Adapting Your Digital Marketing Strategy During COVID-19
The invasion of COVID-19 brought about by the Novel Coronavirus has had a formidable impact on businesses, communities, and countries across the globe. Needless to say, at this time it is paramount to stay safe, stay calm and explore the options available for your business.
These are indeed perilous times, everyone is filled with anxiety. However, the least favorable thing you can do is to panic and drop everything. And this includes your digital marketing strategy. Considering the good work you have already put in, the ongoing maintenance of search engine marketing can assist you to continue generating revenue.
Listed below are some digital marketing strategies to help you with your SEO, as well as your business -
Keep your Google My Business Listing Updated
Irrespective of whether your business remains open or has closed during this period, it is important that your Google My Business profile is appropriately updated. Per an update from Google, the search giant has announced that Google Maps will call out if a business is temporarily shut due to COVID-19.
Google CEO, Sundar Pichai recently declared that it will be possible for business owners to easily mark their businesses as 'temporarily closed' from within the Google My Business itself. This is in contrast to the earlier process when business owners had to get in touch with Google My Business support to have this done.
As a business owner, you should take this as a way of Google telling you to keep your business profile on GMB updated, especially if effected by COVID-19.
Concentrate on Reputation Management and Customer Service
Brands like Google, Bing, and Facebook have developed and launched content hubs to keep their customers informed during these trying times. But as a small or medium business, what can you do? You can make use of blogs and publish content that is relevant to your industry or use it as a means to inform your customers about business updates and common measures being adopted that can affect your industry and locality.
This is the perfect time to create and publish informative content that your customers may find useful. This will increase the confidence they have in you and your business. A little reassurance during a time of need goes a long way in building a positive reputation.
Address Common Concerns and Answer Frequently Asked Questions
The current global situation has led to people using Google Search more than ever before. Make sure that the content on your website is up to date and also has a section to address concerns and answer questions that Google users are searching for.
When you provide an answer to commonly asked questions and add the FAQ schema to the relevant pages, you increase the chances of your site appearing higher on search engine result pages. This leads to an increase in traffic and an improvement in your click-through-rate.
Be Flexible with Your Budget
It is an accepted fact that user and buyer behavior is bound to change over the next few months. Therefore, as a business owner, you should be prepared to be flexible with your digital marketing budget and react to these changes. These changes can affect the keywords you usually target, their search volumes, the amount you spend on PPC ads, etc.
This is especially true for businesses that use traditional mediums for marketing. With more and more people searching for the latest information online, now is the time to pivot to the world of digital marketing.
Leverage Google Ads
Given that more and more users, and potential customers, are going to be online, if you feel that you are unable to get your message across through organic methods, it may be time to explore the power and potential of Google Ads (erstwhile AdWords) campaign. This is perhaps the best way to reach customers at the exact time they are searching for what you are offering.
Harness the Power of Social Media
Comparable to Google My Business, social media channels can also be used to keep your customers updated with the developments in your business. You can publish posts informing your customers of your updated business timings, whether or not you are open for online orders and delivery services, etc. It can also be used to inform your customers of the precautions you are taking to keep your employees safe.
Instagram has recently commenced a 'Stay Home' sticker that can be used with Instagram Stories. This has been done to encourage social distancing at a time when COVID-19 is wreaking havoc in many countries across the globe.
If you use the 'Stay Home' sticker in your business' Instagram Stories, your business will be eligible to be included in a new group that has been created just for this sticker. This is a great way to get your business in front of your followers with key business and social messages.
This is indeed a scary time with a majority of the world's population under a shelter-at-home order. But, if you stop your marketing efforts at this time, you need to think of the long term effects it can have on your business. Especially when most of your peers are putting out business and social messages by the day. Your target audience needs to have your business and brand within easy recall.