In the wake of Covid-19, many business owners and leaders deal with continuity issues and how to keep their businesses afloat. However, despite the significant challenges, the pandemic has also presented opportunities for businesses to reimagine their operations and position themselves to take advantage of the changes in consumer behaviour and ecommerce in general.

Many businesses are also facing a test of authenticity in terms of putting their customers first and prioritizing between business continuity, their employees, and other stakeholders. The world needs more kindness and love at this time and brands will have to be sensitive in their marketing communication, in both their copy or imagery. They will have to show that they are authentic, empathetic, and in solidarity with the general population during the crisis.

The Role of Digital Now Reinforced

Many businesses running brick and mortar stores or offices have, in the past few months, been compelled to reimagine their operations in light of the new rules such as social distancing and widespread curfews all over the world.

The role of internet has become more crucial than ever since the pandemic struck. But even for the businesses that already ran full digital operations, Covid-19 still affected important aspects of the business such as demand for their products and services, supply chain management and the sudden need for support systems for remote work.

The Way Forward For Business Growth

With the high uncertainty of how the pandemic will unfold, more businesses are forced to reorient themselves and reimagine their strategies based on the new realities. 

These are a few suggestions on how businesses can proposition themselves for growth in 2021 and beyond:

1. Nurturing Customer Relationships

One of the fundamental areas that businesses can use to build both their recovery and growth is customer relationships. As businesses shift from crisis response to recovery, nurturing customer relationships is going to be more important than ever and a critical priority that could determine growth of their businesses.

Naturally, many businesses will be concerned about the impact of Covid-19 on business relationships. The pandemic has undoubtedly placed customer loyalty and trust to the test and many businesses will want to continue to provide great value to their customers. 

To retain customer loyalty and trust, you’ll have to look ahead and create innovative and improved offerings that would serve your customers’ needs both now and beyond the pandemic. By prioritizing their interests, you will build lasting connections for years to come.

2. Providing Unmatched Digital Customer Experiences

Even before the pandemic, the digital landscape was in a constant state of change and expansion. Modern ecommerce is practically an environment where many businesses push similar products and services and have almost the same access to the consumers.

The good news is that there are plenty of opportunities to set yourself apart from your competition. One of the first things you can do is to provide a much better digital experience for your customers. This includes providing a smart and more user-friendly interface, fast and efficient payment options, timely support, and the right infrastructure to support a smooth and pleasant digital experience.

Slower websites with poor loading speeds tend to drive customers away. Similarly, potential security breaches and vulnerability that expose your ecommerce platform to hackers and other online threats will also discourage your customers from doing business with you.

Laying a solid technology infrastructure for your online operations will grow your business both now and beyond. It will also ensure your company is well positioned to capture opportunities when they arise. 

3. Educating Rather Than Selling 

Many businesses have been forced into crisis modes and survival has became a priority. It’s easy to get caught up in structural changes such as staff cuts and reorganizing the balance sheet and overlook other crucial areas such as their sales and marketing approaches. 

This reset is an excellent opportunity for businesses to revisit their marketing approach. For instance, to maintain customer loyalty and trust, businesses will have to focus on educating their customers rather than the hard sell. As thousands of businesses try to market their products and services, there’s a very real possibility that your messaging may get lost in all the marketing noise. 

Capturing your customer’s attention is becoming increasingly difficult and focusing on educating your customers will set you apart and increase your conversion rates. Many brands still insist on the traditional marketing messages that involve a relentless explanation of the benefits of their products and services. Unfortunately, most of them have to contend with disinterested potential customers and eventually amount to wasted advertising dollars.

How Content Marketing Can Help Grow Your Business Both Now and Beyond

As brands re-evaluate their marketing strategies, they will have to take into account the current situation and change the way they create and distribute their content, as well as the actual copy.

The covid-19 crisis is a great opportunity for businesses to revamp their content marketing strategies so as to create unmatched digital customer experiences. It has also presented an opportunity for brands to repurpose their marketing with an emphasis on education rather than selling.

Therefore, a new content marketing approach even in the midst of the crisis will go a long way in nurturing customer relations. Statistics consistently show that consumers now favour authenticity, transparency, and friendliness in a brand. Content marketing presents an opportunity for brands to make their marketing material more personal.

In light of the changing consumer behaviour, before, during, and beyond the pandemic, digital marketers are increasingly coming to the realization that they can no longer use the same marketing approaches. 

A consumer research study indicated that more than 85% of people skip TV adverts, while more than 40% of people ignore direct mail. And just about everyone (90%) unsubscribe from company emails. 

Content marketing has no doubt shown remarkable results in terms of ROI as compared with more traditional marketing strategies. In fact, it should be central to your digital marketing efforts.

The fundamental principle behind the success of content marketing is relationship-building which focuses on the customer rather than the brand or the business. In fact, statistics also show that consumers often seek out a product or service after reading content about it. 

The fact that Google can crawl all the pages of your website for SEO means that, with every high-quality blog post you publish you get a chance to be included in search results. A well planned out SEO strategy through targeting various short and long-tailed keywords will allow for more visibility to your brand. This in turn helps to grow your brand through discovery and lead generation.

Source: Demand Metrics

Businesses have to shift their focus from traditional outbound marketing which primarily involves promotional material that tries to persuade consumers how great their brand is and serving ads to customers whether they want to see them or not. 

As a matter of fact, consumers now prefer other methods of interacting with the brand and content marketing is now the best way to position your business for growth both now and into the foreseeable future. It has been proven to generate more leads and drive higher conversion rates.

To learn more on why content marketing should be central to your digital marketing efforts, check out our blog post here.

Conclusion

At the moment, much remains uncertain and businesses have to factor in the new realities as they plan for the future. Nevertheless, the pandemic presents a great opportunity for companies to evaluate their business and reinvent themselves. Content marketing presents a fantastic opportunity for brands to position themselves for recovering, revitalizing, and growing their businesses in 2021 and beyond.

Finally, we have recently posted an article on how to budget your marketing spend. Check out the blog post here.

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