As the economy revs back up and consumers begin to adjust to a new normal, companies must continue to adapt as well. This year has already proven that businesses are in as much transition as their customers, searching for an acceptable identity and shifting how they communicate with key stakeholders from customers to employees. However, this doesn’t mean your marketing strategy must dramatically change to compensate. In fact, focusing on fundamentals will be key for companies in this new normal.
A Marketing Approach that Stands the Test of Time
Brand, consistency, integration, and substance always yield the best results. This is true in any market, especially now. The cold hard truth is that some B2B efforts can take months or longer to generate a strong, consistent pipeline of new customers. Therefore, if you wait until the month or quarter where you REALLY need the new business, you run the risk of it being too late.
So how do you solve this? Marketing programs that provide reach into your target audience, engage them, and nurture them over time are key. Especially if automation can save time and resources. A few of the software as a service (SaaS) tools that help you “drip” marketing include:
Social media platforms such as Hootsuite, Loomly, Buffer, and Sendible.
Email programs such as Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or through your customer relationship management (CRM) system.
Online advertising including Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn pay per click (PPC).
Content Still Rules the Queendom
Content is still queen and will always be so. :) However, creating good content for a business can be time consuming or simply overwhelming without the right resources such as industry expertise and graphic design. Get started by:
Thinking about some of the most frequently asked questions you receive during conversations with customers and prospects.
Staying current on new laws and regulations that affect your industry.
Highlighting your company developments and customer successes.
Ride the Digital Wave
We’re all spending more time online and this is true of your target customers. Although there is a light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines and we are seeing the potential of more in person events etc. don’t underestimate the benefits of going digital. Providing monthly or weekly webinars, podcasts, and e-newsletters are easy deliverables that will greatly benefit your business. According to Brand Equity, “Fifty-five percent of Americans now listen to podcasts, while newsletter mentions were up 14 per cent during lockdown.”
Make sure to optimize your online properties such as website and blog. Any sound online strategy should include ADA compliance and search engine optimization (SEO) best practices. For example, have you optimized images with alt-text? Alt-text describes the images on your website or social media posts. Adding alt-text to your images helps consumers who use accessibility tools better understand your content and helps with search engine ranking.
For a deeper dive on this topic see this blog post: https://www.persimmonmarketing.com/post/website-ada-compliance-are-you-compliant
Last but not least, make sure to test out new technologies. Google Lens is an image recognition technology designed to bring up relevant information related to objects it identifies using visual analysis based on a neural network. It is becoming a necessity on the accessibility and marketing fronts to properly add alt-text to your images.
Get Educated on the Latest Resources
The emergence of more educational business support is also critical. Look for webinars, events, blog posts, etc. to help you stay current with trends or source marketing ideas. A few resources to check out include:
How To Secure Marketing Budget
Struggling with ways to justify your marketing budget to leadership? Try these approaches with your leadership team:
Look at government support for businesses. Paycheck protection loans, grants, and tax breaks are more prevalent than ever. With more government funds becoming available, businesses can capitalize on these funds to improve awareness and customer acquisition. Programs such as:
PPP loans
Extension and expansion of the Employee Retention Credit
Extension and expansion of the employer credits for paid sick and family leave benefits
Credits for providing subsidized COBRA benefits
Restaurant revitalization grants to cover restaurant business losses.
To wrap up, there is no way to know exactly how customers will behave and engage in this new normal. However, by leveraging these marketing fundamentals you’ll be ready for any challenges that lie ahead. Also, should you need additional marketing advice or support, contact us today for a free consultation.
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