As the United States continues to adopt shutdown practices to "flatten the curve" of COVID-19, businesses and marketers across the country are in unfamiliar territory. We're here to help. At Cox Media Group Local Solutions, we're putting everything on the table to help our clients beat the odds and continue thriving in this new digital landscape.
If you need recommendations and tips on the best ways to optimize your strategy, just reach out. We're implementing how businesses, and marketers, in particular, can adjust their game plan to deal with COVID-19. We're also putting our best foot forward to identify the marketing strategies your business should be leaning on during this time.
Without a doubt, digital marketing will be the single most important tool in your marketing arsenal in the coming months. Consumers have migrated their communication habits to multiple digital channels. We at Cox Media Group have seen web traffic and data consumption up across all categories, our previous peaks have become daily averages over the last few weeks.
For marketers, there's incredible opportunity in digital media right now! Digital marketing can help your brand target ideal consumers with little to no waste, it's an ideal vehicle to maximize your marketing dollars for impressive return on investments. Retailers that previously operated brick-and-mortar locations are quickly shifting their logistics to online ordering. Food spots are leveraging online ordering portals and delivery while eCommerce providers have doubled their ad spend over the last few weeks to remain competitive in their space.
As you look to change your marketing strategy and attract customers during these unprecedented times, you need the right digital marketing playbook. At Cox Media Group Local Solutions, we've got your back. Here are the digital marketing strategies all marketers should consider.
Make an Impact With Digital Marketing and Cox Media Group Local Solutions
We've been following the COVID-19 marketing trends closely and we can say one thing for sure - you need to pour resources into your digital marketing spend immediately. As the CDC continues to urge people to stay home, and many states are enacting shelter-in-place acts, consumers are spending their time and resources digitally.
This is also a time where people are turning towards entertainment and media. People are spending over 24 hours a week checking the news digitally. Meanwhile, Netflix and YouTube are hitting record-high numbers of concurrent users and bandwidth usage.
This trend carries over to businesses while marketers are facing their own challenges in the B2B sector. Traditional handshakes and one-on-one meetings are now conducted in Slack channels, on Skype calls, and via Teams. B2B value is increasingly digitally driven, and marketers have the opportunity to make an impression via digital channels.
How Brands Should Approach Digital Marketing During COVID-19
We've been in constant contact with our biggest and smallest clients to measure the digital marketing playing field during these last few weeks. Chances are, your marketing team is frustrated, struggling, and stressed trying to figure out what to do in the coming weeks. Here are the trends that we're personally using at Cox Media Group Local Solutions, and these are also the trends we've seen grab results.
Reevaluate Your Existing Campaigns
Google recently released 5 media principles that its marketers are using to stay relevant and focused during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Google, marketers should focus on context, reassessment, consideration, priorities, and contribution. In other words, you have to completely reshape your existing campaigns.
Both your creatives and your ad spend need to be revamped. Instead of focusing on traditional spring campaigns, it's time to focus on what people are actually doing at the moment. In line with this thinking, Cox Media Group Local Solutions has been pouring over client wording and ad structure to eliminate any phrases, wording, or images that could cause friction during this time.
We're also heavily monitoring ad campaigns. There is an incredible surge in news and social media misinformation during this time. We have to make sure that our clients' ads aren't in conversations that could put their brand in a negative light. You need to figure out what you want to be associated with, and what kinds of associations could damage your reputation. This starts at a local level. Remember, local SEO, and local ads are just as (if not more) important than your holistic strategy.
Use Your "Owned Media" To Help Spread Positivity and Accurate Information
In times of crisis, your biggest value lever is your owned media. It's your opportunity to reach out to people, educate them, inspire them, and give them value. Your wording, structure, and images should all be reevaluated to ensure that they're consistent, positive, and helpful to consumers.
The media is doing a great job of covering COVID-19. News consumption rates have skyrocketed, and consumers are certainly staying informed and updated. As a brand, it's your job to communicate your own style of value - not just piggyback off of the current news trend of the week. Try to adjust your campaigns to resonate with people in their current situation without overselling the message.
Adjust Your Digital Media Spend
In the past, there's always been a large chunk of consumers that refuse to shop online. During this pandemic, those consumers are turning to the digital landscape. These are brand new faces in the digital world, and they're ripe for digital marketing strategies. Of course, this is leading to a massive increase in competition.
We heavily recommend that businesses start to hone in on their digital portfolios. Your video and content creatives are going to experience a surge in viewership, and you need to make sure that your information and quality is up-to-par. Brands should reallocate resources to ads - especially in social media, SEO, and video. We also recommend that brands ramp up their organic campaigns. These local brands should team up with a marketing partner like us to help figure out where they should spend their resources and how they can leverage organic campaigns to stick out in the ad-dense social ecosystem.
Conclusion
It's no secret: the world of digital marketing is changing. We've never experienced anything remotely similar to this before. We're all adjusting. At Cox Media Group Local Solutions, we're hyperfocused on ensuring that our clients' brands thrive and we wholeheartedly believe that digital marketing should be the go-to strategy in the wake of COVID-19.
Cox Media Group Local Solutions can help you transition your marketing game plan to facilitate growth in this uncertain atmosphere. Contact us to learn more.
