- Introduction
- Impact of COVID-19 on Content Marketing
- How to adapt to the pandemic using content
- How COVID-19 has reinforced the importance of content
- What should be the tone of messaging during COVID -19
- Content Marketing post COVID-19
- Conclusion
Introduction
We’ve heard the mantra so many times that “Content is king”. Today we all are globally facing major crisis due to the onset of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
This pandemic has drastically impacted the businesses and has made companies to readjust their marketing strategies and programs.
If anyone would have told us some time back that you would have to market and sell your products virtually, we would have not believed them.
But we also know that “the future is uncertain” . Covid-19 is perhaps one of the biggest crises we have faced till now.
Social Distancing is must no matter if we like it or not, complicated product demos and business meetings have to be conducted on zoom.
Traditional marketing strategies are undergoing a change. Adhering to the fact that there is an absence of physical contact with the clients, sales and revenue is reduced.
Even the customers have to accept the fact that we are living in a different world altogether & we need to do almost everything online now.
Impact of COVID-19 on Content Marketing
Content Marketing, being the center of entire Digital Marketing, makes us re-think, how to change our strategy at the time of COVID-19 because there is no defined guide for times like these.
But we can always be creative and responsible professionals and marketers. This Pandemic situation has forced to get the answers to the questions like:
Does the concept of Content Marketing still fit in the current COVID-19 situation that is revolutionizing the traditional Marketing Strategies?
How’s the pandemic impacting what’s next for content marketing?
How should your marketing strategy change?
While we are still in the early phase of Work From Home(WFH) or being in quarantine, businesses are continuing to explore new ideas to see what work’s well in this current situation.
Data shows that Content Marketing is one of the least impacted sector, in all the other branches of Marketing.
According to Content Market Institute’s annual research on B2B content marketing
- 86% of the marketers used Content marketing to create Brand Awareness.
- 75% used Content Marketing to build credibility & trust.
- It says that if brands do not used content marketing to build long lasting relationships, content consumers are all-too-ready to swipe left.
- 88% of top Content Marketing performers put audience needs over their sales messages.
- 74% of the top content marketing performers are more likely to always or frequently craft content based on the stages of the customer journey.
How to adapt to the pandemic using content
Looking at the current crises, we have to accept the fact that our prospect is going to be in the awareness and consideration stage longer than usual.
This means that there is a need of solid content marketing strategy to keep customers continuously engaged with you and your brand without pushing them to the conversion stage before they are ready.
Few months ago, a lot of brands thought, “let’s close down shop for a while and then reopen when things change” but looking at the current situation, it has become clear that waiting for few days to restart the “business as usual” is no longer a choice.
Due to the unpredictable nature of this pandemic, it might take a very long time for the things to be back to normal.
If you chose to wait for COVID 19 to end, you tend to lose all the leverage you had with your customers.
Now, more than ever, content marketing is a key asset in bridging the gap and making the public attached and aware about your brand.
It is a great way to remain at the top among old customers and new prospects, however, your content should be in tune with the times we’re living in.
Through content, you can send messages of hope & support, expressing empathy towards users.
It is also very important to understand why we need a new content marketing strategy? & the content designed must add value and respond to the needs of the public.
Many people have lost there jobs and have had huge financial losses. It is very important to create content keeping in mind the current situation.
Don’t profit from the current crisis with commercial-like content.
Now, what you need to do, is to craft a short to mid-term plan for your content marketing. You can follow these steps to do that:
Identify your current business priorities and goals
Strategize how can you use content marketing to achieve those goals?
Consider how your audience personas may have changed during this pandemic. Look for, What kind of routines do they maintain now? What kind of content are they asking for or consuming? & are their priorities still the same?
Check whether your organization’s resources can help with what they are looking for? If not, are there ways you can contribute? For instance, can you feed the less fortunate, or donate masks or sanitizers.
Come up with your content creation strategy from including, defining a team, a budget, tools to its posting frequency.
Hire an expert to come up with your content strategy, if you do not have enough expertise on the subject.
Set up realistic & measurable goals.
Start writing your content.
How COVID-19 has reinforced the importance of content
Due to the market changing rapidly, it is time to put a pause on some of your ongoing marketing campaigns. What you decided a couple of weeks back isn’t necessarily going to work today.
It is time to reassess the potential touchpoints for our brand across different channels. If your blog, webinar or content is not enough for this moment, then it’s time to pause it.
Because people are spending more time at home, internet usage has grown by 50 to 70% and by 12% for streaming services.
The circumstances imposed by the pandemic, along with more time passing by, are facilitating the success of Content Marketing. This has become the only way for companies to stay in touch with the public.
Let’s look at the ways to draw-up responsible content marketing strategies that are helpful to make your customers remember you & your brand:
Passive but Informative content:
Brands need to produce content to their customers in response to the crisis.
