Apemag

  • Home
  • Whitepapers
  • Categories
    • Email marketing
    • Personalization
    • Targeting
    • Trends
  • Contact
Content, Email marketing, Strategy, Tips

Adapting your marketing efforts to COVID-19, now and tomorrow

Depending on the industry you’re in and your business, you might have hit a bump during lockdown. It’s clear that the current pandemic has a huge impact on our way of living. Not only do people have to adapt their way of living and spending habits. Businesses are also struggling while trying to keep up with all these changes.


Impact of the corona virus on your marketing strategy

Maybe you’ve seen your entire marketing plan go down the drain when lockdown measures were launched. Or maybe you had the luxury of not having to think about promoting your business online when most of your profits were happening offline.

The thing is, these are also interesting times for growth. All businesses – and your competitors – are facing the same challenges and are still trying to figure out how their marketing efforts will change. Being proactive now is key to take advantage of that momentum.

Whatever your situation, it’s key to start working on your “healing strategy” and to get interaction with your audience going again. Start by mapping out the goals you still want to achieve this year, and what content could be beneficial to accomplish those goals.

Here are some tips to get more insight on how your customers are doing and what they are hoping to see.

Create excitement for when they can walk back into your company

In these times it is key to create a special emotional relationship with your clients. The human interaction is something everybody is looking forward to, so recreate that vision for them. This can be done in different ways.

  • Keep them updated on when your opening day is and how you want to receive them
  • Introduce an upcoming event
  • Make a welcome back video and inform them about new products, deals, …

Positivity and excitement to go back to business is key!

Keep in mind that people are still hesitant. Clear communication on what measures you’ll take to keep everyone safe is very important at this stage.

Ask questions and feedback

For your strategy to be valuable, try to figure out what they are thinking and doing. Let them know you care. Ask them questions to get knowledge and adjust your segments were needed, this so you can improve your strategy in a personal manner.

Examples on what to ask:

  • Do you have new interests?
  • What has been keeping you busy?
  • What would you like to see more of in our company?
  • What are you looking forward to try out?
  • Would you like to see more behind the scenes of company?
  • How can our company support you?

Share valuable content

Most people if not all want to receive valuable and unique information, so why not give them what they want. Share links on how to’s, interesting webinars, workshops, … Not only will sharing these valuable links and organizing (e-)workshops make them feel important to you, it will also create a stream of online and offline connections and sales.

These ideas can serve to attract new people, but also don’t forget to reward your loyal customers. Show your token of appreciation during and post-covid times. A thank you for thinking of/ supporting us, a small gift for next time they come to the store or make a purchase on your website, will make them feel appreciated and important to your company.


Post-COVID start up

If your strategy was looking good before all this went down, you can start building on from there. But if that isn’t the case, you should really try to prepare yourself for the coming, still uncertain months. Use this time wisely to create good-quality content, to then be able to go strong post corona and be prepared to follow up on your contacts.

The main question a lot of you might ask yourself is “Now that we are getting out of lockdown, does this mean email marketing and other online marketing efforts are no longer needed?”. No. You never stop building relationships. The great benefits of reaching more people in a personalized and fast manner will make your strategy work better. Marketing is about building relationships and that takes time. As you have already kept in touch with your contacts, it is important to keep on building and further developing that relationship.

The time has come that more freedom will be allowed to people, so it’s time to make your strategy work for both online and offline.

How can you do this?

Your online marketing is your support system to have customers come into your stores or websites. As the world has slowly changed and you want to stay strong in your relationships it is of great importance to get your online and offline strategies aligned.

For example, if you created an excitement in your customer for wanting to go back to the store, make sure you have a nice sign or welcome gift ready to receive that customer. Once that customer left your store, send him a thank you for returning email. This is a simple way to get that momentum going from online to offline and back to online.

If you didn’t already offer products or services online, now is definitely the time to start doing so. Look at all the restaurants that are only now offering take-away menus. Why not continue on doing that when people can come back to actually sit in your restaurant? Chances are we’ll go through another lockdown before a vaccine has been found. How are you going to spread risks and keep people coming to you?

There are so many ways to combine your offline and online marketing. Not only that it will make you stand out from your competitors. It can also easily be done with a lower budget.

Pay attention to the language you’re using

  • Beware of insinuating your product is essential or a necessity.

    Although we are huge fans of our own products or services or even see them as a critical part of life, the new normal is changing the definition people see as “essential”.

  • Get creative on how your product can fulfill a different kind of need.

    There’s more out there than ‘spring essentials’ or ‘summer must-haves’. People are looking for human contact, or on slowing down and making things cozy at home for instance. How will your product or service make them feel? What words should you use? Can you brighten their day or make their life better in some way right now? Positivity is key.

  • Balance your positivity though.

    You want to come across positively, not over-bubbly, ignorant or naïve.

  • Avoid coming across as a sales shark.

