How to market your business digitally during COVID lockdown?

We all know how the outbreak of Coronavirus is heavily impacting small businesses and emerging companies. Right from Ecommerce companies to B2B agencies, all the business owners are trying to figure out ways to cope with this unexpected crisis. If you are a business owner, there must be several questions arising in your mind –

Is COVID-19 going to affect my business?

How long will this continue?

Should I focus on marketing my business?

How do I market my business during the coronavirus outbreak?

During such adverse situations, most entrepreneurs tend to lose sight of their business and stop marketing for a while. However, the best thing you can do right now is to use this opportunity to get ahead of your competitors. Now is the time to market your business digitally when your competitors are not. In other words, build your brand with good content and invest in social media platforms.

How to use digital marketing for your business?

Invest in Social Media Marketing Platforms

All small businesses like startups and emerging companies are unsure about how to retain their existing customers and generate new leads. Let your customers and audience know that you are still functioning and providing services as usual. How do you let your audience known that you are open for business? What is the best way to market your business online? Social media marketing is undoubtedly one of the top online marketing strategies for small businesses. People are spending more time on social media platforms during the lockdown period. Hence, there are higher chances of audience engagement and customer retention. Use this time wisely to increase your brand awareness among your target audience.

Focus on Email Marketing campaigns

Email Marketing is yet another effective digital marketing strategy for small businesses to stay connected with their clients. As a business owner, there is no end to the process of learning about your target audience. Also, the process of building relationships with your customers continues. Email marketing is an excellent way that B2B and B2C businesses can use to stay connected with their clients. For instance, B2B businesses can create email newsletters to retain their existing clients. On the other hand, B2C businesses need to focus on maintaining their brand loyalty and reputation, as consumers will stick to the brand they trust. Now is the time to use email marketing tactics to improvise on the brand-consumer trust.

Double your Search Engine Optimization efforts

While thinking about how will your business grow during this unexpected crisis, do not panic and put a stop to your SEO efforts. Now is the time to double down and focus more on your SEO strategy. We all know that getting a better search ranking is an overnight process and it takes a lot of time and SEO techniques to beat your competitors. Since there is a chance that your competitors may have paused their SEO efforts, take this opportunity to rank higher at a faster pace. Revamp your SEO strategy, create more SEO friendly blog posts, and update fresh content on your website on a consistent basis.

Invest in Google Ads and Facebook Ads

Have you stopped advertising on Google and social media due to the current situation? If you have second thoughts about why you should be spending money on Google ads, let me clear your doubts. There may be some people who would still be willing to purchase your services. So do not miss out on your audience by not advertising your services and products on relevant platforms. Your audience will buy only from the brands they are familiar with. Hence, Google Ads and Facebook Ads will let your audience know about your services and the chances of them purchasing your services eventually increases. Are you still thinking about what is the best way to market your business online? The answer is Google and social advertising.

What are the benefits of marketing during the time of COVID?

Now that you know how to use digital marketing for your business, are you curious to know its benefits?

• Even if you are taking small steps to market your business online, know that you are steadily getting ahead of your competitors
• When you are putting consistent efforts in building a relationship with your potential customers, you are indirectly guiding them through the sales funnel.
• You are learning more about your customer base, their pain points, buying patterns, etc. This information will help you create content for converting your audience into clients.
• When most businesses are shutting down their services temporarily, marketing will let your customers know that you are still functioning.
• When you build your brand with more content and promote it on relevant platforms, you are bound to see the positive results post COVID-19. 

Do not let the lockdown period influence your marketing decisions. Now is not the time to shut down, it is the time to double down. Be even more strategic about marketing your business digitally, retaining your customers and driving new customers. List down all the marketing ideas you have been thinking of, and take the necessary steps to implement them. 

Penned By: Aanchal Patil