Top 5 Digital Marketing Priorities During Coronavirus

There is no doubt that Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on our physical and mental health, wrecking travel plans and keeping us from visiting with our friends and extended family. It’s also having a devasting impact on the economy and unemployment rate as some businesses are forced to shut down and others are losing revenue as their clients cancel orders. But this isn’t the time to give up. We know that stay at home orders won’t last forever and we hope to see businesses thriving again as soon as possible.

If your business has been negatively impacted by COVID-19, you are likely looking at reducing your digital marketing budget. For businesses who base their marketing budget on a percentage of revenue, this is likely a necessary decision. For businesses that haven’t lost revenue, have increased revenue or that have a marketing budget that isn’t based on revenue; this is actually a good time to increase your digital marketing efforts, particularly when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The search engines will reward businesses that continue to invest in quality content, which will give businesses who continue investing an enormous advantage.

If you intend for your business to stay open after life has returned – as close as possible- to normal then you want to put yourself in the best position have a strong 3rd and 4th quarter. If you can avoid cancelling all your digital marketing efforts or even increase spending during this time, your business will be in a much stronger position when this situation ends.

Top 5 digital marketing priorities during Coronavirus

The main thing to keep in mind for your digital marketing decisions during Coronavirus is that a lot of the work we do today benefits the business two to three months down the road, which is when the economy will likely be slowly returning to normal or bouncing back if we are lucky.

1. Don’t forget to keep communicating with your customers on social media. Express empathy for anyone who is sick or who has lost a loved one and talk about how your business is supporting your employees and/or the community during this time. Note that this isn’t the right time for hard sales.
2. Put a COVID-19 message on your homepage. The message should include empathy for anyone who is sick or who has lost a loved one and explain how your business has changed during this time. Are you take-out only? Have your hours changed? Have your appointments moved to video calls?
3. Continue to invest in relevant content. Continue writing blog posts and updating your web pages because these are the best ways to increase your ranking on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
4. Increase pay-per-click advertising. As your competitors are forced to cut or reduce their PPC advertising, you can take advantage of the void they have left. For example, if people are thinking about which restaurant to order take out from and they enter a search for “restaurants Bellingham”, those with pay per click ads at the top are likely to generate a lot more of that business.
5. Focus on “Local SEO” by reaching out to happy clients and asking them to leave you a review. People are more focused on local businesses than ever right now so this is a great time to improve your local reputation with a solid set of 5-star reviews on Google.

Look for a digital marketing consultant to help your digital marketing efforts

Digital marketing efforts are more important today than ever because a great campaign provides a way to cut through the noise and reach your target audience. You can build your brand and increase sales even during this time.

Softwired provides digital solutions for our clients and partner agencies. We’ve got you covered for web design, SEO, local online presence and optimization, digital marketing, digital sales, and digital advertising. Whatever your business or campaign goals, know that digital marketing options are not mutually exclusive but rather need to be built upon each other. Much like a house where you start with certain foundation elements and finish with the roofing.

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