Importance of Digital Marketing:
Covid-19 is having a disastrous impact on mobility and health.
Worse, the lockdowns across the world bring businesses to their knees.
Cash-rich businesses may weather the storm but many will simply go under and sink without a trace.
Quartz India shows that the lockdown in India crippled 75% of the economy as per a survey by Japanese investment banker, Nomura.
Share markets have taken a dive. Manufacturing units have shut shop, rendering thousands jobless and losing whatever cash reserves they had.
Stores are running of stock of essential products and those stores that deal in non-essentials remain shut and without any income for owners.
Larger and more fortunate businesses can keep operating but they too face cash crunch and the first casualty is non-essential expenditure.
Unfortunately, digital marketing is considered non-essential and is likely to be the first to be axed.
This would be self-defeating since business is more active online than it is offline and intensifying digital marketing efforts makes good sense.
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Importance of digital marketing
Consider the importance of digital marketing during normal times:
Most people tend to use smartphones and desktops to find products and services online.
They prefer to buy online since it leads to less hassles, time savings and doorstep delivery.
Digital marketing keeps you floating at the top pages of search engine results.
Your social media status remains healthy. You are visible and connected.
You get leads through PPC and other avenues and your business hums with orders.
Now consider what would happen if you shut down digital marketing due to Covid-19 lockdown:
- No SEO, no SEM, no PPC, no backlinking—all of it add up to search engine spiders latching on to more likely candidates who are easily found. Result? Your rankings slip and keep dipping down.
- Since you are not found customers are likely to assume you have shut shop and will move on to those who fill their requirements. You lose customers. You lose trust of customers because you are not visible and are not available.
- Since you go off the radar your brand reputation and social media reputation suffer.
That should give you the answer to the question “is digital marketing important?”
The question is: can you afford to not continue with digital marketing or even redouble efforts?
Also Read: Evolution of Digital Marketing And Its Future Post COVID
What people are doing in lockdown conditions
Some are playing games online. Some are viewing movies.
Since many products are not available in stores due to lockdown, many are looking at online stores.
Some simply search the web to find information about products of interest but with no intent to purchase right now.
If you keep digital marketing activities alive you stay on the right side of search engines and you are found with ease.
It may not lead to direct leads but during this Covid 19 era it is important to stay visible online.
The implications of Covid 19 for future of business
One fallaciously optimistic assumption is that once lockdown is lifted things will return to normal.
The virus will still persist. Fears will prevail about infection.
Distancing will still continue to be the norm. More people will prefer to buy online.
You must be visible now and in the future. For this to happen you need to redouble online digital marketing.
The current situation and the future show why digital marketing is important and will continue to be so.
Digital marketing is a golden opportunity to show concern
Digital marketing encompasses search engine optimization and social media among others.
This can be a golden opportunity for you to show concern for people with Covid-19 related content.
Use social media to good effect to contribute and reach out not just to customers but to people at large.
It is a time to be truly social and contribute to society and what you do can go into your social media posts. It helps to build trust and confidence with customers and with others who may possibly become future customers.
The lockdown leads to more people making use of their mobile phones. It is a good time to get your digital marketing specialists to start mobile campaigns that focus on social cause with oblique reference to sales.
Now is the time to retain customers and acquire new ones in the future.
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Covid 19 impacts search results
PPC is integral to digital marketing online but search behaviors have changed and so have keywords.
Your old campaign using old keywords worked.
Stop the campaign and you go off the radar. Keep PPC campaign alive.
Your digital marketer will find out what keywords to use based on the current situation and the campaign will keep you visible.
If you are visible you are approachable tomorrow.
Detect new opportunities
The changed situation will show up new opportunities.
For instance, store visits have gone down by 90% in the US. This raises an opportunity to start home delivery services.
This is just one example. Likewise, bigger businesses may see emerging opportunities to step into the gap left by those suppliers who have stopped functioning and they can expand operations across various countries. A
ll these come to hand when you have a digital marketing effort continuing on an ongoing basis. Switch off digital marketing now and you operate in virtual darkness.
You see the importance of digital marketing in this Covid-19 era?
The supply dynamic is changing as some buyers will prefer, intentionally or otherwise to not buy from China and they will certainly search online for alternative sources.
Even without Covid 19, digital marketing is important
The simple fact that even if Covid 19 pandemic had not struck the world, people prefer to search and buy online.
Why digital marketing is important can be understand from the fact that search engines list only those businesses that are active in online promotions.
Stop and your business is not found. Defer posting new content and your rankings fall. Even during the ongoing pandemic, search engines are alive and functioning normally.
Your digital marketing activities should continue even if you tone it down a little but stopping it is out of question.
No, if others choose to stop online promotions it is not reason for you to stop. Instead, it is time to double online digital marketing efforts because it will be tough and you need all the customers you can get.
Customers expect you to maintain contact
Not all customers use email so sending out email notifications about hours of working or product availability can become a chore.
Engage in digital marketing to update information relevant in the covid context and your customers will appreciate it.
The social media channel of digital marketing is a good way to maintain contact and go out of the way to retain customers.
Digital marketing is not one of those expenses you can do without during the Covid era.
If anything, doing more with the help of digital marketing experts will get you handsome return on your investment.
