Let’s break it: COVID-19, and what day-to-day life looks like these days as a direct result, is freaking weird.

I’m rolling out of bed to “go to work” in the next room. I’m getting onto Zoom with the video turned off so no one has to see that I haven’t brushed my hair in 9 days. I’m FaceTiming friends to tell them about the dog I saw walk past my window because I don’t know what else to talk about…

Yeah, it’s a lot.

But, on the other hand, this is an INCREDIBLE moment for digital marketers. The world has their eyes on their screens, time in their days, and boredom to appease.

How can you use marketing opportunities to connect with your consumers during COVID and social distancing?

I’m here to answer that for you! Let’s get into sales and marketing post COVID-19.

1. Customers Prioritize Companies They Can Trust

During this unprecedented time more than ever, consumers are seeking companies they can trust. While many areas in their lives are shaky and tumultuous during social distancing, they are looking for sturdy pillars to lean on.

The CMO Survey conducted a Special COVID-19 Edition asking U.S. marketing leaders at for-profit companies to share what they predict for the future. The results regarding marketing and advertising during COVID-19 definitely surprised our team!

The findings show that the highest priority, over the span of the next 12 months, for customers is trusted relationships. Astonishingly, the highest expectation is that customers will value those trusted relationships even higher than low price, despite the negative impact COVID has had on the economy.

The Takeaway:

This is HUGE! And a major opportunity for marketers to tap into ensuring brand attachment that brings further purchases for the company in the future. Sure, marketing and advertising during COVID-19 is not straightforward, but it’s bringing forth a creative atmosphere full of possibilities, resilience, and opportunities to learn to pivot.

In short, with all of the other many unknowns of COVID-19, your willing customers who trust your brand the most are willing to pay more to you than less to those they don’t. This opens up the door to try new services, products or GTM (go-to-market) models.

This finding was not what we were expecting, but we love to hear about emerging marketing opportunities during this time! And, of course, we wanted to come straight to you with the info on sales and marketing post COVID-19.

2. Infuse Empathy In Your Marketing Correspondences

Businesses are closing. People are sick or even, devastatingly, dying. Your friends are out of jobs. Family members are quarantining. WE’RE WEARING MASKS TO THE BANK NOW?!

It’s a crazy time with all of this social distancing. That we know. It’s tough to know what that should mean for your marketing opportunities and brand voice. When should we use humor? How much emotion is too much emotion? How does one get it right?

We know there are many questions and considerations to take into account when it comes to operating business during a pandemic.

One thing we can all agree on: Marketers, you need to find a way to incorporate empathy in your marketing communications. If you leave it out, it could be received as taking advantage of what’s going on around us, and you definitely don’t want that.

The Takeaway:

Now is the time to connect with your audience in a way that addresses their pain points from a level of understanding. Automated messaging can still continue with a little tweaking of the content to fit the climate and state of the current pandemic. Also, analytics can provide invaluable insights to how people are responding and engaging to the new changes you’ve made.

This is uncharted territory, but make sure you’re on the right side of things!

3. Pivoting With Where Your Customers Are At

What is the MOST important thing a business could be during COVID-19??? That’s a hard one, right?!

Well, we think it would be “adaptability.” Your customers are having to encompass this in their lives each day with COVID-19, so how can you honor them in that?

Well, masks are on. For many–if not most–industries, conversions are down. Things are beginning to look grim.

Well, speaking of adaptability, there are solutions even for this; that meet your customers where they’re at, AND get your conversion where it needs to be. Seems like a win-win, right? It sure is!

If you are selling something online, even if you aren’t an eCommerce company, you should consider offering payment plans through services similar to Affirm. Affirm is a privately held financial company that allows customers to get on a payment plan for their purchases.

The Takeaway:

As mentioned, this does not just have to be for an eCommerce company. You could sell consulting services over the span of a year, ebooks, digital courses, etc.

Payment plans lessen the financial load of your customers and help you boost your conversion rates. This is an answer to the problem many are facing when it comes to reducing short-term spending. Consumers are far more likely to justify a purchase when the payments are spread over time.

Brownie points if you incorporate empathy and let your customers know you’re there for them! Studies have shown that consumers are more likely to spend money on goods or services from companies that are generous or giving. Lean into that.

4. Connect Virtually

Whether you’re a brick-and-mortar with zero online presence or a fully stacked online store, now is the time to either get started virtually, or press even further.

Most everyone during COVID-19 is both of the following:

• At home
• Online

This opens a MAAAJOR opportunity. For some, this is exciting given the direction their company was already going. For others, this is terrifying.

Either way, it’s the new normal and it’s time to start adapting like a chameleon in these times.

The Takeaway:

Your consumers are home and they have a lot of time on their hands. This is a key consumption period; don’t sleep on it!

We could go on and on… (and on, seriously) about alllll of the many pros of connecting with your customers digitally.

But, to name a few that are especially important during this time:

• Low advertising costs
  • No, like really low – Traffic on the web is up and there are fewer advertisers, so ads are cheaper
• Fulfilling customer needs
  • You need to implement ways to get your services or products to your customers even in these unexpected times
• Connecting with your customers
  • With consumers spending more time at home, you have to bring your story and experience to them now through website or phone app

What to focus on:

• Your story
  • What makes your service or product different and trustworthy?
• Take a good hard look at your website
  • Ask friends or family about their experience with your site to see if there are improvements to be made (product pages, layout)
  • Does it have the functionality to get your goods or services to your consumers during COVID-19?
  • Is it visual? Images? Videos?
• Data
  • Study your site’s Google Analytics
  • Use Ubersuggest, or a keyword tool of your choice, to analyze your website’s SEO

We here at Gravity Junction, the best digital marketing agency, are pumped to have your eyes on our blog. We want to hear from you, just as you’ve taken the time to hear from us!

We know sales and marketing post COVID-19 is a puzzle–understatement of the century–but together, we can not only survive, but thrive.

Feel free to add anything, correct anything (we’re here to learn!), say “hi,” or reach out to us with any questions regarding marketing and advertising during COVID-19 you may have. We’d love to hear from you.

Stay safe, and market strong!