There’s no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has created far-reaching implications across the world, making marketing during a pandemic a tricky task. These are unusual times, and for marketers, there are a lot of questions as to how to best market their businesses during COVID-19.

You could make the case that, despite the economy crumbling and many businesses losing sales, that your marketing message matters now more than ever. Eventually, the economy will bounce back – if you can create a memorable impression in a time of need, it will help your business when this time passes. 

This blog aims to help marketers and business owners adjust their marketing strategies during COVID-19. Of course, this depends on your business and who you’re marketing to.

 

How Does COVID-19 Affect Your Buyers?

The first thing to do is to assess how COVID-19 affects your target market. Take another look at the marketing personas you have and see how COVID-19 affects their lives on a day-to-day basis. Then, you can tie this back into their purchasing behavior for the pandemic, and specifically how it changes for your products and services. 

To get an understanding of how users’ purchasing behavior is affected, you can try to use tactics like social listening, and monitoring online forums. These online resources can help you get a full understanding of how COVID-19 impacts your audience and customer base. 

By understanding all of this, you can effectively craft your message online to your audience. For instance, while most businesses are experiencing less demand, others experience high demand because their products or services are needed more during the pandemic. If that’s the case, your statement may be more focused on how you will deliver products or services. In these times, it’s important to get this correct in the eyes of your customers. 

 

Crafting an Appropriate and Unique Message

Depending on the severity of COVID-19 as it relates to your industry, the content of your message may vary. More and more businesses have put out COVID-19 statements that are designed to address the issue and how they plan to help their customers through this time. Here’s what to consider when crafting and promoting your message.

• Customer-Focused: The marketing message should be customer-focused. This means that you should put the customer’s satisfaction first.
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Describe how your business plays its part to help. It’s not only your customers but everyone who needs to get through this time.
• Your Business: How will your business operate during this time? Will you adjust your hours, where will your employees work, and how will you deliver your services? For instance, will you deliver products or provide services through virtual meetings?

Carrying Out Your Message

How can you best reach your customers and followers with your COVID-19 message? Here are a few ideas to get your message across to your customers and stakeholders:

• Social Media – create a post to update your social followers with your COVID-19 message. Consider crafting different wording for the same message across all of your social accounts.
• Email – send an email to your contact list to update your subscribers on COVID-19, how it relates to your business and what it means for them.
• Google My Business – for local businesses, it’s important to mark how your business is affected. For instance, reduced hours should be adjusted to show on Google Maps. Google My Business recently turned on the “temporarily closed” option for businesses that are closed during COVID-19.
• Website – an easy way to update your audience is to create a website pop-up with your COVID-19 message. Similarly, if you have updated your services during this time (for instance, using virtual services through Zoom), consider creating a new page for that. If you have a restaurant that is opened for take-out, you’d have to update the website with your hours of operation and link to your online ordering prominently on the homepage.
• PR Outreach – for COVID-19 campaigns that give back to your community, reach out! Providing support for local businesses is crucial right now and it will always give you some good PR coverage.
• Write a blog – if you have an expanded message and you want to go in-depth, a blog gives you the leeway to create a long post.

Once Again…

Your message starts with your customers and how their lives have been affected by COVID-19. Creating a message shows you care about the pandemic and want to help in any way. In these trying times, businesses have a responsibility to provide support to customers and stakeholders, even when the business slows down. Consider what your message says to these important people and how to reach them with your message online. And most importantly, remember that we are truly all in this together.

If you need assistance with marketing efforts during COVID-19 time please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are working remotely and ready to help! We offer an array of marketing services. Call us at 978-293-4922 or email us at [email protected].