Post Covid Marketing

Post Covid Marketing: With things slowly returning to a little more normalcy, many organisations are looking to put their marketing plans back on the rails.

But it can be daunting knowing where to begin, or whether customers already dealing with the challenges of a global coronavirus recession will even respond to your campaign at all.
We’ve put together a few tips on how to reboot your marketing in 2020; and like most things over the lockdown period, it’s all about reflection…

Review your previous marketing plans

First things first: before you start planning a whole new campaign, let’s see if any parts of your pre-Covid marketing plans are salvageable.

Unfortunately, the chances are that you’ll either need to throw them out completely or make some major modifications.

The world has changed so much; any consumer research from the start of the year will be outdated, key seasonal dates have come and gone, and marketing messages which might have been fine before might now seem trivial or even outright insensitive.

But maybe there’s still opportunities to work with what you have. Has the pandemic perhaps given your campaign a new meaning or cultural context? A great example of this is KFC’s latest ad campaign, which jokingly self-censors the fast food brand’s famous slogan – after all, finger lickin’ isn’t especially safe to do right now!

Review your marketing spend

Budgeting has never been more important for businesses weathering the storm of Covid-19; so it’s vital to make every penny of your marketing spend count.

With many across the nation working from home over the lockdown, and our opportunities for outdoor activities and social interaction severely limited, we’ve all been glued to our screens. It might seem only logical to focus your marketing budget solely on digital – but consider this:

• Most of your competitors will likely be pursuing digital marketing too. A printed direct mail campaign could help your brand stand out and prevent you blending in with the rest.
• Many of us have been spending a lot more time indoors; with some of us continuing to stay in and play it safe even after the easing of lockdown restrictions. This means your direct mail campaign has much wider opportunity to reach and make an impression on your customers
• We’ve all been a little more aware of our local communities lately, with neighbourhoods joining together to applaud for our health workers. A direct mail print campaign can offer a more local-targeted marketing solution for tapping into our newfound community spirit.
• Many of us have been experiencing increased eye fatigue from overusing our digital devices. Print marketing can provide a welcome reprieve!

Review your brand’s mission and place

Whether you’re retooling your existing marketing preparations or starting again from scratch, it’s important to think about the purpose your brand serves for consumers; and how the relevancy of that purpose may have shifted post-COVID.

Think about the challenges your customers are now facing that they weren’t before. Think about how their goals, motivations, attitudes, preferences, values etc. might have changed as a result of the pandemic. Think about some of the new consumer trends that have emerged from lockdown. How does your brand fit into those changes?

You should also think about how your has organisation has been affected by coronavirus. What has lockdown been like for your employees? What challenges have you had to overcome? How did you overcome them?

For some brands, this might be as momentous as committing to a large charity project, donating key equipment and expertise to health organisations, or offering support directly to customers. (Notably, some car manufacturers are offering job loss protection, so their customers won’t get stung if they’re made redundant as a result of the coronavirus recession; while many others are offering special discounts to key workers.)

For others, it may be as simple as helping customers enjoy the simple things in life that they’ve been missing over lockdown. What small things have your customers been missing about your service? What measures have you put in place so your customers can enjoy those things again safely?

Being supportive, compassionate and responsive with your marketing is the key to connecting with consumers in a post-Covid world.

Listen to your customers, take the time to understand their struggles, and build your new marketing plans around helping them overcome those struggles. This is an opportunity for your organisation to make a positive impact – good luck!