While we slowly emerge from lockdown and enter into this ‘new world’ in both personal and professional terms, it’s worth asking how life will change within the digital marketing industry. The global industry is scrambling to respond to this entirely unprecedented situation, and established strategies which played a significant role in the course of a brand’s history, are now being wholly questioned by this shift in our daily lives.
For now, we know that lateral thinking will always thrive during such times of adversity, which means that businesses who are seeking to future-proof themselves should turn towards digital innovation. There are many ways in which this can be done.
Getting your message right
The lockdown period has shone a light on how crucial it is for brands to make use of digital technology to create deeper, lasting relationships with all of their customers. You can’t afford just to optimise your customer journey for purchasing, but you also need to be able to deliver valuable experiences and services to the lives of your audience.
After all, it is the deep emotional value that you can provide to your customers which create your presence in their minds, not just shallow messages that lead them only to purchases. It’s the brands who can provide humane, emotional empathy with their audiences in a way that builds a connection which truly thrives – now, more than ever before in our lives.
Optimising for SEO
In our post-lockdown world, there will likely be a massive surge in online shopping. This means brands must consider whether their website infrastructure can handle such an increase in traffic. This means that website’s need to be fully optimised for SEO, not only by backlinks and keywords but by loading speeds and usability. These last two features will not only boost SEO but will also improve the overall user experience.
One easy way to instantly figure out how you can better your website SEO is to think in terms of your customer persona – or your ideal customer. If you don’t have one, then create one! Think about how their world looks after the lockdown. Think about what new issues they may be having, what keywords might they be searching, then brainstorm content ideas to serve these needs.
Emphasis on objectivity
In times of uncertainty, it’s concrete, objective and reliable data that rules. For us digital marketers, this means that we must know who is coming to our website, how long do they stay for, and what can be improved to make their experience better. Being able to see exact figures such as your bounce rate or conversion rate is what is so valuable in order to understand in which direction you can take your digital marketing strategy.
Digital marketing is essential in the 21st century, but it is even more crucial in 2020 given the uncertain circumstances. The ability to get in front of your target audience by optimising your digital channels, then to convince them of your services with your empathetic messaging, to finally objectively measure areas for improvement will be invaluable in our post-lockdown world. The brands who can nail these three areas will be the ones who can come out the strongest.