    Be careful with words like ‘stock up on …’, even when you’re not selling toilet paper. People are sensitive to inconsiderate behavior right now. Look at the limited-time deals Hubo was offering right before other DIY stores could open.

  • Avoid promoting individual products if it could sell out quickly.

    Promoting things that are out of stock are a waste of time and money and could actually frustrate your customers.

  • Have a lot of new products coming out?

    Spread your release and communication so your subscribers have something to look forward to.

  • Have a second look at images.

    Using images with lots of people standing around or enjoying a family gathering are not appropriate to use right now. People notice, even if you didn’t.


Conclusion

To wrap it up this is a time to get closer to your customers and get to know their needs, struggles and interested and the only way to do this is by asking them and interacting with them. Seeing where they click and what content works. Make sure to connect in creative and unique ways and tailor your content to your specific target group.

When was the last time a company asked you how you were feeling? You feel valued and appreciated. Talk to your customers, ask questions, get feedback and use your analysis for any future campaigns.

May 14, 2020Katelen Perez T’Seyen
Previous storyCommunicating in times of crisis
Home Adapting your marketing efforts to COVID-19, now and tomorrow
2 years ago Content, Email marketing, Strategy, TipsCrisis, Marketing strategy, post-COVID497
Katelen Perez T'Seyen
Comments: 1
  1. Alejandro del olmo
    2 years ago

    Great approach to this changing times to be sensible and creative about it 👍

The best content directly in your inbox

Get notifications for new blog articles or subscribe for your GDPR communication!

Recente posts
  • Adapting your marketing efforts to COVID-19, now and tomorrow 14 May 2020
  • Communicating in times of crisis 20 March 2020
  • “It’s a salesting”, come again? 1 March 2019
  • The real estate industry: Building your client base using email marketing 23 May 2018
  • The tourism industry: A ray of sunshine in your mailbox 2 May 2018
  You Might Also Like  
Strategy

Five changes to follow closely

E-mail marketing is a domain that is constantly in motion. Technology grows and changes. Providers sharpen their insights and users come up with new ideas. We’d like to present you another five of those changes. Jan 18, 2013Ann Flipkens

Content, Design, Email marketing, How to start with email marketing, Strategy, Targeting

Tell a story using animated and static images

We are always looking for good examples of technique, design and marketing are connected into a catchy email. Because even for email marketing, your story should be relevant, but should also be appealing. In this example, clothing is packed with a fun twist. Jul 3, 2015Michelle Dassen

Email marketing

Flexmail is nominated for the Digital Marketing Awards 2015

A few days ago we received some pretty big news in our inbox. The jury of the Digital Marketing Awards has nominated Flexmail in the category “Best performing Belgian tool”. Improving ROI and conversions, ease of use and service were key in the decision-making process. Oct 28, 2015Flexmail

Email marketing, Privacy, Tips, Wetgeving

How to make yourself GDPR compliant in 7 steps

GDPR has been cause for discussion in many companies. That is why we compiled a list of things you should do now to make sure that you’re ready for May 25th. 1. Awareness Consult different sources to make sure you understand what GDPR entails and what you have to do to be compliant. You can […]

Strategy

How an American symphonic orchestra thinned its mailing list and doubled its turnover!

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra has put a lot of effort in collecting email addresses. Its mailing list had thousands of email contacts. But in spite of their large volume of addresses, they were getting very low conversions. Optimizing the subject line, the call to actions and the content in general didn’t change much. It was […]

Seasonal mailings, Strategy

Time pressure and testing don’t go together…

The end of the year approaches and for many email marketers those are exciting days. And then they get the temptation to hurry to get all of the email campaigns on the way. That’s when they commit several major sins to the rules of good email marketing practices. Dec 5, 2012Ann Flipkens

Email marketing, Inspiration!

My first week as an intern at Flexmail.

12 weeks of internships seems like a long time for students. In some cases that might very well be the case. For me on the other hand Friday came around in the blink of an eye and there I stood with a drink in my hand at the team mixer. The first week of my […]

Content, Email marketing, Geen onderdeel van een categorie, Inspiration!, Marketing automation, Personalization, Targeting

Discover the new Contact Related Content in the Smart Builder 2.0

Personalization and targeting are trends for a long time already within digital marketing, and there we within Flexmail are heavily anticipating on. We launched extensive segmentation options, interest groups, preferences and the Workflows in the past to set up elaborate marketing automation scenarios. Also Contact Related Content is in our arsenal for some years now, […]

Most Viewed
1,826

More subscriptions, less unsubscriptions: razor sharp e-commerce of Dollar Shave Club

1,402

An integrated offline and online communication at Nespresso

1,241

10 tips to integrate a promo code in your email marketing

1,239

Bloopers you can avoid

1,089

Was this useful?

1,063

10 elements of a great welcome message

1,045

11 ideas to improve your opt-in form

1,010

Are you using animated images in your emails?

2018 © Flexmail