The five ways COVID has changed marketing (part 4)

By now, you should have a pretty good idea of how marketing in the post-COVID world looks. Last week we looked at why digital is king, and today we're going to address another key dependency of a great post-COVID marketing campaign: a premium brand experience. 

#4: A Premium Brand Experience

But Steven, I hear you asking, my brand is already a premium brand! No, it's not. It may have been premium in the old world, but in the post-COVID world there are things people expect that were simply non-issues in the past. Cleanliness, is an issue that customers are, understandably, very concerned about these days, and shedding any conceptions they may have about your company not having the absolute highest standards of hygiene is so important. Messaging that shows off your COVID-safe policies at a factory, ensuring that any customer-facing roles upheld strict hygiene standards (masks, hand sanitizer, social distancing), or simply a rebranding of packaging to give your customers the impression that your product is cleaner than any competitor.

On that last point, messaging that shows you will really go above and beyond your competition is crucial these days. Like I talked about in part 1, online shopping is the new normal, and it's much easier for a customer to simply browse on over to a competitor's site if they're not satisfied. Offering those premium experiences that used to only be available in-stores, but online, is a surefire way to achieve this. As an example, a client of mine wanted to bring an exclusively in-store experience; setting up a customer's new device, online. I worked with the client to build a "Digital Onboarding" experience, where customers could get extensive help setting up their phone from the comfort of their home.

Think about the things your organization does well, and how you can emphasize those things to create a truly unique-in-the-market premium experience.

We're almost at the end of this journey, so join me next week for #5: Do More With Less

The five ways COVID has changed marketing (part 3)

Okay, so you've got your digital storefront set up. You've penned some marketing messaging with a focus on the working-from-home revolution. Now, how do you actually deliver that message? This one should seem pretty obvious, but digital marketing should be your first, second, and last port of call in the post-COVID world.

#3: Digital First, Second, and Last

What's the first thing you check on your phone in the morning when you wake up? Maybe the weather? Possibly your text messages? In the US, 25% of people will check their email as their first app. In Europe and Asia, that number is even higher. Email has this reputation as being antiquated, ineffective and "not sexy". A fancy TV commercial is sexy. Handing out free samples in stores is sexy. A big flashy billboard downtown is sexy. Sending out an email is not sexy. 

But that reputation couldn't be further from the truth (except, I will maybe concede on the sexiness factor). Time and time again data has shown that email is one of the most effective channels out there in getting your customers to exchange. It's something everyone has, everyone checks regularly, and in the post-COVID world, when people are staying in more and going out less, it's the most efficient way of getting your message out to your customers.

A client I worked for exclusively used in-app notifications and in-store marketing materials as it's CRM. I had to fight tooth and nail to convince them that email was the way to go, but kept getting pushback. "People don't use email in this country. You're not from here, you don't understand". But I was persistent, and when we finally launched our email channel, we saw open rates soar from 3% to 25%, click-through penetration rates spike, and overall engagement balloon.

Check in next week for #4: A Premium Brand Experience

The five ways COVID has changed marketing (part 2)

Last week, I talked about how having a flawless digital storefront was the bare minimum marketing requirement in the post-COVID age. So now that your webstore is up to scratch... how do you actually market to people? The first thing to consider is the working from home revolution that happened behind the scenes last year.

#2: Appeal to the Working from Home revolution

Even before COVID hit, working from home was slowly, steadily, becoming more and more accepted. Most corporate jobs allowed senior members, particularly those who didn't actually need to be in the office every day, to WFH a few days a week. Then COVID hit and every single workplace in Australia was dragged kicking and screaming into the reality that everyone who can feasibly do their job at home, must stay at home.

Suddenly, there are a whole bunch of people stuck at home that usually aren't, and that's going to have a massive impact on consumer spending habits. Take the ultimate Melbourne office worker's staple for example: coffee. If you're not going into the office, you're not picking up a take-away coffee on your way to work. But you still want coffee, so maybe you'll be thinking about investing in a nice espresso machine to keep at home. And you'll want some good quality beans to go with that. Maybe as a marketer you want to run campaigns on how people can use your products to make café-quality cappuccino's at home?

Of course, now we are out of lockdown and are slowly (and safely) returning to the office, but it will never be at the same capacity as pre-COVID. The genie is out of the bottle, and now that so many workers know that they can work from home, they will demand it, and some form of WFH will become the new normal for many people.

With that in mind, you need to think about how you can market your message to appeal to the newly-minted working-from-homers.

Check in next week for #3: Digital first, second, and last

The five ways COVID has changed marketing (Part 1)

COVID-19 has had tremendous, dramatic impacts on virtually every industry across the planet, and marketing has been no exception. As all of us Communications Specialists, Content Managers, and Marketers can testify, the old way of doing things just isn’t cutting it in the post-COVID world. Even with the vaccine underway, and the world slowly heading towards the fabled “new normal”, the pandemic has changed consumer behaviour permanently. Customers are more cautious and less trusting, and if you want your marketing campaign to succeed, you’ll have to heed these five learnings - that we all had to learn the hard way during lockdowns, panic buying, and mass paranoia.

#1: Your digital storefront has to be perfect

Working with a large retail client, they told me that customers used to tolerate their flawed online shopping experience because they were able to consistently beat competitors on price. Post-COVID, when the switch from retail to online hit every industry in full force, that was no longer the case, and they suddenly found themselves needing to hastily overhaul their entire digital storefront.

If you’re selling any kind of product, especially if it’s a product that competitors also sell, your online experience not only has to be flawless, but also has to go above and beyond. It’s not enough to simply have everything work, but customers should be able to easily manipulate their shopping cart, search for specific items, navigate sales and promotions, and easily understand shipping (preferably free, and baked into the cost somewhere else) and other potential fees. Unlike shopping at a retail store, where there is quite a large barrier to physically emptying your shopping cart and trying to find the product elsewhere, when your customers are online, your competitor is literally a click away.

Don’t bother running any kind of digital marketing promotion until you get this step done. If you send customers to a poor experience, all you’re going to do is turn them away at best, and at worst, send them right to your competitor! It’s no longer acceptable to outsource a less-than-reputable offshore IT team to slap together a barely-functional online storefront. Take the time, and the resources, to build something properly.


Check in next week for #2: Appeal to the Working from Home revolution