The pandemic-induced new normal has changed a lot of things in our personal lives and livelihoods. Some of us were so bored during the quarantine period that we started cleaning every corner of our house, resulting in some bringing their tools to a vacuum repair shop. Others started their own business or decided to make the most of their existing market since there are no other means of making money.
Several shifts in marketing paradigms have taken place mainly because of the changes that occurred in the supply-and-demand side of the market.
Many businesses and establishments went through a hellish period of uncertainty and risk-taking that led to a lot of companies closing their doors permanently in 2020. The ones who were lucky enough to make it through 2020 in one piece are now reworking their marketing and sales strategies to adapt to the pandemic.
Some marketing experts have a few tips to give us all to improve our marketing strategies and make it a better year for our businesses.
Experts Give Us Practical Tips on Sales and Marketing in a Pandemic
The following tips from some of the top marketing experts will help your business recover from a pandemic.
1. Give your customers reassurance about your company’s response to the pandemic.
Marc Lieberman, Viamedia’s president and CEO, advises business owners to let the public know how their brands are handling the pandemic and all the concerns surrounding it. Doing this keeps the business relevant and trustworthy.
He added that a positive message delivered in a reassuring tone will be well-received amid all the negative news that’s out there.
2. Stay connected to your patrons by making your brand highly visible online.
One of the main concerns brick-and-mortar store owners had at the pandemic’s onset was how they can keep their connections with their customers. Shift7 Digital’s CEO, Andrew Walker advises owners to move their business online and keep pushing forward. He advises owners to work on their online visibility to maintain their connections.
3. Reevaluate your end-to-end sales processes and update your customer experience strategies.
According to Richard Blatcher, PROS’ director of industry marketing and business intelligence, marketers should learn to pivot their strategies in three important ways. To refresh their customer experience and revisit their end-to-end sales processes, they should take a hard look at the numbers and act on them to ensure their customers that they have the ability to respond with agility, optimize all applicable processes, and keep their engagement across different channels high.
4. Work on keeping your customer relationships stronger.
Insightly CMO Tony Kavanagh highly encourages strengthening businesses’ ties with their customers at this time. And when doing so, it should be sincere and genuine. Businesses should never reach out to customers with only sales in mind. Now is the time to be human and humane.
Stay away from the hard-sell route. Your clients and customers don’t need that now. Instead of saying “we have what you need,” you can change your script to “what do you need and how can we help you at this very difficult time?” That slight change in message and tone will keep you highly relevant and increase customer loyalty.
5. Be empathic in your marketing communications.
Now more than ever, marketers should be tactful and empathic in their marketing communications, says Tara Kelly, president and CEO of SPLICE Software. We are going through unprecedented times and any communication without empathy can be seen as businesses taking advantage of the situation.
The pandemic sent everybody home. Some are more fortunate than others because they still have their jobs. Others aren’t as lucky. You need to be sensitive to your existing and target customers. A little sensitivity will go a long way.
6. Revisit your company values and find ways to roll them out in as engaging a manner as possible.
The pandemic has given a lot of us enough time to reflect and evaluate the way we do things, including how we run our business. This is a good time to revisit your company values and realign what you’re doing to what your business was initially established on. Muros’ president and co-founder, Tricia Binder, says that refocusing inspires you to be more creative and innovative in engaging your clients and customers at this time.
7. Take advantage of the technology available to you as you work remotely.
Obviously, technology has been very crucial to our survival today. A lot of companies and businesses were forced to speed up their transition to the virtual world because of COVID-19. That being said, business owners should take full advantage of what technology has to offer them. This goes beyond just having a strong online presence. Andrew Walker says that owners should utilize customer data platforms, marketing automation systems, and lead scoring programs, among others.
We’re going through uncharted territory now. We’re the ones who are writing the playbook on navigating a pandemic of this type. The important thing we can do now is to exercise caution and remain empathic to others as we go through this season together.
