In our society, things are changing constantly. With many businesses closing and reopening (and then closing again) due to COVID-19, the nationwide rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, the recent advertising boycott against Facebook, and so on, it has become abundantly clear that this is not the time for businesses to cling to whatever strategies they may have created at the beginning of 2020 — it’s time to adapt.
If there is one thing we’ve learned about managing our clients’ digital marketing in recent months, it’s that you have to be quick on your feet and ready to tweak and pivot at a moment’s notice.
In an effort to help businesses achieve this necessary level of agility, KWSM President Katie Wagner and Director of Operations Stephen Wagner hosted a live Q&A webinar to discuss the best practices for business owners and marketing specialists during this time.
Here are some of the tips they discussed.
Remember That Your Customers Come First
While this has always been a general rule of thumb for businesses, we’ve seen it to be especially true in the midst of these constant changes. When you’re posting content on your social media pages, blog, website, newsletters, etc, think specifically about what your target audience is going through. What are the people you serve experiencing during all of this? Are they back at the office, or working remotely? Are they still able to use your product or service the way they always have?
Rather than focusing on how you can promote your brand, how you are different from your competitors, or the various features and benefits of your product or service, the “winners” in this time will be whoever can speak directly to your audience’s current pain points.
Let the Data Drive Your Decisions
One of the best indicators of how your business should pivot during this time is your website data. Whatever you knew about your site’s stats before March of this year has probably changed, as consumer buying behavior changed overnight when people were forced to quarantine at home. Not only that, but B2B behavior has also changed and networking opportunities have diminished.
Changes in trends that would typically take place over a period of a year or more are now happening month-to-month. As we’ve been monitoring these trends for our clients, we’ve seen that search traffic for everything except for COVID-related terms dropped off dramatically during the first couple of months after the pandemic hit. However, this traffic is actually starting to pick back up, and some non-COVID terms have even exceeded the search volume they had before the pandemic.
To learn what metrics you should be tracking on your website and hear more tips from Katie and Stephen about adapting your business in the current climate, watch the full webinar here.
Do you need to start marketing your company online during these changing times, but aren’t sure where to begin?
Join our digital marketing specialists during our semi-annual Social Media Bootcamp!
CLICK HERE to learn more about these webinars and register.
