The COVID-19 outbreak has caused many businesses to reshape their digital marketing strategy, but that doesn’t have to mean bad things for your company. In fact, many businesses are using this time to strengthen their marketing strategy and find ways to take advantage of a time where almost everything is being done online. It’s essential to continue looking at the positives in any situation and find ways to overcome the inevitable obstacles thrown your way. We’ve seen a variety of companies in the Tampa area vow to walk out of this lockdown in a better position than they were before it — and we want to help your business do the same!
Public Events Are on Hold, but Your Website Isn’t
Over the past two months, we have seen virtually all live events and public shows put on hold for the time being. While this includes sporting events and concerts, it also consists of some highly significant trade shows, industry events, and exhibitions. By the end of March, there will be an estimated 500+ important industry events that have been canceled.
Just because events are being canceled doesn’t mean your online presence should be put on hold too. In fact, this is a moment for you to take your online presence to the next level. After all, you’ve got everybody watching right now.
With these events being canceled, many businesses are starting to shift their marketing budgets for the events over to their marketing budgets for their online presence. There will also be a significant amount of time that you can now dedicate to online marketing that wasn’t available before.
At the end of the day, this outbreak and social distancing is happening and we have to be prepared and smart about how we move forward. There’s going to be negatives and positives to the situation for everyone, but that’s why it’s much more important to focus on the positives now more than ever.
How Can Digital Marketing Survive the Lockdown?
While the Coronavirus lockdown has affected many, it hasn’t affected online marketing, social media, and the importance of search engine optimization. These are things many businesses neglect on a daily basis already, but it has never been a better time to clean up your strategy.
Not only will this lockdown be a great opportunity to review your current strategy to figure out what’s working and what’s not working, but it’s also an excellent time to find new ways of implementing your strategy or reaching your marketing goals. You’d be surprised at all the exposure and awareness you’ve been leaving behind throughout the years.
While many companies will be taking a step back from marketing during this time, it’s an opportunity for you to separate yourself from the competition and offer creative ways to keep in constant contact with your customers or potential leads throughout the lockdown.
Live videos, social media challenges, community forums, and much more are starting to see an increase in popularity as more people are finding themselves bored at home. Take this time to reshape your marketing strategy in a way that will entertain them during this difficult time. Trust us, they’ll appreciate it big time, and you’ll be rewarded!
Taking Advantage of Social Media Marketing
First, let’s talk about how you can fully take advantage of social media marketing during the outbreak because there has been an extremely high increase in social media interactions over the past month.
Social media can be used to address the many concerns people have with your business or service, as well as any changes that you are making in response. For example, many restaurants are starting to be forced to close their dining rooms, retail stores are being asked to close their brick-and-mortar, and many services are being told to stay home.
Many consumers and clients are turning to social media to find out the company’s availability during the lockdown, whether they’ll be offering delivery, and what they should expect moving forward. If you disappear for a month and aren’t connecting with your customers, there’s a chance you’ll lose their loyalty and commitment.
Centering in on social media will allow you to keep your customer’s loyalty and your business’ reputation, all while continuing to provide a customer experience that your competitors can’t match.
Fine-Tuning Your SEO Practices
We’ve all been told how vital SEO is to your online presence and organic lead results, yet many companies continue to neglect it from the beginning. Since search engine optimization is something that takes time, many owners try to avoid it at all costs — but they won’t have an excuse right now.
There’s never been a better time to take control of your on-page and off-page SEO so that you can see an uptick of customers and clients once this outbreak passes. Your social media efforts will keep your clients at bay and attract new customers, but your SEO will be able to do that with no effort on your end. Just contact a Tampa SEO company, and they’ll be able to get your website running efficiently.
Think about it, when someone searches something related to industry on Google or Bing, you want your company to be one of the first options listed. With an effective strategy, your business will become best friends with these search engines, and you will work interchangeably with each other. In essence, you’ll provide them with quality and relevant content, and they’ll reward you with people interested in what you offer.
Trust us; we understand how important it is for your company to show up on that first page of Google.
