Marketing in the new normal: all change

In the second of our two articles on marketing in the ‘new normal’ – you can read the first here – we share how marketing is changing and what your organisation needs to do to adapt.

In many ways covid-19 has accelerated many of the changes the world was already facing – the growth of digital communications, more flexible working from home and issues around climate change. All of these impact on marketing and how you reach your customers, visitors, partners and donors. Many of the traditional marketing channels that organisations have relied on, for in some cases hundreds of years, will die out as a result of this global pandemic.

Paper cuts

Flyers are sure to be a casualty of our times. Not only is it more environmentally friendly to stop using flyers, there are also hygiene reasons to change this marketing practise. Reducing the number of things people need to touch when out and about – and even the amount of ‘things’ being brought into people’s homes – is a no brainer with a global pandemic. Added to that fewer people are going to places where they might have ordinarily picked up a flyer. Deciding to stop using flyers could also be a great good news story to share about your organisation.

Face mask to face mask marketing

Many businesses rely on face to face marketing at events, conferences and exhibitions throughout the year. Of course, the global pandemic has put an end to most of these for now but they will be back. In the meantime, why not investigate ‘covid secure’ ways of meeting your customers face to face? If you have a shop or hospitality venue you will no doubt have implemented ways to keep welcoming customers in a safe way. If your organisation does not have regular outlets for meeting customers, look at those who do and see what you could learn. Have a look for face to face marketing opportunities which take place outside and allow for lots of social distancing. Many outdoor autumn events like pumpkin picking will still be going ahead – could your business get involved in some way?

Online and on point

As our post at the beginning of lockdown said “This is a great time to invest in your online communities.” And as we said in part one of this series. Now is not the time to abandon the community and following you have built. These channels are set to keep growing and becoming more important. Make sure you don’t miss out.

Think carefully about how you will replace the marketing channels you can’t currently use, either temporarily or for the long term. And make sure you’re thinking about what channels you can make use of instead.

To make an informed decision you need some good data. As with any marketing decision, you need to know your ‘customer profile’. Really get to know your customers:

• who are they?
• why are they your customer?
• how long have they been your customer?
• what other brands/ organisations do they like/ support?

Dig right into this data to inform your marketing choices. If you need support with this, our team can help. We can even help you devise your new marketing strategy for 2020 and beyond.

What is your favourite marketing channel? What does your organisation find most successful?