Back in business: 5 ways to optimise your marketing strategy after COVID-19

From border closures and lockdowns to stay-at-home mandates and other health and safety regulations, COVID-19 has had a significant impact on business across Australia, leaving many companies in vulnerable positions.

But as businesses are slowly recovering from economic uncertainties, the lifestyle changes that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic became evident in consumer behaviour as well. These new changes contributed to the development of new trends in online behaviour, new preferences among consumers, and even new social values, which companies need to leverage in order to create successful marketing strategies, and here’s how:

Adjust to changing consumers needs

As the world is slowly reopening beyond COVID, personal experiences become more important to consumers than ever. Apart from aspects such as being greeted by staff and offered help in-store, customers are now more drawn to online personalization as well. Australians are becoming increasingly wary of mass communication, especially younger generations, likely due to the information overload they experienced during the pandemic.

In turn, businesses are advised to rethink how they connect with their audience and adjust their communications. Options like social media and e-mail marketing can allow you to customize the relevance, timing, and usefulness of your marketing efforts, giving you the opportunity to create stronger relationships and offer real value to your consumers.

Be more open and transparent

Since the coronavirus pandemic will likely have a lasting impact on consumer behaviour, it comes as no surprise that increased focus on economic well-being and personal health will become the “new normal” after COVID-19. Even though customers are still seeking new connections, they also need to know companies they work with are safe and secure environments.

In addition, public temperature-taking measures and government apps for tracking movement have all raised new concerts about sensitive data and how it’s used to track consumers. For this reason, customers now have higher standards, and are expecting businesses to be more open, honest, and transparent, showing true concern for consumer needs.

Include video content in your strategy

Video content has been an integral part of marketing strategies for many years now, but has never been quite as important as during the pandemic. This is likely due to the increase in internet usage and the sudden rise of certain video sharing platforms during this time, prompting consumers to engage more with quality video content. However, it’s not just interesting and appealing videos that are successful; customers also value consistent and recognisable branding.

For instance, video content that has compelling intros consistent through different branded videos has performed significantly better than its out-of-tune counterparts. To that end, using a popular online intro maker can be the best decision you could make for your marketing campaign. Allowing you to use eye-catching templates, provide visually appealing content, and showcase your brand personality, an interesting video intro is a brilliant way to attract and engage your audience.

Consider applying more empathy

With over half a million Australians losing their jobs and a significant percentage of households having to adjust to the declining income, it’s safe to say that the coronavirus pandemic had a devastating effect on the local economy. However, COVID-19 might have also brought some positive changes, as many Australians were joined together in an effort to overcome these challenging times, thus making more socially conscious values a priority for most consumers.

In this changing environment where empowered customers are quick to judge, question, and object to any companies that don’t meet their expectations, businesses could benefit from showing more compassion and empathy towards their audience as well. As Australians are more conscious than ever, choosing primarily brands that go above and beyond, showing encouragement, promoting social and corporate responsibility, and leading by example could all help to improve your marketing strategy.

Focus on local opportunities

Lockdowns, travel restrictions, and substandard online shopping experiences provided by the largest retailers and supermarket chains in Australia have all led to increased disappointment and frustration among consumers. As a result, many Australians turned to local, often smaller businesses that were quick to provide the products and services that were in high demand during the pandemic, often citing the credibility, safety, and quality of such companies as the main reasons for this decision.

Due to this sudden change, local neighbourhoods in Australia are still thriving, and any companies looking to improve their relationships with consumers could benefit greatly simply by investing in local marketing strategies. Whether that means social media or pay-per-click advertising, focusing on selected areas and giving your audience more information about your company, its people, as well as the products and services can be wonderful options for creating a more efficient marketing plan.

Wrapping up

Over the past few years, marketers had to stay on top of the latest industry trends in an effort to keep up with the evolving landscape. And even though Australian consumers can still present new and unpredictable tendencies, one thing is for certain: transparency, empathy, and personalisation are key to success.