April 1, 2020

Can your business survive COVID-19? The Digital Marketing Cheat-sheet to Sustain Through and Survive the Pandemic!

The world is going through a tough time. In the times of Corona, as many people are calling it, the non-essential businesses are crumbling, and people are clueless about how long is it going to last. It is just fear all over. The pandemic has hit the world market like never before and USA & India are badly impacted; the stocks have plummeted to new lows and the small pleasures of taking a stroll in the evening or eating out have become a distant memory of an era gone by.

It is a grim picture.

For people. For the economy. For businesses.

Is it the end of the world like we have been watching in the post-apocalyptic movies? Is that all? Are we all going to finish so prematurely, the unrealized potential within us, with a diminishing gleam of hope for all we could be, what we could have done if given a chance? Just one more chance?

How dystopian it may all look like, but many experts feel it is just the darkest hour before the dawn. It all depends on how you look at it.

A good strategy is not only giving a vision, but it also acknowledges the challenges ahead. – Richard Rumelt, in Good Strategy Bad Strategy

If you want to mitigate the loss of coronavirus to your business, it is time to switch to digital marketing and learn web designing courses in Chandigarh. Let us all accept the reality, even if it is all over in the coming month, people will still be hesitant to go to crowded places, attend an event, or come to your business.

People might start traveling to their work, but they definitely won’t take the risk. Instead, they will be doing what they are doing now—using the internet to browse through the news, entertainment portals and look for things to buy. While we can’t predict if we will go back to normal ever, or there will be some semblance of social life as soon as the lockdown is lifted, one thing is for sure, the traditional businesses would look for avenues to be there in the same space with them and will move online by taking web designing services from India.

The need to go digital and website designing is more pronounced, and in the coming months, businesses are going to rely more and more on digital marketing to just survive through the economic slowdown. Be it essential or non-essential commodities-both need to invest in a digital marketing strategy. Though, quite smartly!

The whole world is ground zero.

So, you can start building up. If your business is all about cold calling a client for an F-2-F meeting, it is time to be more adaptive and find ways to foster your professional relationship through the digital route. In these times of distress, digital marketing is the chance for traditional business in Chandigarh (India) to stay afloat. It is cost-effective and can be done at a fraction of the cost of a conference or an event.

Unlike traditional marketing, you are never all in and can shave off some budget if you don’t see the traction. Port your offline advertising budget to a lightweight digital marketing strategy that everybody can see and get engaged with. More fence-sitting customers are going to turn to shop online and now is the time to harness the power of the internet to generate leads and sell more.

virus, coronavirus, sars-cov-2

But be responsible.

Focus on creating experiences. Craft stories that resonate with your online customers! Rather than pushing your product through paid searches, try to build products that resonate with your customers. Focus on content marketing because people need to see you up there. Be hopeful and give them hope. Find the heart in your products and services. If you can’t find it, people won’t either.

We, customers, need to find honesty in marketing messages. David Ogilvy

Stay true. Stay honest. While it is your chance of redemption, don’t be rich-driven. Be mission-driven. Improve your brand communication to make a more powerful and compelling presence on the internet. You don’t need to compare your business with a competitor. You need to tell them what makes you good. And that’s a battle half won.

Try to survive, while you do some good to your employees, add value to your customers’ lives and give it back to society. Because, you know what, brownie points of karma are the cashback that comes to save you when you need them the most. These brownie points are your customers, who will see your honesty as a company and will perceive your products as honest.

Social distancing doesn’t mean keeping away from social media.

Daily management of social media platforms doesn’t mean cashing in on a marketing opportunity. Even if you are a non-essential brand, it is important to be there, to stay in a similar space as your customers, and to let them know that you are with them. You don’t have to plug your products with each post nor have to promote them because sometimes, just being there is all you can do. Sharing their woes and wows do says a lot more about your priorities as a company. Thank the doctors and healthcare workers with them, let them know you hear them, play an online game for pastime or just share a YouTube video to lighten the mood- you really don’t need to do much as of now.

One this is out in the open. COVID-19 is here, and until we find its vaccine, we need to brave it and find ways to cope with the new ‘normal’. As a decision-maker, you can’t let your business stay in a vulnerable position for long. You depend on your business, and so do your employees. So, take this downtime to experiment with digital marketing (if you have one) and if you haven’t thought about it, it is never too late to start with it! Fine-tune your business and make it more aligned with current times, where your customers are looking for a more value-based proposition. Structure your digital marketing plan to retain your customers, and not just acquire them for the short-term.

About the author 

Imran Uddin


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