It’s been about 5 months since Thailand implemented strict lockdown rules to help stop the coronavirus from spreading, and life as we know it has changed completely.
From canceling dinner dates and weekends away to catching up over a Zoom call rather than a face-to-face meeting, COVID-19 has given us a ‘new normal’ – one that none of us could ever have expected.
We’re all doing our hardest to keep our heads above water, trying to maintain business as normal and find new ways to keep us going – no matter how small.
The government has implemented some good steps to help those of us whose jobs have been affected by the outbreak, however, when talking about business crisis planning business owners still have more to consider.
While it might be tempting to cut back on marketing activities, instead you should think about tailoring your marketing campaign with attention and care.
In these tough times, we have put together some tips and general instructions for the marketing process and how to use the digital platforms.
A Fresh commitment
Twelve percent of respondents said marketing strategies are still “moving ahead as expected,” according to an E-consultancy report, and 28 percent said their companies are pursuing expected strategic measures such as digital transformation or restructuring.
Nonetheless, during this period your audience will react differently and you should consider adjusting how you sell to them. Communication is critical-you
Think about where your audience is, what they need, and how you can support-and change your marketing strategies accordingly.
Continue Advertising
Whether you are a travel business or in the hospitality field, it may be worth holding off on paid advertisements for now, but in the long run, it could be risky to halt all advertising.
Rethinking your promotional strategy, instead. Tell yourself what can be stopped right now, e.g. whether it is unacceptable or not realistic right now, and see if there might be space for improvement, e.g. to help the audience or to add positively to the situation.
Give focus to your Website
Despite social distancing steps in place for the near future, we are constantly connected, with the internet being our virtual space 24/7. If you do not already have a website, build one. If you do, improve it! Make some much-needed updates to older pages with no specific reason, update your personnel pages to reflect your current staff, redesign your homepage, or review your analytics.
Improve your SEO
Why not do an SEO audit when reviewing your website to see if you can make any improvements?
Optimize page headings, ensure that your content contains important keywords, and check that all your images contain alt text-only small adjustments will improve your search ranking. Find out more about this year’s patterns that we can hope to see in SEO.
Go Social
If you’re already living with your partner, family, or friends, the only thing we have right now is virtual socialization. People spend more time than ever looking for help on social media, something relevant, or just a little light-hearted fun.
Appropriately update your content calendar – your content should be sensitive to the situation and certainly not ignore it, but give your audience information.
Organic Growth
According to Virgin Media, internet use in Thailand has doubled throughout the day, because we’ve all been at home. Your audience will have more time to consume content, so consider creating interesting, insightful blogs or videos.
What topics will you cover during the outbreak which could support your business? Where would you answer the particular questions you have about your audience? Any older material can be changed.
Get Viral
Technology has been our saving grace. Activities and events have cancelled so why not digitally give it a go?
Webinars prove to be more common than ever and a range of organizations take their conferences online or provide their users with e-learning services.
Stay Positive
COVID-19 is not an opportunity to benefit from or take advantage of. Trust, honesty and empathy are essential – we ‘re all human and we’re all struggling, so all you can do is do your hardest to deliver positive messages through your marketing efforts.
Build in-house employee-generated material. We sent out biweekly emails with facts and amusing BuzzFeed posts to try to inspire our team to remain optimistic to fill the void of the normal contact between the offices.
For the upcoming Songkran holiday, encouraged people to come to work in floral design clothes.
Some companies have adjusted their themes to match the pandemic, like Nike: “play inside, play for the world.”
To me, this is a strange situation so please do your best.
We wish everyone peace and health during this period. If you want to talk to us about something-whether it ‘s social media marketing plans or just talking, please feel free to get in touch.