In addition to search rankings, SEO will also improve your user’s experience on your website, make the website easier to crawl through, and will make your site much faster when users are trying to load a page. You’ll notice people spending more time on your website and interacting with it more, while also improving your on-page conversion rates.
10 Marketing Tips to Get You Through COVID-19
Now is an excellent opportunity to sit down with your marketing team and not only figure out a strategy during the lockdown, but also figure out what your plans are when the lockdown is lifted. Of course, you’ll want to avoid physical meetings with your team, which actually brings us to our first marketing tip for getting through the COVID-19 outbreak — utilize those webcams and live video chats!
Since many businesses have been asked to send their employees home, it doesn’t mean those employees can’t work and communicate with you. Finding ways to hold meetings through video will not only keep your business moving during this time, but it will also keep your employees busy while at home.
We have plenty more marketing tips for you and hope you can find a way to utilize them in your business:
- Stay Positive – It doesn’t matter if you’re planning to send out a newsletter, social media post, or blog post; the last thing you want to do is add to the panic. Instead, be the voice of reason, hope, faith, and strength. At a time when everyone’s choosing to follow, now’s a great chance to become a leader in your industry.
- Review Your Strategy – Make a list of marketing strategies that are working and a list that isn’t working. Find ways to improve both lists, but focus on the channels and avenues you’ve been neglecting. You’ll also want to look for new strategies that you maybe haven’t tried.
- Generate Ideas – Every business needs content one way or another. Start jotting down some ideas for blog posts, white papers, eBooks, press releases, and social media posts. Think of some that are time-sensitive with the lockout, and some that can be used when the lockdown is lifted.
- Pay-Per-Click – With a majority of the world at home and sitting in front of their televisions, computers, or phones, there has never been a better time to invest in pay-per-click advertising. Research shows that the costs per click have been decreasing over the past month.
- Don’t Pause SEO – If you shy away from utilizing the best SEO practices now, all that time and money you’ve been investing can start to go to waste. SEO is a long-term strategy, meaning everything you do today will affect your results tomorrow. Contact a Tampa SEO company to learn more about what you can do right now.
- Promotions & Discounts – Although every business is hurting right now, it’s important to remember that your business is nothing without the consumer. Since the consumers are hurting financially, you can immediately increase sales, awareness, and loyalty by providing a special promotion or limited time offer.
- Local SEO – If you’ve never had your website optimized for local search engines, you could be missing out on a huge market right in your city! If you have extra room in your budget, start planning out a Local SEO strategy that could attract more people nearby. Consumers are looking for convenience and are looking for places nearby that don’t require travel.
- Hold a Live Q&A – Opportunities are endless with social media today. If you’re looking to increase customer engagement and keep them entertained, plan a live Q&A between your management team and the customers. This can give them a chance to ask any questions they might have, allow you to explain any changes being made, and also open the door for a wide variety of other things like contests, giveaways, and much more.
- Community Forums – This is another great way to keep your customers engaged with your business. Community forums have been hotter than ever, with everyone staying at home. They’re effective at giving your customers a way to tell their side of the story and find ways to suit their needs better.
- Odds and Ends – Last but not least, we all have daily to-do lists that continue to grow more significant by the day. With any extra time you have, you can use it to finally knock off all those small items that keep falling to the bottom of your to-do list. They say the smaller things can make the biggest difference!
The bottom line, this lockdown is a chance for you to get creative and find some fun ways to keep your customers entertained. We’re all going through the same struggle right now, but unifying and banding together is what’s going to make this that much easier for everyone.
Contact a Tampa SEO Company Today!
We’re all hurting right now, but that’s why we need to join hands and pick each other back up on our feet. If you own a business during this time, there’s a lot you can do not only to see your business survive this time but also to thrive. First, you have to appeal to your customers and ensure they’re being treated accordingly.
If you need help implementing an effective digital marketing strategy as a result of the coronavirus, we understand your pain and are here to help you through it. We assist a wide range of businesses in the Tampa area with their marketing and hope we can extend our services to you in this troubling time. Together, we will get through this and come out more reliable than ever! Contact us today with any questions!
