We’re currently in the midst of an epidemic. COVID-19 is at the forefront of all our minds at the moment, and almost everyone around the world has been affected in one way or another. The question on a lot of our minds is how long will it last for?  How will it affect our businesses? What do we do about marketing? With the lockdown having been announced in the UK and a number of other countries, all of us will be self-isolating, meaning people will be spending a lot of their time online. With times of uncertainty, often comes panic. Whether it be in your daily life or making business decisions. A lot of us now are in this so-called ‘panic mode’. We’re here to tell you that it is crucial that we all stay calm, and focus our efforts intelligently with regards to decision making when it comes to online marketing.

While it’s easy to think this epidemic might last forever, we have to bear in mind the reality – this is temporary, COVID-19 isn’t going to last forever, and ‘Business as usual’ will be restored. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. But it will get better. Take China, for example, it’s been roughly 3 months since the outbreak, and now they’ve started lifting travel restrictions, people are slowly going back to work, and the number of new domestic cases are decreasing. In the UK, we’re roughly around 2 months behind China, so if we were to follow this trend, it should be getting better around May. So when we do return, do you want to be left behind due to your pause in marketing or do you want to reap the benefits of getting ahead of your competitors?

social media

Staying connected with your existing customers via socials

During this lockdown, all of us are going to be spending time at home. We’ll most likely be entertaining ourselves online. Meaning if you pause actions taken on social media accounts, your existing customers won’t be seeing you, resulting in a potential loss of both brand awareness, and certainly engagement. It is imperative that you maintain your social media presence. You need to be regularly generating new content (careful not to appear too salesy during this sensitive time), sharing news about your business, sharing your thoughts on the situation and how you could be potentially helping. More importantly, take time to engage with your customers, answering any queries they might be having. Don’t lose your existing customers, stay close and connected and do all you can to ensure customer loyalty is maintained.

ppc

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising to attract new customers

With more people spending more time online, it could present a great opportunity for certain businesses to use PPC to connect with their customers; typically this is highly dependent on the industry considered. We understand that a lot of businesses now are looking for more ways to be saving money as opposed to be spending, which makes sense. If you fall under the following industries, now might be a good time to be investing: Non-profits & charities, health & medical, business management, finance, beauty & personal care, greetings, gifts & flowers. Across these industries, the overall search ad impression, as well as search ad conversion rates, have increased.

Should you not fall under those categories, we will likely now experience a period where organically key phrase searches are less relevant. So what’s the alternative if you do have the budget and want to invest? Social campaigns may be your best, where improving brand awareness should be viewed as your primary KPI to assess, whereby you should additionally identify new audiences/ leads you may have always looked to capture and optimise content fitting to these ‘demographics’.

seo

Jump In Front of Your Competition with SEO

Search traffic has increased significantly since the beginning of this pandemic and will continue to climb as we stay at home, meaning it is crucial for your business to stay visible. SEO strategies should be implemented now more than ever to rank on Google’s SERP.

SEO efforts help your business increase organic search traffic to your website. Everyone wants to be on the front page of the Google SERPs –  research has shown that 75% of people never scroll through to the second page. To attain this first page position, it takes a lot of time and ongoing SEO efforts. It’s a constant uphill battle that requires constant attention. Any pause in online marketing/SEO is a pause in any form of progression.  If you stop optimising your website and content, your competitors will be moving ahead of you. Your SEO gains at this time are a competitor’s loss. Compete to move ahead, don’t fall behind.

Why pause on something you’ve already invested time and effort into building? After all, the actions you implement today for your SEO campaigns will affect your organic search traffic later on (roughly around the time when this pandemic is settling down). You want to always be ahead of your competition whether it be now or in 2 months. Before cutting costs on online marketing, bear in mind that it is imperative that you maintain SEO investment to ensure the longevity and success of a campaign, even throughout this pandemic.


Remember that during this uncertain time, a lot of people are panicking and making emotional decisions. Be sure to keep calm, take smart actions and think of the long run. Continue your online marketing efforts, and give yourself a chance to push ahead and come out on top.

To discuss how a digital marketing agency can help your company during this uncertain time, get in touch with our experienced and knowledgeable team. Call us on 0208 44 44 757 or fill in the contact form below.

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