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The coronavirus pandemic has affected many lives and businesses are taking a hit with plans and campaigns being held back, postponed, or cancelled. In fact according to a survey by the eMarketer, in the US alone,49% of marketing professionals and agencies held back a campaign launch until later in 2020 and 45% stopped or paused a media campaign midway. Covid-19 has disrupted our daily lives and the advertising industry is not excluded from this. Businesses are also shifting their focus and adjusting their budget among different media types to accommodate the disruption caused by the pandemic.
If you’re a business owner, chances are you will most likely need to rethink your media budget and strategy. Digital advertising is most likely one of the media platforms your business should consider shifting focus to. But with a lot of brands and businesses going online and advertising during this period, there’s likely to be increased competition. Your ads are also competing with organic content with more people posting and creating content during this pandemic as they stay at home.
How can your brand stand out and differentiate themselves from other competitors pushing out ads during this time? Let’s take a look at several digital advertising trends and how you can cut through the social media noise to get your consumer’s attention.
While we understand the necessity for your business to drive sales in these difficult times, as much as possible your campaigns should be less about selling and more about educating customers and showing them what makes your business different. Capitalising on the fear and panic during this pandemic will not look good for your business. Instead, try going for a more positive and empathetic approach when it comes to the messaging in your ads. Prioritising post engagement during these times can also help your business secure customer loyalty and encourage your customers to purchase from you again in future. In the long run, this could help grow your business’s base size and reach. Using your business for good can also help with brand perception as more people are expecting businesses to be responsible and play a part in helping the community.
Another important thing to note is the clarity of your messaging. Currently, we’re seeing a surge in social media content being generated and posted online as more people are getting creative and finding ways to entertain themselves at home. Your ads are likely to be competing with all these content and it is vital to ensure that your message is clear enough that at a glance your audience is able to understand. From copy to creative, make sure the messaging is clear across the board.
Take this chance to also relook at all the ads that you have planned for your media buys. In fact, to promote social distancing, most businesses have swapped out images of human interaction with a 27.4% drop in social ads, according to a study. Do an audit of all your creatives and ensure that they don’t sound tone-deaf or insensitive in these times.
As more people go online and use the internet, Google is seeing a surge in the term Covid-19 as people look up news and information on the virus. If your business uses Google search ads, do note to refrain from using the term as Google is being more strict and blocking all ads that are capitalizing on the virus that promote phishing, conspiracy theories, malware, and misinformation. Google is also working alongside local governments and the World Health Organisation to run public service announcements and help educate the public who use their platform. Similarly, Facebook is also banning ads that promote a COVID-19 cure and ads that attempt to create a sense of urgency about necessities, like sanitizers or toilet paper. It would be good for your business to avoid hard selling in these times and be more sensitive about the current situation.
Invest more time into your remarketing ads as well to retarget people who have visited your webpage or past customers. As we all stay home and use the internet even more than ever, this is a good time to re-engage with your web visitors and get them to make a purchase with incentives like free shipping and special promotions. Think of what your business can offer them in these times and you’re likely to see your ROI increase if the remarketing is done correctly.
This includes remarketing to those who have interacted with your business’s social media pages by liking, commenting or have shared your posts. Optimise your remarketing campaign by segmenting your audience accordingly, the more relevant your ads are to your audience, the better your results will be.
As we slowly see circuit breaker measures being relaxed, your business should prepare itself for any further after-effects of the coronavirus. We hope the tips above can help your business optimise your digital marketing and want to remind everyone to stay positive and keep your hopes up. Stay safe everyone!
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