How to Adapt Your Marketing Tactics During Isolation

It's been a strange couple of months for everyone as the global situation continues to affect every aspect of our lives. Suddenly the world has been thrust into an unprecedented situation, with many scrambling to regain their footing and achieve something with the semblance of normalcy. CBS News highlights how businesses are changing how they operate with varying degrees of severity depending on what industry you belong in.

With that in mind, it would then make sense that changes also be made regarding the marketing efforts behind these businesses. To help you out with this, we've put together a quick guide on how to adapt your marketing tactics during these trying times.

Enhance Your Social Media Presence

Social media has evolved in the last couple of years from being a novelty to something that businesses have fully invested in and it's not slowing down anytime soon. In fact, Maryville University claims digital marketing spending has increased to $335 billion in the past five years. This is evidence of how more and more companies and brands have enhanced their social media presence. This is especially true now that the world and all the people that inhabit it are being asked to stay at home with very little to do other than work and scroll through their phones.

One way you can capitalize on this is by actively engaging with your market. Reply to comments on your post or put up questions that your community can answer. This will help build a better relationship between you and your market, as it shows them that you're company considers them as more than just numbers and statistics but as valued members of a community whose opinions matter.

Adapt Keywords

Times are changing and new issues are popping up left and right, issues that you can address and solve through your service. This is why you should be updating and adapting your keywords in line with the world's current needs. This way people will be able to find you so you can start providing them with your services.

To do this effectively you'll have to get a pulse of what is currently happening in the world. And while you can do this through mere observation, it would be in your best interest to use data analytics tools to know what people are searching for. Doing so will help bridge the gap between you and your potential customer base as you will be able to create specific content aimed at them.

One great way to do this would be to make use of keyword tools such as Google Trends and Google Search Console, as they can help you track people's interests in real-time. From there you can adapt these interests to make them more in line with your product or service, thus allowing you to broaden your reach by keeping your content relevant and up to date with the current needs of the world. Even if you want to take it to a next level you could even consider enterprise SEO keyword research tools like Surfer and Ahrefs that all the leading SEOs in the world use.

Create Authentic Content

While this is business and the end goal is always profit, your company will surely benefit if you focus your resources on creating content that doesn't push a product onto people during the pandemic. By showing some goodwill, this will build up your company's reputation and help earn your customers' loyalty. In fact, a study published in the Harvard Business Review details that creating emotional engagement goes a long way in building brand loyalty.

Now, it would be counterproductive if you had to search "how to create authentic content" on the internet. This can only be done by truly knowing your audience and then tailoring the content according to what they want. A good rule of thumb would be to assess the intent behind each piece of content that you put out. You'll want to be pushing content that helps build relationships with your market rather than just selling a service or product.

An excellent strategy to try is a storytelling marketing campaign. This is when you use the power of narratives to get your brand's message across to your audience by appealing to their emotions. Instead of telling your target audience to care about something, storytelling marketing is geared towards making them understand why they should care about it. You can go about this in various ways, but a mixed-media approach (video and photos combined with written content) is a great way to start.

Utilize Video

Lastly, the medium in which you deliver content matters just as much as the content you put out. And what better way to convey authenticity than through video content. Indeed, video content has taken over the marketing industry with around 82% of all internet traffic now video.

With video, you'll want to take the same approach as your regular content and make it authentic. You can do this by not relying on expensive productions and go for a more vlog-style video that talks about how your company is handling the current pandemic. Tell real stories by real people.

Try to give people a behind-the-scenes look at your business or service. Inc highlights how this can help build the authenticity of your brand or service, as well as help earn your viewer's trust. Helping your customer base get closer to your brand is of the utmost importance as it'll go a long way when it comes to your brand or service's ability to retain clientele.

If you're looking for more articles on doing business during the pandemic, check out our piece on 10 Business Tips to Avoid Crisis & Breakdown From COVID-19!