Google has released a COVID-19 marketing guide to help businesses optimize their marketing strategy during the pandemic. The guide includes current insights into how consumers, companies and industries are responding to this new reality and the path to economic recovery.
According to Google, there are three steps down this path:
- answerBusinesses are responding to and adapting to changing consumer behavior and changes in supply and demand
- to rebuildBusinesses are rebuilding the fundamentals of their marketing strategy with new insights and tools
- RecoveryBusinesses are applying what they have learned during the crisis to rebuild their long-term business models and marketing practices.
As businesses adapt and go through these phases, their marketing strategy also needs to be optimized. Google defines this in three ways.
As businesses make changes to both their short- and long-term marketing strategy, it is important to understand how the behaviors of their target audience may change. This part of the guide is very interesting as Google has so far detailed some of the search patterns observed during the pandemic.
First, the “shock” refers to a sudden change in consumer behavior that is unlikely to persist: for example, the rapid rise and fall in school-related searches when quarantine orders were announced. Next, “step-change” also refers to a sudden change in consumer behavior, but one that may persist: The example given here is the number of searches related to exercise at home. The final new pattern is defined as a “speed-up” and reflects an acceleration of existing behavior, which may also occur such as delivery-related discoveries.
Other interesting insights include data on how much mobile or other device use has increased across all consumers, as the world has become (even more) more virtual connected.
Businesses can stay on top of changing market trends by relying on four Google tools: Google Trends, Shopping Insights, Google Alerts and Find My Audience.
2. Measure the Impact on Your Business
Google has found that there are generally four scenarios that businesses may face right now, and each requires a different response to “sustain the business in the short term and lay the foundation for recovery”.
Whether a business is tackling new challenges, re-evaluating priorities, pivoting to optimize products and services, or investing to meet increased demand, Google’s guide will guide you through each scenario. Provides unique digital marketing strategy recommendations that can help businesses grow.
3. Take Action Now
The nature of this crisis requires us to go beyond business as usual. For marketers, this can be a chance to try out new strategies, think out-of-the-box, and reinvent the way we engage with audiences. And when we get through this, the innovative and compassionate approach we’ve taken has the potential to bring us closer to our customers and communities.
The digital marketing strategies Google devised in this guide can help affected businesses manage their outlook, adapt to their new normal, and plan for recovery. Not limited to just paid advertising strategies, this guide also covers best practices for ensuring that creative and media campaigns stay relevant as well.
You can view Google’s post and download the guide here: Navigating the Way Ahead: A Guide to Help Businesses Adapt Marketing Strategies in the wake of COVID-19
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Image credit: Dave Adamson at Unsplash
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