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As more events and meetings continue to be cancelled, and our social lives become impacted, it’s time for businesses to adapt and change to move into a “new normal.”
COVID-19 has swept across the globe, leaving uncertain times ahead for both individuals and businesses. And, with many of us taking on remote working, and following advice from healthcare and government professionals to limit our social interactions, it’s time for organisations to adopt their approach to suit the needs of their employees and customers.
Today, like you, they are faced with new challenges and problems; but they still have needs and they are still looking for solutions. I spoke about this in my last vlog, that with a positive mindset and adaptive thinking, you can still be there for them. Looking at the positives, we have a fantastic opportunity to really embrace digital, and our online presence.
So, what can you be doing to change your approach?
Increase your online visibility
To reach and engage with your customers and prospects, ensure that your online presence positions your business in the best possible light.
You can do this by reviewing your website and considering if it’s time for a revamp. And, you should review your social media channels too. Does your LinkedIn profile feature all the relevant keyword for your audience to find you easily? Take this time to step back from the day-to-day and ensure your online channels are fully optimised to help your business break through the noise.
Another way to get your business out there is by creating video content. 51% of marketing professionals cite video content as delivering the best ROI, and video marketing is by far one of the most effective and impactful ways to engage with your audience.
Whether you’re creating a high-quality video or a more personable, personalised video as part of your outreach approach, it’ll all go towards helping increase your online visibility.
Go Virtual
To ensure your customers and employees feel connected without physically being in your presence, consider taking your meetings virtual.
Today, technology allows for clear, consistent interaction through various video calling applications, so utilise them to keep the connections going whilst everyone is remote working.
And, you’ll be protecting your prospects and employee’s health at the same time.
As well as hosting video meetings, look into other forms of online communications such as chatbots. Automated bots and your sales team can provide live interactions with your audiences and can have a positive impact on your website conversion rates.
Utilise social media for updates
Social media isn’t just useful for driving traffic to your website and increasing the reach of product and service messages, you can also use it to provide updates to staff about your organisation, and to keep your customers informed too.
To do this effectively, make sure your team members are fully up to speed with ways to use social media, and set-up social media training sessions for those who feel less confident on different platforms.
For your customers and prospects, utilise social listening tools to gain a thorough understanding of what content they’re interested in hearing about. Identify the topics that they care about, the sources they like, and the questions they’re asking to tailor your social media posting to suit their preferences.
This approach will ensure that the content you push out will be of value to your audiences and will help position your business as a figure of authority.
In addition, take advantage of social selling. It has the power to catapult your brand and turn your sales and marketing teams into true brand advocates.
Reallocate budget
Worried that your current marketing activity will be put on hold due to issues out of your control? Why not consider moving offline budgets into something new such as digital marketing campaigns or online webinars?
And, with the majority of us now working from home, consider other ways to get in front of them such as direct mail. The use of electronic direct mail could be an interesting outreach strategy with response rates of 4.4%, compared to less than 1% from email (Epsilon).
By doing this you can try different ways to engage your audience, and you’ll be able to still get your messages heard, by the people that matter, due to them being in the same situation and working remotely too.
Final Words
I believe that now is the time to define your digital opportunity, set your strategy, and take action to implement your plan.
I would love to catch up, screen-to-screen, to identify the areas where we can increase your online presence, together.
Stay safe, stay positive, and let’s keep moving forward.
To find out more, please email me at [email protected] or call a member of the team on 01926 422002 to discuss.
