We are living in unprecedented times. From simple everyday routines to marketing, the change COVID-19 has brought is without benchmarks. The life-changing nature of this pandemic throws many marketing playbooks out the window. Thankfully, not all have become irrelevant. Some remain applicable with minor tweaks.
Why you shouldn’t stop your marketing efforts
While it is natural to respond to a crisis by taking steps to trim your expenses, it may not be necessary to cut back on everything. Often, one of the first casualties of a slowdown is marketing. As businesses attempt to make every dollar count, there is a tendency to focus spending on activities that bring immediate results. But with marketing technology, it is possible to produce a more immediate impact of marketing on sales. To this end, this article argues for the need to continue with SEO, or search engine optimisation, during COVID-19.
SEO is an important pillar of digital marketing. Foremost, it gives your brand visibility in the cluttered and crowded internet space. Without this visibility, even the best social and digital media strategies will do little to drive sales. High visibility makes it easier for prospects and customers to have a relationship with your brand or business. Seeing your brand featured prominently lends confidence. In times of crisis, people are more likely to do business with brands and businesses they are familiar with. On this note, let’s look at the reasons why you shouldn’t stop SEO efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic:
1. Consumption doesn’t end
Unless a total collapse of humanity and civilisation has taken place, people need to carry on living. There are essentials, and this can vary from person to person, but people need to survive. In addition, some new needs will emerge. For example, COVID-19 threw the market into a frenzy in search of sanitisers and masks. If you are a provider of such goods, switching off your SEO would have put you at a disadvantage.
2. Necessity and scarcity are opportunities
It was hilarious at the start, but soon it became the cause of near fistfights along supermarket aisles. As the prospect of lockdowns and restricted movement drew nearer to reality, it was natural for people to stock up on their daily essentials. However, the surge in demand was overwhelming, forcing people to look for alternative sources of supply. With an active SEO, you could have been spotted by them. Deploying the relevant keywords would have put you in front of panic-stricken online shoppers.
3. Cash is king
By now, many businesses will need ‘ventilator’ support to remain open. Governments around the world have thrown lifelines to businesses struggling to meet their operational costs. Cash is king in a crisis, but with your SEO intact, you make it easier for people to find you online. As people are locked down or forced into quarantine, online shopping is their only means of accessing their necessities. When SEO is accompanied by a PPC campaign, the right offer will make it easier and faster for shoppers to make a purchase.
4. What gets sold, gets measured
The effectiveness of your marketing can be tricky to measure. It’s one of the reasons why it is cut in a crisis. Businesses need to be able to see the impact of every activity they undertake. But with SEO marketing, it isn’t difficult to attest to its success. Marrying your Google Analytics data and sales figures will give you a clear picture of the benefits of your SEO activities.
5. Think long-term
Unless your brand stature ranks as high as Amazon, McDonalds or Netflix, you risk the peril of out-of-sight, out-of-mind if you don’t take steps to keep your brand awareness high. Eventually, COVID-19 will be dramatically reduced or eliminated. When this happens, some semblance of normalcy will return, though, in a different form and shape. The need for your product or service will also return, but if you have been out-of-sight, out-of-mind, you may not be on prospects’ or customers’ radars, so it might be a shade too late then to drive your brand saliency.
So how are business owners leveraging their marketing?
For those who are new to the digital marketing space, this is your opportunity to start promoting your brand.
So we encourage for all businesses experiencing a downturn in business to either continue or start aggressive marketing efforts such as SEO or search engine optimisation.
This form of search engine marketing is the most effective way to advertising your business during these challenging times.
Are you looking to boost your online presence? Get in touch with us today.