COVID-19 is a serious concern for the digital marketing industry as it is affecting various marketing trends and buyer’s behavior towards brands due to the quarantine measures. It has also significantly decreased the marketing spend across digital advertising mediums.
The Coronavirus spreading around the globe is quite a serious issue for the industrial ecosystem. As officially declared as a pandemic by WHO, it is also resulting in big losses for digital marketing, advertising, and media industry. The economic impact of this epidemic is so huge that it is now inhibiting the growth of companies operating in such domains. While it is quite uncertain to bet for the future of economic revival, the slowdown has definitely hard-hit the marketing expectations and revenue revolving around some of the year’s big events like- Olympics, Indian Premier League, etc.
Source – ft.com
As per the industry insights, The advertisers have lowered their marketing campaign budgets as industries like- travel, food, and entertainment have been seriously impacted due to the quarantine measures taken in various different countries across the globe.
Bad News: The Decline in Conversion & Sales
The digital marketing agencies running the marketing campaigns on various platforms like- Facebook & Google (PPC Marketing) have observed a major dip in conversion and sales as the number of prospective buyers has drastically decreased amidst the Coronavirus measures. While in some of the countries where the number of virus cases is still in control, they are forced to take strict quarantine measures to shut down travel operations and places to limit the outbreak. This phenomenon is really resulting in major hardships for the businesses operating in the entertainment, travel and food industry
The Chinese Total Ad Spent has decreased to 8.4% from 10.5% in March 2020 due to a lower spend ratio across digital advertising campaigns.
Driving Creativity from Home: Experimenting Remote Work Culture
Driving Creativity from Home: Experimenting Remote Work Culture During Corona Virus Crisis
The work from home has become quite a convenient option for employees to work while staying at home. The companies are drastically promoting this work culture as a measure to protect their employees from such severe conditions of Corona impacts. In some of the countries, the cases are not much in numbers but still, the organizations are taking every step in the preview of employee safety. This experiment with the remote work culture and work from home could prove to be an innovative step in the marketing and advertising industrial ecosystem as it is mostly driven by creative people. This experiment is an alarm for companies to get ready for such conditions so as to decrease the impact on their work.
Corona Effect On Significant Events & Exhibitions
Corona Effect On Significant Events & Exhibitions
As per the government regulations and strict quarantine measures, the Corona effect has impacted the number of significant worldwide events such as Olympics, Indian Premier League and many of the international sports tournaments which are big enough to fetch great advertisers and sponsors. This has limited the scope of advertising in the digital industry as most of the clients have decreased the total advertising budget that goes across digital campaigns during these big events.
Online Shopping Boom: Impacting Shopper’s Behavior
Online Shopping Boom: Impacting Shopper’s Behavior
E-commerce has seen a major bump in the numbers as people are buying day to day items through online shopping portals. It is also in a wake to stock up the daily needs as the outbreak increases. The data released by Adobe Analytics shows that the percentage of people buying cough, cold and flu medicines through online portals has increased by 198%.
Digital Marketing Post COVID-19 Era: How It is Influencing the “Corona Crisis Management”
Innovative Digital Strategy For Consumer Acquisition
The digital agencies are reaching out to the clients with the emails explaining how brands are reacting to the preparedness towards this pandemic. They are following innovative email marketing and video strategy to promote awareness and deal with Corona crisis management. While there are companies like- Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, Zoom, etc. offering free video conferencing services to promote minimal physical contact with people, this could be a tricky game to onboard users in the midst of the dilemma. It could definitely be a great opportunity for these brands to acquire users into their platform converting them as paid users later on.
Source – Amul Twitter Handle
Cause Based Campaigns
The cause-based campaigns are the best way to tap the emotions of the consumers. The Corona Beer has launched cause-based marketing to aware consumers of environmental pollution in the wake of the Coronavirus tragedy. Since the environmental ecosystem is impacted due to increasing pollution, The brand has launched a “Pay with Plastic” program during world ocean day to offer free beer to users in exchange for plastic waste. It was an important step for Corona to promote a positive image associating it with the Coronavirus as their brand name relates to the name. Netflix has opted for the same kind of campaigns as well.
Source – Netflix Twitter
Digital Mediums & OTT Platforms to Boost Engagement
The digital mediums and social networking sites are likely to get more engagement due to consumers spending more time on sites like- Facebook, YouTube, etc. In the market like the U.S, people prefer to spend more time, consuming video content on OTT Platforms like- Netflix. This is also an active opportunity for Corona crisis management for advertisers to reach out to consumers through advertising campaigns on these platforms. Since these digital platforms don’t abide by face to face personal interaction, it can offer more scope to advertisers to market their brands.
Digital Mediums & OTT Platforms to Boost Engagement
Scope Ahead: Revival of the Digital Marketing Industry
The marketers can actively work towards influencing their clients to opt for digital mediums to advertise their products and services. Since offline marketing is now losing shine in a lot of local and international markets, it is definitely hopeful that advertisers will shift their scope towards digital mediums accelerating spend growth for some of the industries. It is also recommended that marketers should drive constant efforts towards regular SEO & SMO practices to gain benefits once the market seeks real revival.
Revival 2.0: Why Advertisers See Opportunity in Digital Marketing
The cancellation of major events and happenings have already seen a decline in advertisers shelling huge chunks of marketing budgets to reach out to prospective consumers. It is also observed that digital marketing post COVID-19 crisis are now giving a huge opportunity for marketers to not only invest in digital advertising but also give them a scope to try a different league. This resulted in the shift of mindset to jump into the digital media and marketing sphere to reach out to their target consumers more easily than offline ways. The scope of choosing this digital track can help marketers to target great audiences which might boom their presence once the industry gets back to normalcy.
Amazon Observes Jump in E-Commerce Buying Trends- Cuts its budget on Google Ads Platform
Amazon has reportedly cut down it’s spending on google ads platforms due to the fact that it has observed a bump in e-commerce buying trends of essential household and medical items. The Amazon seems to benefit itself from this positive change and definitely aims to cash out big by offering services to consumers in this necessity. While on the other hand, it gives out a great opportunity for other marketers in the industry to leverage the digital advertising platform at low costs due to the cut in demands.
Brand Campaigns: Innovation Outbreaks amidst COVID-19 Fears
Source – Fevicol Handle
Digital marketing post CoronaVirus crisis have come close to support the cause by utilizing innovative efforts to tackle the fears and raise awareness. The famous brand Hershey’s have decided to pull off ads showing hugs or handshakes to make people aware of Corona precautions while Fevicol campaign “Kal ke mazboot jod ke lie, aaj thodi doori maintain karona” has impartially shown the digital efforts to promote awareness.
Nikita Sharma is Chief Strategy Centrik @ hicentrik. She Strategizes, Optimizes & Revises digital activities to deliver optimum results & returns.
6 Years of Global Experience in Multi-tasking, i.e. Digital Advertising, Social Media, Ad Campaigns, Web Design & Development, Lead Generation, and Reporting.