How the pandemic has shaped modern marketing strategies

Over the past two years we’ve been witness to unprecedented changes thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, and as a result, businesses have had to rethink their marketing strategies to adapt to the significant shifts in consumer demand and the customer journey.

Of course nothing stays in the same in marketing for long, so it could be said that the changes we’ve seen over the last couple of years were always going to happen… but it wouldn’t be true. The pandemic triggered a huge range of global repercussions, where businesses were forced to close their doors, completely change the way they served their customers or even rethink their entire business models.

With these changes came an immediate need to look at marketing strategies in a totally different way. The world changed, and everything needed to change with it.

Marketing strategies, reinvented

Offering marketing support across a range of industries, we’ve seen firsthand how marketing strategies have had to be adapted to deal with the ‘new normal’ we find ourselves in.

Here are five key changes you may want to consider implementing into your own marketing activities to help you move forward post-pandemic…

Five marketing strategies for the post-pandemic world

1. Retain, don’t gain – nurturing brand loyalty isn’t new, but in times of destabilisation, keeping your current customers happy is critical to keeping your business afloat and on the front-foot. Of course new customers matter too, but with finances and employment under pressure, by focusing your marketing on the customers who have stuck by you, you get to demonstrate that they’re valued while also encouraging them to continue to choose you above your competitors. Retention is generally much easier and cheaper than bringing in new business, and happy customers will act as an advert for your products or services in themselves.
2. Solutions not services – having been faced with a range of totally new problems and scenarios, businesses had to find new ways to respond to them. Where your marketing strategies may have historically been designed to sell your services or goods, what customers really want is to have their needs recognised and met – without having to work for it. By identifying your customers’ key challenges, you can sell a solution that makes their life easier, focusing on the things that will elicit an emotional response and encourage them to purchase or engage. Self-promotion is so yesterday.
3. Investing in digital infrastructure – if you didn’t have much of an online presence pre-pandemic, then you’ve probably undergone somewhat of a digital transformation since the first lockdown. Regardless of your position beforehand, the past two years have clearly shown that your customers need this direct access to you more than ever before. Modern marketing strategies must place emphasis on improving the online customer journey, including investment in back-end development to automate systems and improve customer service and communications.
4. Pounce on PPC opportunities – while businesses have invested in PPC campaigns for many years, with both socialising and spending having moved more online over recent years, there’s been a huge boost in ROI across a range of sectors. While Google or LinkedIn Ads may be the way forward for some businesses, there are cheaper alternatives you can implement into your strategy if you’re struggling for budget. For example, Facebook ads are reasonably priced and allow you to hone in on your target audience via a range of demographic criteria, helping you to stay connected, promote offers and showcase the products or solutions you offer without breaking the bank.
5. Cater for the ‘new normal’ – while confidence may be returning in many ways, fluctuating Covid case rates, continuing financial pressures and a change in consumer mind-set means that nothing is quite the same. Your marketing strategies now need to take this ‘new normal’ into account. How can you encourage people to leave their homes and visit your business? What have people missed out on that you can offer? How can you reassure them of their safety? Creating tailored offers such as reduced membership fees, 2-4-1 deals, freebies for a minimum spend, ‘sofa-to-summer’ experiences and clear communications are the kinds of things you should be thinking about to re-engage past customers and bring in new ones.

The pandemic has changed life as we know it into something a little different, so it stands to reason that we need to adapt our approach to consumers and customers in line with these changes.

Developing modern marketing strategies that will help businesses thrive after a period where many struggled to survive will of course differ depending on industry and audience. If you need some tailored advice and support with your marketing, please contact our experts for a no-obligation chat.