5 Lessons COVID-19 Taught Us About Our Future Digital Strategies

Elizma Brits
Marketing in the Age of Digital
5 min readApr 23, 2020

COVID-19 has changed the way we think about marketing. In the past few months, companies and brands have become more reliant than ever on their digital strategy. Even though everybody in the world is faced with challenges, the pandemic taught us some valuable lessons that will affect how we market digitally in the future. Here are five lessons COVID-19 taught us about how we should approach a digital marketing strategy going forward.

1. Re-assess and adapt to change

Stores are closed, consumers are staying home, and the economy is in shambles. If there is one lesson the pandemic thought us is to adapt to change or fail. This is why we need to reassess all digital marketing strategies to fit particular situations. We should always carefully evaluate our messaging. Everything from the tone, visual imagery, keywords, and media channel of choice should be taken into consideration. If you do not change your content, you can damage the brands’ image and reputation. For example, I still receive emails from retail stores recommending me outfits to buy to get dressed up for spring. I am not going anywhere soon so the message isn’t exactly appropriate for the current situation. This is also a great example of why re-evaluating your content calendar is so important to ensure that scheduled posts are still applicable that day. Automating your social media posts ahead of time saves you effort, but always double-check what content you put out into the world with situations, trends, and sensitivity in mind. It is better to be cautious and safe than paying for mistakes later to regain customers’ trust.

2. Understand the situation of your target audience

Being trapped between four walls to keep yourself safe brings up all a lot of feelings and emotions. It is not only essential to be specific about who you are targeting in your digital strategy but also to take into consideration what your consumer is going through. COVID-19 taught us a great lesson about how we should communicate with our target audiences. What not to say in our marketing message becomes clearer. You should change your message to fit every aspect of the consumer’s current state and needs. This isn’t just applicable to the COVID-19 situation, but to all the phases we are in life. For instance, you are going to speak differently to parents than newlywed couples when it comes down to the retail industry. Both of them are in a different situation. The current environment aside, deep listening and considering the customer’s voice to inform business decisions, is more critical than ever. Having empathy towards the different stages of your consumers’ lives can go a long way in being relatable and building a customer relationship.

3. UX and Mobile Optimization is the dynamic duo

We have nothing to do, so we are on our phones, playing games, and checking social media almost 24/7. Today’s consumers spend more time on their mobile devices, making it essential that brands start exploring the immense potential of mobile marketing. Despite the pandemic, I don’t think we will switch out our mobile devices for something new anytime soon. For this reason alone, mobile optimization is crucial. You want to reach consumers in the place where they work, play and live. Unfortunately, we are very impatient human beings and we want things to happen quickly and effectively. In fact, 71% of mobile searchers expect mobile site pages to load as fast or faster than desktop. Therefore mobile optimization and the User Experience (UX) go hand in hand. If your website doesn’t meet certain mobile-friendliness requirements, consumers will leave your site immediately and you will lose a potential customer. If your website is optimized for Mobile and your UX provides a positive experience it will help keep a user loyal to the brand.

4. SEO is a must

It might be the case that consumers don’t need your brand’s product or services as they worry about their financial state, but that doesn’t mean that you should go offline and disappear. Search engine optimization (SEO) can still be your holy grail in reaching consumers no matter the situation. It is the ultimate lifeline and allows you to stay visible. By tweaking your content in such a way so that your brand still comes up when you search for certain categories will give your brand a competitive advantage. Investing in a comprehensive SEO strategy puts you in front of those that are still in the purchase decision process. The pandemic has proved how powerful SEO could be to any business. SEO is a long-term marketing strategy, and it takes time to see results or a return on investment. Still, the brands that implement an effective SEO strategy in times of hardship will see the benefits of it as soon as everything gets back to normal. Crisis or no crisis, SEO should be the backbone of any of your digital marketing strategies.

5. Don’t think about going viral

Over the past few months, I’ve seen many brands trying hard to stay relevant during the crisis. I truly get that you need conversions and sales to stay in business, but being desperate and trying to hop on a new TikTok challenge with the hope of going viral is not the way to go. There is this perception that going viral will make your business flourish and make your products or services the next big thing. The truth is that having the objective of going viral as part of your strategy can misguide you in the wrong direction. When you are too focused on getting as many shares, likes, and views as possible, you lose focus on creating value for your company’s specific target audience. Yes, viral content can increase brand awareness, but just like every other trend, it eventually fades away. Then what are you left with? You may be able to ride the viral wave only for a while; therefore, the focus should shift towards creating high-quality content that your audience relates to. If you are consistent in posting high-quality content, you will build a loyal audience base. That loyalty will lead to consumer lifetime value which is an even higher return on investment than being the newly shared cat video of the day.

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Marketing in the Age of Digital
Marketing in the Age of Digital

Published in Marketing in the Age of Digital

thoughts and reflections on digital-first marketing from NYUSPS Integrated Marketing Grad Students

Elizma Brits
Elizma Brits

Written by Elizma Brits

South African in NYC II Animal lover and travel enthusiast II Upcoming marketing professional II NYU masters student II https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizma-brits