Digital Marketing Against the Backdrop of the Coronavirus Pandemic

With the global pandemic of coronavirus altering our daily routines, business people and marketers have started to shift their marketing strategies to cope with this disruption in the marketplace. While the only thing we can be certain of right now is uncertainty, a worldwide disease outbreak is sure to change the way digital marketers and their clients conduct business for the time being and possibly well into the future.

Marketing Impact of Event Cancellations and Postponements

With the cancellation of such large-scale events such as the NCAA Division I Basketball men’s and women’s championships and the suspensions of major sports leagues such as the NBA, MLB, PGA, ATP and WTA tours, advertisers who bank on these programs are forced to look elsewhere for their target audiences. The prospect of cancelling this summer’s Olympic games in Tokyo has all but ensured that marketing professionals will have to focus much more energy on digital marketing strategies and campaigns instead of well-attended sports events.

Exhibitors Turn to Digital Marketing as Trade Show Alternative

While some industries such as hospitality and events businesses are understandably pausing or pulling back on their near-term budgets, others are looking to generate sales outside of their normal pipelines. Indeed, some trade show exhibitors have started increasing their digital spending as a way of offsetting the hiatus in the trade show circuit.

For example, the Mobile World Congress 2020 trade show was recently canceled due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Instead of cutting their marketing budget, however, one trade show participant diverted the money earmarked for exhibitions to online marketing. In other words, many companies are looking to digital advertising to replace the leads they typically generate at these types of events. Since trade shows often occupy the largest part of companies’ marketing budgets, even a slight shift in allocation could result in a much higher investment in web marketing.

The Perfect Time to Examine Your Marketing Strategy

One of the advantages of remaining at home is that people will have more free time to review their online strategies and to redefine those marketing messages. Taking a much closer look at recent marketing efforts and performance represents the perfect opportunity for a refresh and to get an edge on competitors who are slow to adapt to the new environment.

In spite of burgeoning fears of a global economic slowdown, the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) still forecasts an annual increase of 7.1 % in global media spend this year. Much of this is due to the expectation that marketing departments will move their budgets to the latter half of the year, which should increase competition and prices for media.

The Rise of E-Commerce

Although we can expect an initial bump in online commerce resulting from panic shopping for things like hand sanitizer and toilet paper, the plethora of experts exhorting us to practice social distancing should affect the buying habits for more routine items and leisure purchases.

Consequently, digital marketers and business owners will need to position themselves to capitalize on the online purchases that would normally have occurred in-store. Strange times like these favor businesses that can adapt to reach out to customers and build brand awareness across channels that may benefit from an audience unaccustomed to online shopping.

Many retailers have already experienced a jump in their online revenues as the crisis has worsened. Moreover, they are also seeing higher online conversion rates compared to this time last year. Streaming services are also likely to see a marked increase in activity as physical entertainment venues such as movie theaters and live sports are shuttered.

Although e-commerce supply chains will be affected by factory closures in important manufacturing centers like China, that doesn’t mean that people won’t continue to shop online. Indeed, online retailers will probably experience an uptick during typically slow periods due to the extra time spent at home.

Uncertain Times Ahead

Nevertheless, a prolonged recession will eventually harm e-commerce as the trend of retail store closures and bankruptcies would surely accelerate. Therefore, what marketers need to grapple with right now is the fear and uncertainty caused by the virus and how it may change habits in the short and long term. If this situation persists for months, it will sap consumer confidence and wreak havoc on the global economy.

Thus, it’s clear that both opportunities and massive challenges lie ahead for digital marketing professionals. Those who can pivot to take advantage of a burst in online activity while anticipating a possible downturn will weather the Coronavirus pandemic and come out the other side with a greater understanding of how consumer habits can change quickly in the face of an unprecedented twenty-first century crisis.