Keep Calm and Market On!

keep calm and market on

Although it may seem as though some things are out of our control, there ARE things we can look to as a “silver lining” during this time. Keeping calm and thinking creatively is going to be the way to connect with consumers once again.

Connect with your Audience

Now more than ever is social media’s time to shine. Everyone is using social media to stay connected and to see what businesses are up to. Therefore, keeping your social media platforms up to date with your business’ most current information will be crucial in keeping engagement levels with your audience high. Here are a few tips to ensure you’re making the most out of your social media strategy in the upcoming weeks:

Provide updates on your physical location. If your business has a physical location, keep consumers informed if you are open or closed, changing your hours or modifying your service to a minimum contact approach such as delivery or virtual communication. Even if your hours haven’t changed, it’s important for your audience to know that the information they’re seeing on your page is up-to-date. Current hours, phone numbers, and other means of contacting your business are imperative to keeping your audience informed.

Keep it short and sweet. Although social media is going to be a great way to connect, consumers are being flooded with a plethora of messages. Keeping your messaging concise and to-the-point will help your message get across without overwhelming your audience.

Put out positive vibes only. That’s right. It is very important to stay positive on social media at this time. With most communications surrounding COVID-19 instilling fear in our audience, sending messaging to calm these emotions will aide in getting your information across. Whether it be “Good news! We’re open!” or “Let’s hang tight through this together,” your messaging will come across authentic and genuine if you respond to the current state of your audience’s emotions.

Think Outside of the Box

Now is the time to think outside the box. If the service you usually provide your client is done in person, consider hosting a webinar or a Facebook Live event to keep your audience engaged. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to determine how you can shift your marketing strategy to one that will suit the world’s current situation:

1. Can my business have a stronger online presence?

2. How is COVID-19 impacting my target audience’s purchase behavior and how can I adjust my offerings to accommodate them?

3. Are their new services my business can offer our target market?

4. Can my business help the community during this time? Once these factors have been determined, you’ll want to make sure you’re optimizing your time with your target audiences.

Since most are working remotely and spending more time at home and online, how can you shift your strategy to give you the most bang for your buck?

Shift Your Strategy

Although you may have put lots of time and energy into marketing plans before the world was affected by COVID-19, it is not too late to adjust these plans to accommodate the current environment. Projects such as out-of-home campaigns featuring billboards, outdoor signage and even events and tradeshows can be refocused through digital means.

Dive into Digital Marketing

The amount of time consumers are spending online is only increasing as social distancing and mandatory quarantines take effect. Just like we did for social media, keeping your website up to date with current information will be key to engaging your audience. You want to ensure that your target audiences stay informed and connected. Paid digital marketing campaigns will be essential to drive exposure in order to ensure that your consumers are keeping you on their minds with promoted content.

Try two-way communication. We have been sharing tactics for you to target your specific audience, but is your audience going to be able to find you just as easily? Using tools such as Google ads, as well as search engine optimization will help your consumers find you quickly and efficiently. Email marketing will also be a great way to stay connected to your audience and let them know exactly what you’re up to.

Don’t Forget Non-Digital Marketing

Although most consumers are spending lots of time on the internet currently, they’re also stationed in one place- home. Now is the time to take advantage of the current situation and target your market where they are. Using tactics such as direct mail campaigns will be beneficial during this time since most of your audience is practicing social distancing by staying safe at home. Consumers are also spending lots of time watching the news to stay current with Covid-19 updates in their local territories. They are also trying to pass the time by listening to their favorite music channels on Pandora and Spotify as well as listening to podcasts. Making sure you’re able to get your message out to them may include strategies such as TV commercials and audio messages in order to ensure they are keeping you in mind now and when things return to a normal routine.

Explore Evergreen. Some things really don’t change such as planning for the next steps in the growth of your business. Although things may seem unpredictable now, it is important to stay positive and focused on the opportunities we’ve been given to target our audiences even more now than before. Turn lost opportunities into new streams of revenue during this time by working with a professional advertising agency. Working with an advertising agency has its advantages, especially if you need impactful marketing strategies. An experienced team will waste no time creating your dream campaign and generating results. If you’re considering making moves toward growing your company’s advertising efforts, consider hiring an advertising agency. Appleton is an award-winning, full-service advertising agency based in Orlando that works with local, national and international clients to deliver impressive ad campaigns, branding, print, web, public relations, social media and video services — all in-house. At Appleton, we want to learn about your business, empower your marketing team and be your creative resource. Your advertising goals are worth a conversation: contact us at 407-246-0092 or info@appletoncreative.com.

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