If you are in sync with the modern news, you must have read all about the ongoing pandemic, COVID-19. It is taking over the world, and it has already forced us to pause almost every aspect of our lives, such as construction estimating, roofers, builders, cleaning service providers, and other small businesses.
Doctors and scientists across the globe are doing their best to defeat the virus, and we stand with them. However, in the meantime, we need to understand the gravity of the situation and come up with new ways to do the things we used to do, such as marketing.
Online businesses are still thriving with only a minor decrease, but the physical businesses are currently suffering a lot because of the Corona Virus. If you want to find the best lead generation websites for contractors, you can still do that on online websites, but if you are a marketing specialist, you need to come up with new ways to cope with the curfews and lockdown.
Today, we have compiled a list of positive and modern steps that you can take to do smart and responsible marketing during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and continue your business without having to lose too much. Let’s take a look.
Best Ideas to Do Smart and Responsible Marketing During COVID-19
1. Modify Your Marketing Campaigns
Adjusting your ongoing marketing campaigns is the best way to deal with unforeseen circumstances. Some giants of the industries can always adapt a war-room action for such situations, as Ford quickly replaced their car advertisements with Corona-responsive advertisements. However, not all businesses can do the same. Therefore, you need to readjust your marketing campaigns according to your requirements and resources during COVID-19.
If construction estimating teaches us anything, it is that quick adaptation is the key to survival. Decide what campaigns need to be stopped immediately, and what are they going to be replaced with. Moreover, think of an alternative, and a safer medium for your campaigns. For example, if you were using billboards and banners, start thinking of using social media outlets and newspaper websites for your marketing campaigns.
2. Schedule Your Content Timelines
Rather than churning out constant content throughout the day; you need to set deadlines and a pre-defined timetable for content timelines. Since everyone is going to be using the online mediums for the duration of the pandemic, you need to schedule your content timelines and make sure that priority marketing advertisements go out during the highest peak hours.
Moreover, with the help of scheduled content timelines, you will also be able to adapt the ongoing situations and transform your content according to the latest updates. This means that with the help of scheduled content, you can actually spread some good news about the pandemic situation, and the audience will react to it in a much more positive way. Scheduled content allows you more control over your marketing strategies.
3. Visual Communication Is Powerful
Visual communication is the first non-verbal mode of communication between your customers and your advertisements. Make sure that the imagery and the visual content is in line with the modern situation.
Try to avoid pictures of close gatherings and try to stay away from words that depict or encourage close communication or gathering. You need to come up with new visual graphics that depict social distancing, and you need to reframe your keywords and other words with those which encourage personal hygiene, safety, and social distancing.
Moreover, you need to implement happy images, optimistic visual graphics, and other cheerful graphics into your visual content. The above flyer is an example of it. The company is providing safety measures to prevent the spread. Meanwhile, they have also described the precautions they take while providing services.
While your competitors are taking on a grim tone to represent the ongoing crisis, you can choose to be optimistic, and suggest hope with the help of stunning and hopeful graphic visuals.
4. Do Not Capitalize On The Crisis
It is a big problem and a sad fact about society, that we tend to capitalize on the crisis. In reaction to the crisis, companies need to connect when it applies to their business. As a modern era business, you should talk about the constructive steps that your brand is implementing to fight against the pandemic.
For example, you can talk about providing essential services, store closures, or policy changes referring to COVID-19. These posts deliver significance to customer relationships and are quite insightful on your end. Moreover, you can also offer a comprehensive guide to your customers about taking care of. Likewise, keep them up-to-date with the news about the pandemic.
As you can see in the above image, as an essential Business, Denver Pros is offering cleaning and sanitizing services. They also have provided COVID-19 Protocol stating guidance and safety precautions they consider during these difficult times.
5. Be Positive, But Not Tone-Deaf
Understand the gravity of the situation, but don’t be ignorant. The rules of construction estimating teach us that we have to learn how to be positive and also learn how to avoid coming off as an ignorant organization.
This means that during the crisis, offer insightful support and posts for your audiences; but don’t strip your brand of emotions. During times of crisis, you need to use your marketing skills to promote optimism, a ray of hope, and happiness among people. If you use grim tones to market your products during these grim times; you will only be coming off as ignorant.
Being positive means that you understand that the situation is tough and offer your support to the customers. Being ignorant means that you paint a dark picture of an already grim situation; and put everyone into an even more chaotic mindset. Be positive and try to avoid being an ignorant organization.
6. Don’t Exploit the Situation
It is in human nature to exploit tragedies for personal gains. Rather than spiking the prices and offering exclusive deals to customers, you should start thinking of humanizing your brand and offering some solace in these times of crisis.
Don’t be a marketer who is buying off necessities and other essential products at a lower price; and then selling them for a higher price. The exploitation of such situations is a bad marketing technique. Moreover, this is short-sighted marketing and will end with the lockdown. You need to start coming up with long-term marketing strategies that don’t exploit others during the time of crisis such as COVID-19 pandemic.
