The ongoing global pandemic has enormously affected the lives of millions, including marketing. Consequently, it has extensively changed the trends and customer’s priorities. Most likely, like everyone else, you will be searching for different marketing modules to continue being purposeful for your consumers.
Hence, it’s quite evident that you will have to incorporate content related to the COVID-19 in your messages or articles at some point of the time. Yet, many would feel sidelined without any idea about “how to create a quality communication for your audience?”
So, here we are discussing different content marketing strategies to bolster your customer relationships even more.
Boost Your Customer Engagement by Showing Empathy
The lockdown has forced everyone to turn to different digital platforms. While it’s the right time to keep up with your digital communications, one must adhere to using a conversational tone. However, being overly casual would sound off-putting. In times like this, anything humorous or witty might end up causing a ruckus for your brand. Experts advise using a positive, inspirational tone if you want to portray your sensitive side.
For example, one must use content that denotes expressions such as “how are you holding up?” Or “Can our brand help them in any way?” Adding to that, you must keep a check on your use of certain words. For instance, words like killer, contagious, spread, infectious, event, or gather in your marketing copies would seem inconsiderate, given the circumstances. However, words like navigate, cope, connect, play a role will leave a positive impact on your customer’s mind.
Being supportive or taking a neutral stance over a particular subject would be another way to show your sensitive side. For example, one of the measures issued by the federal government included a steep cut in interest rates. A lot of mortgage companies were leveraging that using marketing copy such as “take advantage of the low-interest rates.” But, that put forth a greedy nature of the brand. On the contrary, if you convey your message that offers security during these unprecedented times will attract the right attention.
Remember, in the end, we all are humans. Having empathy during such difficult times will give an edge to your brand for better future endeavors.
Evolve With The Shifting Strategies
Every industry, be it healthcare or not, is showing a drastic drift in terms of advertising. Only a few fortunate ones can take advantage of this change. But, a million others are stuck with the “what should I do now?” thought process. Well, it’s an ideal time to work on competitor research, business reviews, and content evaluation. That way, you can learn about a shift in the user’s behavior. And invest your time in the type of content that will re-establish your brand’s values amid the crisis.
Remember, if no one is engaging with your brand right away does not mean they won’t once things go back to normal. Having a strategy to keep your brand alive will help you to reap benefits in the future.
Let’s see how exactly this ideology worked for an American hotel chain, DoubleTree. Their chocolate chip cookies are quite relishing. However, all this time, they kept their recipe a secret. But as they say, one needs to beat the unforeseen times to stay alive. The company did exactly that. They revealed their chocolate chip cookie recipe to the world by releasing a video. That video that already crossed more than 250k views. Even their fans are now posting their videos after trying the recipe on social media. It is giving the brand an extra “Oomph factor.”
Adjust Your Current Offers
Although the hospitality or travel sectors can’t build their services, a lot of other businesses that are still in working can engage their customers using offers related to COVID-19. For that, you can modify your product or services copy accordingly. Having said that, make sure that you keep your messages versatile in a way that you won’t have to change them again once this is over.
Refrain from using insensitive CTA’s. For instance, “Grab your spot or don’t miss out” won’t help you with customer engagement. It’s not the right time to appear to be ignorant or foolish in front of your consumers. So, if you are offering an online service, using words like digital or online will be fantastic. You can also use phrases to assure your audience that you are concerned about their safety. For example, “contact-free, in-home, or downloadable” would engage customers more.
Take a Few Extra Steps to Stay Accurate
If you don’t want to tarnish your brand’s credibility, you must keep a check on every fact that you publish. That way you can filter out unwanted sources and stay accurate at all times. Effective copywriting won’t bring the desired results if your information is wrong. Hence, you must always rely on credible COVID-19 sources. This is a must if you are using content for your social media captions. Don’t forget that the internet is filled with misleading rumors. So, you must rely only on resources such as the Centers for Disease Control, WHO, the department of health for any content related to Coronavirus.
All these measures would put forth your brand as someone who’s putting an extra effort to minimize the spread of inaccurate information. To do that, you can look for feedback within your team to make sure that your copywriting is in sync with your brand’s vision. Remember, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Polish Your Current Skills While Learning New Ones
There won’t be a single day that you would not have kept aside all your “to-dos” list because of never-ending client tasks. Admit it. I have done it a lot of times. Since, the workload has crashed down a bit, you can spend the available hours to master your current skills. Here’s what you can do. Go through your mail and check the marked emails that you promised to read a while ago. Obtain your certifications that will help your business in the future. Practice your skills using real accounts.
For example, if your marketing skills are a bit hazy, immerse yourself in reading articles and applying them on different accounts using A/B testing. Again, if automated strategies seem daunting, learning about it would help you master that skill.
Another way to use this time would be to learn new skills that will work best for your business. To give you an example. If your core is PPC, learning a few SEO tricks would always be useful. You can also connect with other marketers and work on your shortcomings.
To Sum it up
The ongoing pandemic has opened a lot of avenues that no one dreamt of before. Hence, marketing in crisis is all about being proactive about what’s happening around you. You need to do more than just revisiting your bidding strategies. You can begin by bringing new ideas to your client. Stop depending on automation and use your time to optimize your strategy manually.
Also, turn off your aggressive marketing styles. And pitch your marketing copies in a way to sympathize with your consumers. Businesses everywhere are working on strategies to up their marketing game. You have no idea what concept may benefit your company.
We are hopeful that these survival tips will help you get through these difficult times quickly. However, it’s essential never to use any marketing tactic that involves promises you can’t handle. Overdoing can backfire when the emotions are on a high.
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