Why Your Digital Marketing is More Important Than Ever

Though the effects differ, COVID-19 has impacted practically all enterprises. A few have been pushed forward, a few have been knocked down, and some have even been knocked back.

Over the past four to six weeks, I’ve had the chance to counsel with Digital Marketing businesses and entrepreneurs in a wide range of industries and verticals on how to pivot, how to keep their doors open, or how to reopen when things return to normal.

We’ve discovered some significant lessons that the coronavirus, remote working, and stay-at-home directives have revealed together. It’s up to you whether you decide to acknowledge them and modify your strategy.

Your Digital Presence Is No Longer Important, It’s Critical

Most likely, your doors are locked right now. Your store or workplace isn’t getting as many visitors as it did this time last year. Your customers are remaining at home, despite the fact that you are “open for business.”

They want to evaluate your products online. They desire to receive all of their clarifications and resolutions in the comfort and security of their own homes.

You have a website, of course, but can Google users find you if they are searching for something specific rather than your company name? Does your website walk the user through the complete purchasing process without your involvement? Does it fully handle all the issues raised by your ideal consumer in the same way as the websites of your rivals?

When you most need the business, you’re losing it if you discover it deficient in any of these areas.

This may be the perfect time to perform a digital audit Just a few things to think about are listed below:

Examine the writing on your website. Is it still current and true to the brand?
Fill out your own contact forms, and read the wording on the autoresponder’s thank you sites. Does that ring true today?
How simple is it to subscribe to your email newsletter? Do you provide a strong justification? (I assume you have an email newsletter.)
Investigate your Google Analytics to learn how visitors arrive at your site and what they do when they are there. Are there any areas where you could use some improvement?
Are you active on all of the social media sites that your website links to? Is the voice and branding on your social media pages in line with that on your website?

Your Message Needs to Change

Even though these are difficult times, some people find them to be genuinely terrifying. Some people’s fear is a result of losing their jobs. Some people are afraid because they or a loved one work, but they put their lives in danger for meager income. Others are concerned because they own a business and could lose everything as a result of the pandemic.

The fact is that you can’t possibly be aware of every audience member’s current emotional or mental state. It won’t be effective to promote a “buy, buy, buy!” attitude. It will come across as tone-deaf and be circulated as a statement from a business that “simply doesn’t get it.”

People want to know that you contribute to the neighborhood economy. They want to support local businesses, not those owned by a huge, faceless company.

People want to see that you are contributing. that you are ensuring the security of both your staff and your clients. that you have changed your production process to produce PPE or hand sanitizer. that a portion of your profits are being donated to help front-line employees

People want to see that you are experiencing things that are comparable to theirs. They want you to draw back the drapes and demonstrate that you’re taking cover, that you’ve set up your home office, or that you’re taking all reasonable steps to prevent the spread of the disease. They desire for you to.

E-Commerce Isn’t Optional Any More (But There Are Options)

Prior until now, I divided business websites into two groups: lead generation (generation) and e-commerce.

Even while some e-commerce sites and other lead generation websites had an order form, the goal of both was to either generate leads for potential customers or to get them to “purchase now.”

I’m done.

People are now looking to self-serve from home as we approach a new era. They just want to shop at your website, get a product delivered, or have a service scheduled — they don’t want to wait for a call back. They feel at ease using their credit card or another form of payment online.

Companies that are unable to accept payments on their websites are at a disadvantage to those who can. Sales friction has always been detrimental, and the absence of safe, online payment methods sands away at your chances of success.

There are other ways you can enter e-commerce, though.

The majority of people see a shopping cart when they think about e-commerce. Product pages, category pages, cart pages, etc. This is the best course of action if you have many of goods or SKUs. You may create your shopping cart experience using platforms like Shopify and WordPress plugins like WooCommerce.

There is some setup work that has to be done, such as adding your products, obtaining a security certificate, verifying that your host is PCI compliant, and establishing a connection with a gateway processor.

If you only have a few things (physical or digital), or you need to get something up quickly, an order form is a decent option. Many online form builders (we choose Gravity Forms for WordPress) can be rapidly and securely integrated with a payment gateway to enable customers to make purchases on your website.

