We find ourselves in a little bit of a pickle situation, wouldn’t you say? Currently South Africa is at a halt, and it has left many business owners uncertain of what is the right marketing actions to take or to even take any at all.
In the current situation marketing can help your business and even more so once things get going again. You just need to know how to go about marketing in the correct manner and why it will still be beneficial to your business. With the help and guidance from Lion Marketing, here are some reasons why marketing can be beneficial to your business:
- More social on social media
With many people staying at home, unable to go out to bars or participate in outdoor activities, they are turning to social media.Take advantage of the opportunity of having more people engage on social media.As more people are on social media it will increase your business’ reach of your target audience and an increase in engagement. This has the benefit of lowering the costs of your social media ad campaigns.
- Get ahead of your competitors
This pandemic has created a disruption to day-to-day business, causing many businesses to press the “pause” button of their ad campaigns; to then restarting once the crisis has dissipated.This is not the way to go. See this as an opportunity. An opportunity to gain customers that you had to compete for. The competition is lower and your customers are right there for the taking. Now go get them!
- Increase your Brand Awareness
Businesses budgets are going to need to be scaled down during this period, because there is a decrease in conversions rate (this is the act of converting a customer who browses your site into a paying customer). This creates a shift in business’ minds, they are more concerned about money going out as there is no money coming into the business.Luckily there is a solution that is quite cost effective, Brand Awareness.Using Facebook ads is the way to go, as the aim is to create as many impressions as possible, resulting in an increase in brand recall amongst your targeted audience. Facebook is a fantastic tool to utilize as it measures your brand awareness by simply asking the those who were served the ad if they remember seeing it two days after being served that ad. This is essentially a second round of brand awareness, as audiences are reminded of the ad. Quite neat, wouldn’t you say?
The great part of it all, besides increasing brand awareness, is that it only costs a few rands.
- This is the time to serve your customers
It’s all fair and well to keep your businesses campaigns going during this period, but it is also important to know who you are trying to reach and how your brand is going to be perceived by your audience.Don’t hard sell to your customers, because during this time, they are not buying. So, change your message. This is only a short-term approach, so don’t panic. By changing your approach slightly can really win the trust and admiration of your customers. They will see your brand as one that truly cares for its customers, because advertising is not just about making money. By offering discounts or freebies is seen as offering a helpful and thoughtful service in the time of need. This won’t be forgotten by your customers.
Take this opportunity to be mindful of your customers and identity how and where your business can help them during this difficult period. Create campaigns that are thoughtful and offer assistance where possible, like mentioned discounts; because it not only helps customers, it will help your business make it through the crisis.
Lion Marketing would like to wish everyone well and all the best during this time of uncertainty. It is a difficult and challenging situation and if we all work together to keep a balance between business needs and customer needs, we can make it through this and come out stronger.