It is necessary to let them know about the proactive measures you’re taking to be responsible, it could be any changes in the policy or any updates.
Although these messages might be unessential, they do add value to customer relationships because they are informed.
Be aware about the language of the marketing content you are sharing because although it is essential to keep them informed but we should make sure that we are not adding more to the panic.
There are so many people who are not working during this pandemic and are worried about their future.
Therefore, it is better not to talk about the award you won recently, or your promotion.
Serious but positive content:
There is no need to carry a very serious or gloomy tone for your content to reflect on the current pandemic situation.
Don’t make your brand seem emotionless. Using images of people that are smiling does not mean you’re trying to be offensive.
It can be a recall for the normal life and a hope for the better future. Let your positive instincts set the mood. Keep your teams motivated and generate content out of that.
For example, you can some professional backgrounds for your conferences. This quarantine is an opportunity to highlight your people and your culture.
COVID-19 educational content:
Create a covid-19 information hub on your webpage. Post your updates there and also send notifications via email and social media.
Tailored content as per the need:
If there are some of the deals that are nearby closure and some them will be decided in few weeks – make sure you keep your prospects engaged about your brand and the product or service but don’t overwhelm them with unrelated content.
Don’t just keep talking about additional features that your product or service might offer, instead keep it reserved for a later occasion and try to solve only their business need as of now.
Few types of content that you can use at this stage:
♦ Video – How to do XYZ?
♦ Blog posts – Responding to questions from your customers
♦ Blog post – What does XYZ cost?
♦ Blog posts – How to solve problem y?
♦ E-book – A simple marketing strategy to achieve ABC
♦ Infographic – Tips to do responsible marketing during XYZ
It is very important to understand that the more we show our human side, the more people can feel connected even if we are physically apart.
What should be the tone of Messaging During COVID-19
During this crises, the economic condition of the world has changed drastically and is uncertain.
Purchasing power of people have been reduced by a significant number as income as gone down.
Many businesses have also cut their costs. People in the world are now more focused towards long term goals and are still figuring out how to live differently.
Seeing the repercussions of this pandemic situation, people need content that can educate them on how to live differently.
Therefore,
Communicate the truth: Make sure whatever you communicate must be truth. This pandemic is a new experience for each one of us and the entire world is trying to figure our how to deal with it.
The future is uncertain, no body knows what will happen tomorrow, therefore we need to make sure our communication does not ignore today’s reality.
ROI one could expect during COVID 19
How to exactly increase or define ROI during COVID 19 is one of the things that comes into mind when one talks about content marketing during COVID 19.
Looking at the fact that there has been a major drop in sales in most of the industries, now may be the time to build relationships rather than chasing after sales.
Factors to consider while defining ROI:
- Are you providing a good customer experience?
- Is your goal to make sales? Is it possible for you to do that without being insensitive to their feelings.
- If your clients are more interested in COVID 19 education or informative stuff, how are you going to keep them engaged & how do you see those efforts paying off ?
Industry leaders and influencers believe that building emotional ROI should be the way to move further these days, if you want to gain huge benefits in the future.
Content Marketing post COVID-19
Will the same KPI's still work?
Just like every industry, COVID 19 has also marked a significant impact on the main KPI’s of content marketing.
Quality is something people are looking for, this crises have seen the greater importance of qualitative metrics than quantitative metrices.
Qualitative KPIs deal with the effects of the content, receiving of the content by the public, & their reactions towards the content.
To measure the qualitative effectiveness of your content, your company can harness the following:
- Methods for analyzing your reputation.
- surveys, requests for feedback, and interviews with your consumers;
- social and web listening tools.
To understand to if your content is welcomed, if it matches your consumers needs, and if it’s able to engage the audience focus on the sentiment and engagement of your audience
Main challenges for what's coming next in Content Marketing
According to CMO council report,
- only 12% of marketers believe that their content marketing strategies reach the right audience with relevant content.
- Most view their content marketing process as ad hoc, decentralized and driven by internal stakeholder, rather than customer, interests.
- 88% of business buyers say online content impacts vendor selection, just nine percent think of vendors as trusted sources of content.
Therefore, the upcoming content marketing challenges are as follows:
- To create content based on the needs and expectations of the public and instead of the company.
- To share content that generates value and demand.
- Being more aware about how relevant the content is.
Conclusion
Content Marketing shines more than ever during this Pandemic.
Despite of so many negative impacts of COVID-19, the relevance and effectiveness of content marketing as a communication tool for companies has not changed yet.
Even today, content is king. It’s proving to be a valuable in bridging the gap, creating engagement, protecting the company’s reputation, and creating effective strategies with increasingly limited budgets.
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