If you were wishing that after our two-month-long nationwide lockdown things will go back to normal, sorry to burst your rainbow-filled bubble.
Things will never be the same again. Even our Health minister Zweli Mkhize said, “Irrespective of when the lockdown is lifted, it won’t be back to ‘life as normal’ for South Africa.
Epidemiologist Professor Abdool Karim and Chairperson of the Ministerial advisory group recently also added to that and said that South Africa has done a good job at flattening the curve, however, we cannot escape the exponential growth of people testing positive for the virus.
We have also seen in news headlines that it has taken the city of Wuhan where the virus originated from, at least 76 days for them to return to some sort of “normal” and even in that “normal” isn’t the same.
There is no doubt that Coronavirus has fundamentally changed everything!
For starters, it is without a doubt forcing businesses to relook their business digital strategies.
People are now spending most of their time at home and online. Therefore, the chances of seeing your ads on social media or interacting with content marketing blogs are greater, rather than the traditional billboard method of marketing.
The effect that COVID-19 has had on business in general has been catastrophic. However, there’s always a way to rebuild and adapt to the new norm.
For instance, we’ve seen with groceries stores being more efficient with deliveries, Uber partnering with local grocery stores as well as contactless deliveries. Perhaps if you’re a product/service business, you should look at introducing eCommerce, because, whether the restrictions get lifted or not, e-commerce has become some sort of a habit for consumers.
Don’t cut down on marketing
As mentioned before, business might not be doing as well before. However, a study done by Harvard Business School indicates that history shows, businesses that have chosen a more progressive strategy of refocusing spending during a recession, have outperformed businesses that made sweeping cuts.
This is the time that businesses should be focusing on making sure their business can be found online. Introducing SEO strategies in order to make sure that your business is first preference on Google searches is the ultimate strategy. Adding Paid Per Click (PPC) advertising to your plan is also a move in the right direction. Remember your aim is to stay on top of mind to your consumers and PPC and SEO helps your business increase organic traffic to your website/translates into sales, ultimately making you a step ahead of your competition.
Understand your community
With a knock on effect that the virus has caused on the economy, big brands have opted to partner with smaller businesses to ensure a sense of community. In other words, CEO of a Storytelling and Comms Agency Rebecca Vogels, reckons that brands will really need to know their customers and potential clients in order to know how the product they’re offering is making our collective lives - as a community - better.
Room for innovation
You might not see a light at the end of this very overwhelming tunnel. But, it’s not all doom and gloom, also see this as a time for innovation. Digital Agencies now have room to really come up with some insightful digital content that’s engaging with customers in order to drive revenue for all our clients.
So let’s get creative!
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