business, and with good reason. They determine demand, are the source of revenue, and if loyal, they can bring a business a steady stream of profits. In order to foster loyalty, businesses must be able to provide a product or service that a customer will keep coming back for. Businesses must also ensure that they are better for their customers than competitors. A great way for businesses to do that is by incorporating a communication strategy into their marketing scheme. Staying in touch with and reassuring customers is key to turning them into loyal customers. There are a number of ways to do this, including regular email updates, engagement on social media, and keeping customer profiles updated. By following these three simple tactics, businesses ensure they are staying relevant to their customers, keeping up with who their customers are and what they want.
The theme of employing technology in your marketing strategy doesn’t stop there. In order to optimize an online market presence, businesses need to make sure their websites and social media pages are regularly updated and employ new, creative ways of being relevant. This could be anything from posting current business hours and updated pick-up/delivery hours on their website to posting about new deals, giveaways, or contests on social media. Now - more than ever - is a time to get creative in identifying ways to keep customers engaged and excited about your business. Social media is the easiest way to make this work, as businesses can always offer a fun giveaway or free product simply by posting and requesting users to follow their account and tag friends in order to win. This can serve the dual purposes of boosting page views and increasing engagement and followers.
If you don’t have any deals to offer or products to giveaway, engaging with other social users can be a beneficial way to get your brand out there. Dick’s Drive-In, a burger chain based in Seattle, WA, reached out to the MLB’s Seattle Mariners via Twitter to see if any of their players wanted to wear cleats with the Dick’s logo on them during a game after a player wore cleats with a rival burger chain’s logo. Dick’s offered to supply the cleats as well as a $1,000 gift certificate to any player willing to do so. After centerfielder Braden Bishop responded confirming his interest, the original tweet gained over 500 engagements, with Bishop’s response gaining over 3,500. The Seattle Times then wrote an article on Dick’s and Bishop’s partnership as Bishop wanted to send the money instead toward meals for firefighters in the area. With today’s need to be sheltering in place combined with the growing reach of social media, this is the perfect opportunity to engage your customer base by simply increasing your businesses’ online presence.
Though the partnership between a local burger chain and an MLB player may be an unlikely formation, forming partnerships with other local businesses can be a lot easier to do and can benefit both parties in different ways. According to Fast Company, Metro Bis, a restaurant in Connecticut, sold prepared meals at local grocery stores since they were unable to serve customers in person at their restaurant due to lockdown. City Home, a home decor and design company based in Portland, OR, partnered with local business Old Town Florist in order to provide lucky customers with a surprise bouquet of flowers. Not only did this help City Home build customer loyalty, but it also introduced prospective new customers to Old Town Florist. Both companies are now exposed to the others’ customer base, serving as an opportunity for each business to expand its base. As small businesses find ways to get through these hard times, it’s important to band together, as forming mutually beneficial partnerships can bode well for both companies in the long run.
Even though the marketing landscape has not changed drastically during the pandemic, the need to have a proper marketing strategy is now more prevalent than ever before in order to keep small businesses relevant. Technology has made it significantly easier to boost your marketing platform and provides the opportunity to stay in touch with customers, keep relevant and engaged, take advantage of building a presence online and on social media, and build lasting relationships through mutually beneficial partnerships. Keeping up with these marketing strategies can give you an edge on competitors, help you learn more about your target market, build on your business relationships, and set yourself up for success even after the effects of the pandemic dwindle.