We Are Part Of The Reflection Point
A letter to my client
My Dear Client,
I hope this letter finds you safe and healthy.
At this point, we are delighted to see that the vaccine is rolling out, and a lot of people are being vaccinated. But, to my concern, we will never go back to the pre-pandemic norm — we are adapting to a new norm.
I am writing to you because there is something you have to know before we start planning a digital marketing strategy for your company.
The very first is CRM. You need to forge bonds with customers. We all know that the customer decision journey starts with awareness and loops up with loyalty. Our ultimate goal is not sales but loyalty and love. No matter how many quantitative advertisements we send out, we end up with qualitative conversations, interactions, and bondings.
It is not an easy task, neither before nor after the pandemic. But, customers must have been offered so many choices when they are browsing online while lock-down, which makes the mission even harder. Although it is vital to show your competitive advantage, mutual communication is necessary to maintain the connection with customers. In other words, be personal.
The next step is, we are going to enrich your media. People are browsing&listening more than reading. Their time is fragmented into pieces, which means they usually don’t read deeply to content that doesn’t catch their eyes.
During the pandemic, social media usage and website visits have kept rocketing. The average number of ads a person sees every day is 6,000 to 10,000, almost doubled the number before the pandemic. You have to stand out, not only by what you do but also by how you do it — we gotta make your ads shine brighter than all your competitors.
You may have known this, but I want to reiterate that SEO and SEM are necessary. People are heavily relying on search engines during the pandemic. There is an estimation that 80% of people search online for a product or service. You don’t want to miss the chance where you could have been in the first row of customers’ search results.
I want to share a joke I stole from my professor: “The safest place to hide a dead body is the second page of google search result.” Considering people who search on their mobile device, you will be a dead body if you cannot make your site in the top ten.
Here comes the most important one: you have to be prepared for pivoting. There is news hitting us every day, whether it’s about new regulations or new functions. We’ve seen Google banning third-party cookies; the coverage of 5G will extend to broader areas in 2021; AI is come to use by brands more than ever; etc. We need a solution for each setting so that we won’t be sifted out by the market or by customers.
In China, economists were expecting a retaliatory consumption which actually didn’t occur so obviously because people have been shopping online. The only sign is people’s ascended zeal for entertainment, like going to cinemas and dining in restaurants. We don’t know what’s gonna happen in the US, but it hurts nothing if we have a pivot-easy plan in hand.
Last but not least, you have to remember that, especially at this time point, never discard physical stores. I know it is tempting that how e-commerces are making money during the pandemic. But, consider why Amazon opened so many physical stores ever since 2015? Even as the worlds’ biggest e-commerce brand, Amazon still knows the power of in-person contact with customers.
People are still and will forever value a physical experience. And, back to our first point, stores are the places you forge bonds with customers. The pandemic has made many people realize how much they yearn for human contact. Don’t miss that when you get a chance to satisfy their needs.
We are at a reflection point, and we want to be a part of that rather than a spectator. This is a time point where we all should be alerted. I hope that I have made my points clear. And if we are on the same page, let’s start your strategic planning.
Best,
Silvia.
