The current health crisis has impacted consumer buying patterns and priorities. Marketing strategies have to adapt to the change by moving to a more real-time realm while facing the challenges thereof.

The entire world is in the grips of an unprecedented pandemic. Covid-19 has completely upended the lives, work and businesses of people across the globe. With reports of record number of new coronavirus cases slamming our screens by the day, there are more closed doors than open ones! Even as we struggle to grapple with unique challenges, an end to the turbulent uncertainty is nowhere in sight.

We are left with no choice but to adapt to the emerging ‘new normal’!

The Marketing Challenge

So, what is the impact on marketing in Covid-19 situation, if any?

Consumer sentiments and behaviors have undergone a sea change in the wake of the chaotic pandemic. These rapid and completely unexpected shifts are manifesting in the form of a disruptive crisis in the new environment. It follows that marketers have to take the changing trends into account and adjust their marketing approaches as quickly as possible to ensure successful continuity of the businesses.

The focus is now not on acquiring new customers but struggling to retain the existing ones. And where are these existing customers? Most of them are staying home and working remotely. They are spending most of their time online – when not working, they are constantly browsing search engines, refreshing social media feeds and following influencers just to pass the time.

Along with this, a deep sense of communal anxiety and grief has engulfed their lives. The daily routines have flown out of the window, many have lost their jobs and almost everyone is afraid to even step out of the house.

There’s a looming disconnect on the horizon. While businesses worry about low sales, the meaningful interactions with customers have also touched an all-time low.

Navigating The Uncharted Territory

Amidst the prevailing chaos, people are still craving for some consistent interactions. However, the communication requisites have changed and businesses have to scramble to find new ways of communicating with customers that will not only keep them engaged but also pave the way for building stronger relationships for the future.

This calls for a thorough reanalysis of the marketing approaches and business development in Covid-19. Those who have not yet jumped onto the real-time marketing bandwagon, have no choice but to pivot overnight to this new reality and adopt the technologies that enable real-time marketing communications.

If you are still wondering how can digital marketing help your business, they will enable you to truly listen to your customers even while using real-time data to better understand their current situation, needs and even sentiments. And it is social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram that are at the core of successful real-time marketing campaigns that reach the target audience in a customer-centric manner. What’s more, digital marketers will also keep the customer feedback in view while designing the marketing campaigns, thus ensuring a better connect with the audience.

Embracing The Power Of Real-Time With Responsibility

Businesses have to nimbly evolve and adapt their advertizing strategies in real-time by engaging all the digital touchpoints of their customers with relevant content. They have to accelerate digital channel adoptions and work on aligning the brand with the current context and local nuances.

For this, the marketing communications have to be dynamically anchored around real-time events, trends and fads even as they occur. It could be the recent ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign that was raging all across the USA or the face-off between USA and China or even a local sports match, election battle, blackout, etc. with a marketing message subtly weaved in. Such information has to be used instantaneously with ‘on-the-fly’ campaigns that strike while the iron is hot.

Aligning the marketing promotions with such current and local events is bound to make the company’s product or service more appealing to the customers. On the other hand, the marketing messages can also tie-in with the prevailing need to use face masks, wash hands and constant sanitizing in a sensitive manner. Or it could speak about the employee health checks, safety standards, preparedness to respond and other soothing actions adopted by the business or even other inspiring stories.

However, it is very easy to slip and fall even while going the real-time marketing route. And the results of such embarrassing blunders can turn disastrous for the business.

The content is all the more crucial now given the current health scenario and the trick is to avoid insensitive posts, slapstick ads or even offbeat ideas in both copy and image messages. It calls for strategic structuring with personalized themes that are focused on being helpful or showcasing what the company is doing to contribute to the well-being of the society, that too without blowing your own horn.

This requires indepth and constant market research to catch new developments as they hit and then craft innovative ad creatives that will catch the attention of the audience. What’s more, these advertizing campaigns have to be deployed quickly so as to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time.

This is where digital marketing services in Kolkata enter the picture. For instance, Carney Technology Services (www.carneytechnologies.com) is one of the best SEO agency in Kolkata. The company specializes in data-driven, realtime marketing analysis to deliver positive and upbeat advertizing communications threaded with compassion for the community. The empathetic approach focuses on sending across inspiring and hopeful messages of safety and normalcy in these uncertain times. Their creative social media advertisement in Kolkata always gives the audience a reason to believe that we will get through this crisis and move forward together!

The focus is on improving the audience’s perception of the brand and inspiring customer loyalty in an effective and efficient manner, even if they are not buying right now. This is what will ultimately fan out into business continuity and growth once things return to normal!