Offsite Payment Solutions: Using an offsite processor may be a simple fix if you don’t want to spend the money on a security certificate or can’t switch to a compliant host. You can have the transaction happen on a different website using PayPal, Square, or other similar services, saving you money by avoiding the need to add anything to your website.

Although some individuals still recoil at using (even when they can use their own credit cards), the customer experience isn’t as refined or flawless, but it will do in a hurry.

Party Delivery Service: If you run a restaurant, adopting a service like can give your guests a safe way to buy with you without any more work on your part. You also gain more exposure to

Online markets: A lot of businesses are content to sell on Amazon, Etsy, Ebay, and other online markets. They either direct traffic to these platforms or they take advantage of existing customers to a certain extent.

These are active markets, so there is obviously a lot of rivalry, and these markets can take a sizable portion of your profits in service fees.

Your Social Media Activity Needs to Double

Social media usage has greatly increased. This is brought on by a variety of factors, such as boredom, a drive to better oneself, and a yearning to connect in a period of social estrangement.

For networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, you should be producing and curating a ton more content if you run a B2C business. You and your team need to work on your LinkedIn profiles, prospect more, and share more content in the feed if you work in the B2B sector.

Make sure people are aware if your doors are open. (Remember the updated messaging.) Make sure people remember you if your doors are locked.

The ideal platform for revealing your company’s “pandemic story” is social media.

Don’t forget to allocate additional money to social media advertising. Placing advertisements underneath some of your posts is a good use of your advertising budget because company posts, particularly on Facebook, don’t have the same prominence as posts from people.

Now is a Good Time to Be Storing Up Content

Nobody is certain of the precise timing of the economy’s reopening, or if it will occur abruptly or gradually. (Though they may believe they do, things are constantly evolving.)

Once things start to change, there may even be a pent-up demand for the goods or services your business offers. You might be directly filling orders, employing employees, or conversing with consumers.

It is difficult to produce content when that is taking place. In order to have the type of content your prospects and customers expect from a business like yours available when you’re busiest, it’s a wonderful idea to start writing those blog posts, recording those podcast episodes, making those videos, or building whatever type of content you need to.

When things become hectic, you may queue them up and have them ready to go; all you have to do is press “publish.” You can even schedule them to publish, along with the proper social media and email advertising, once we know when the economy will be improving.

Now is a Good Time to be Rehabbing Old Content

New content creation is challenging. Because of this, we advise companies with a lot of content to concentrate on improving and updating their current content instead. Also, SEO benefits from this. You shouldn’t publish a new Halloween post every year and reduce your exposure for that search if you already have a seasonal blog post (for example, for Halloween). You simply want to add new content while retaining the previous URL.

You don’t need to write a fresh post about kitchen remodeling if you already have one that garners interest. Simply update it with fresh design concepts, new merchandise, and additional before and after pictures.

Other ways to enhance a piece of content already published:

Google favors longer posts (correlation, not causation), so as necessary, think about adding extra substance to your post.
Include quotes from experts; let them know when you republish so they may tell their audience.
Replace any dated information with new statistics and charts.
Replace out-of-date photos with fresh, branded ones.
If you’re changing this content on a yearly basis, change the URL but add the year to the title. “The 10 Best Kettlebell Exercises [2020 Edition],” for instance.
Make sure your photographs are the appropriate sizes for social media so that when people share them, they will look beautiful.
Promote the material on social media and email as though it were new.

Position Yourself for the “New” New Normal

The fact that things will never be “the way they were” is not necessarily a bad thing.

Many aspects of life will return to normal at some point, but there will still be “residue,” such as:

at all stages of the sales process, a greater comfort level with digital interactions, a preference for self-serve/low-touch choices, and a comfort level with video conferencing.
Just a few examples. How are you changing your online presence to meet the demands of clients in a month or a year from now?

What’s the Next Step?

Business as usual is not an option because the coronavirus has affected you and your clients, whether your doors are open or closed, whether you’re slower than usual or busier than ever. The world must change, and only the adaptable will live. You should execute your plan right away.

You must decide for your business whether to put social media first rather than e-commerce, or whether to focus on producing fresh material rather than updating existing content.

We can assist you if you need assistance planning your course through this storm or if you require outside assistance with a digital audit. For a free video consultation, get in touch with flyte right away, and we’ll start you moving in the right path.