Digital Strategy in the Age of Covid-19
Digital marketing has to be done in context in consideration of the prevailing economic, social, and political events, failure to which any efforts put into executing a digital strategy will lead to a loss of resources. A digital marketing endeavor is a plan that stipulates the steps that a business ought to take in order to achieve specific ends through online marketing networks like earned media, organic searches, paid, and personal media. Before creating a digital strategy for a potential client, it would be imperative for them to know 5 important things, which are: the significance of demographics, the marketing and business goals, the product, digital marketing tactics, pricing.
Since there are many digital marketing approaches and tactics, it is imperative for a potential client to understand them well. Such tactics encompass SEO, search engine marketing, content marketing, and email marketing. Each one of these approaches are suitable for different products and services. For instance, in case where a product offering targets a specific group of, say, accountants, if one happens to have emails belonging to accountants in that category, sending emails will be one of the most effective methods to use. Therefore, it is very critical for a potential client to understand the available options and the advantages and disadvantages to each one of them.
The business goals also dictate the digital strategy because all marketing endeavors must have a specific, measurable goal in mind. If the marketing strategy is to create an emotional appeal for a given product or service, one will certainly use a different approach to when the objective is to create a rational appeal.
Demographics are important because if one is targeting, say, college students, they would use a different channel to when targeting the general public. Equally, pricing is important to consider because all marketing endeavors must be done within budget to achieve the set goals. Lastly, it is crucial to understand how the product fits into the current economic outlook given the ongoing covid-19 crisis. For instance, if one wants to sell hand sanitizers, they would find it easier to market than non-essential products such as holiday packages. In fact, it would be prudent to advise a potential client to shelve marketing plans if the product or service offering goes against the current mood.
