Digital Marketing saved businesses during Covid-19

March 2020 marked the beginning of a season that everyone who survived will never forget: the CORONAVIRUS  PANDEMIC. Everyone had their 2020 resolutions lined up, holiday trips booked and children ready to go to school as per usual, then this tragedy hit the globe. All the countries in the world started to announce Level 5 National Lockdowns, a complete shutdown of operations, and this marked the boom for Digital Marketing.

The Switch to Digital Marketing

As everyone was locked-in, the only thing that made them survive and kept them entertained was their devices. This led to an increase in Digital Marketing as it was the only way to address the audience. Companies began to focus more on Digital Marketing by making use of different tools to sell their products. Even small businesses also started to utilize different digital platforms to market their products.

According to Forbes– digital was a clear winner here, and companies – including ones that may not so much as had a Facebook page before – needed to move into social marketing, content marketing, SEO, and influencer-led campaigns for survival.

Digital Marketing tools

The complete shutdown resulted in people failing to access basic commodities, however, essential workers and manufacturers for essential products were allowed to continue working. For businesses to reach the consumer and keep them engaged, they had to adopt different digital marketing tools. These include Social media platforms, promotional emails, Search engine optimization (SEO), etc

Social Media Marketing

There was a huge increase in social media marketing as this was the easiest way to address the consumer. These platforms were greatly used by businesses as they are more affordable and also easy to reach a large audience.

• Facebook– big and small businesses invested in Facebook pages with information on their products. They also invested in paid promotional ads which would redirect the consumers to their facebook page with more details. A surge in digital ad spending during the pandemic when consumers shopped online, along with higher ad prices, helped Facebook revenue to increase by 48%. In the tourism industry, other suppliers such as AndBeyond introduced Facebook Live sessions to try and keep the consumers aware of their products e.g Ngala Tented Camp– Kruger National Park, South Africa.
•  Tiktok also became the next popular marketing platform as companies introduced short promotional videos to survive. There was a growth of 180% among 15-25 year old users after the pandemic broke out. Crumbl cookies expanded during the pandemic through Tik tok.

• Instagram- Pre-covid, Instagram was already being utilized as a marketing tool, however, the number of users increased significantly during the Pandemic. With Instagram having over 1 billion users, many companies used this platform to keep their consumers eganged.
• Whatsapp– Whatsapp status also gained popularity as a marketing tool during the Pandemic with businesses posting their products.
• Podcast– some businesses introduced podcasts to create awareness and also get feedback from their target market. Apple hit 1,000,000 podcasts in 2020, almost half being published in early 2020 (Simplecast). 

Emails

Precovid emails were mainly a means of communication rather than a marketing tool. The pandemic resulted in a boost in promotional mailers being sent out to consumers. Gmail has recorded a significant increase in promotional mailers during this period. According to Adweek, email marketing skyrocketed and there was an 86% increase in revenue by August 2020.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Google Ads

A significant number of businesses invested in SEO and google ads to promote their products during the pandemic. This increased traffic to their websites hence increasing the awareness. As people prepared for remote working, office supplies became a sudden breakout industry. Searches for office supplies increased 90%, paid search ad clicks increased 35%, and search conversion rates increased 41%.

Other electronic media channels

The pandemic also led to other digital media platforms gaining popularity e.g Mixlr. This is an online radio station that you can run as a business or individual. Some businesses invested in Mixlr to promote their products on a platform that is solely theirs.

Growth in Digital Marketing Courses

Due to this surge in Digital Marketing, businesses became aware that they needed to be equipped with the proper skills to market their products. According to Deloitte’s digital and salesforce webinar of 14 May 2020, reskilling for future jobs and career opportunities was now important in order to equip the workforce with the proper tool for business during the pandemic. 

This also led to an increase in Digital marketing online Courses. Some platforms were offering the courses for free e.g Coursera just to create awareness. One-on-one coaching sessions with experts were introduced by other businesses such as Abacus Digital, IIDM, etc to allow learners to learn at their own pace. This would also provide a platform to interact with their coaches during the sessions.

In view of the fact that a number of companies were affected by the pandemic, those that survived managed to switch to Digital Marketing promptly. This marked an era where Digital Marketing is now the core of today’s Marketing.

March 2020 marked the beginning of a season that everyone who survived will never forget: the CORONAVIRUS  PANDEMIC. Everyone had their 2020 resolutions lined up, holiday trips booked and children ready to go to school as per usual, then this tragedy hit the globe. All the countries in the world started to announce Level 5…

March 2020 marked the beginning of a season that everyone who survived will never forget: the CORONAVIRUS  PANDEMIC. Everyone had their 2020 resolutions lined up, holiday trips booked and children ready to go to school as per usual, then this tragedy hit the globe. All the countries in the world started to announce Level 5…