The coronavirus pandemic has changed the economic landscape in many different ways, one of them being the significant impact it’s made on digital marketing. Organizations who hadn’t prioritized their online presence before COVID hit and triggered nationwide storefront closures, had to scramble to make up for lost time. Those that were already invested in online initiatives were wise to increase their marketing budget to maintain their brand awareness among the sudden surge in competition.
Digital marketers have always faced the challenge of congestion, but now new strategies will be necessary to stand out in an increasingly tight sphere, while old methodologies must be revisited and optimized to deliver the best results.
Whether you work for an in-house marketing team or represent clients, at the end of the day, data-driven results are all that matter in terms of success. Digital marketing will matter more in the wake of the pandemic — but only if you can prove its valuable return on investment (ROI).
So, what new trends are emerging as the online marketplace evolves? Here are several noteworthy movements to be mindful of; leverage these tips to effectively capture your audience’s attention, drive traffic to your site, and convert visitors into loyal customers who will help keep the business afloat during the post-COVID months to come.
- Anticipate a Sence of Urgency
- Added Emphasis on Website
- Accessibility and Compliance
- Local SEO Will Gain Greater Significance
- Trust Strengthens Consumer Relationships
Anticipate a Sense of Urgency
No one can tell what tomorrow may hold, whether businesses will shut back down, or how wide the disease will spread, and most businesses don’t have time to wait around for hopeful outcomes. The challenge with search engine optimization (SEO) — one of the biggest components of digital marketing — is that it’s almost always a long play. It’s pretty rare to rise to the top of the search engine results page (SERP) overnight, so building enough traction for a worthwhile campaign often requires patience that’s hard to come by in these times.
Businesses need to drive revenue as quickly as possible so they can prevent layoffs, late payments, and, ultimately, bankruptcy. That explains why, when 4,500 digital marketing professionals were surveyed about the impact of COVID-19 on their work routine, 63% said they reallocated budgets on activities that deliver short-term results.
Does that mean you have to slash the entire SEO budget in favor of pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements? Not necessarily, but at the very least, you should take note of this increased demand and adjust your on-page copy accordingly. Create content marketing that uses urgency to hack your conversion rate and drive more sales. By tapping into your audience’s deep-rooted emotions and stressing that time is of the essence, they’ll be more likely to make a fast purchasing decision. Take the example of an emotion provoking graphic here, from My SmartMove Tenant Screening.