Marketing during COVID -19 coronavirus.
Life often throws a curveball, and there’s not been one quite like the outbreak of COVID -19 coronavirus. Many companies are feeling the effects; (but I’d go out on a limb to say, no more so than those in, or linked to, the travel industry.)
As a result of this, many people in many industries, are rethinking their financial strategy for the foreseeable future. Several are reassessing their marketing strategy. There are two schools of thought here.
-One, lock down, cancel all outgoings that aren’t essential bills related to office space and wage packets.
-Secondly, market harder so you come out of the other side stronger and in a better position than your competitors.
I suppose the question here is; what we would, as PR and marketing professionals, suggest businesses do for marketing in the coronavirus outbreak.
The first question is, are you in a contract?
If you are when does it end? If it’s in the next six weeks, then cancellation is a consideration.
If you are in contract you need to contact your PR or marketing agency and work closely with them to strategize the best way to market the business during this difficult time to ensure you emerge in a much better position. The chances are, by continuing your marketing you will anyway as so many others cancel. If they aren’t doing anything, or very minimal, the very act of doing something will mean you come out on top.
If you are able to leave your contract, it’s food for thought. Our advice is as follows: If you have found the coronavirus has left you severely out of pocket and the marketing is going to mean you pay late or be in a very bad position… cancel your contract. It goes without saying that it’s important your company survives the pandemic.
However, if you can afford it, even if it’s a little stretching, don’t cancel. As we said above, marketing when others aren’t gives you a HUGE advantage. Think of it like buying stocks when the market is low.
You need to adjust your marketing. You can’t keep churning out the same old ‘pre virus’ content. If you are, for example, a hotel booking platform, you need to start aiming at staycations rather than city breaks in Europe. Use your PR or marketing agency to your benefit and ask them to strategize the best way to get out of this. And for goodness sake change your PPC keywords to replicate that too. The same goes for other industries. Think about how you can benefit people during this trying time, but don’t be merciless.
if consumer thinking is different the buying habits will be too. You need to look at your strategies and adjust them accordingly.
Try not to let this get you too anxious. The economy will come out the other side, it has to. Keep your marketing strong and we promise you will reap the rewards. Marketing should never stop entirely. Even when there’s a terrible state of affairs you still have to get your message out. If you have no choice but to cancel your contract with your agency; make sure you still do what you can to promote yourself. Communicate facts, prioritise customers wellbeing, continue to do a good job, and the rest will fall into place.
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