Posted by Global recession– something that nobody speculated, looking at the fast pace world, is very near and will probably hit the offline and online market pretty soon. We all know the reason behind it- COVID-19. A report by IMF speculates this year’s financial crisis to be worse than that of 2008-09. Does that mean a total downfall for all the sectors? Maybe yes, if no one is prepared for it beforehand.
But don’t panic, people. Our forefathers have fought battles, famines, epidemics, and still managed to push the economy to where it stands now. It is just a virus, and we will deal with it. But as I already mentioned above, we have to be prepared for it pretty well.
The Problem
The present state of the market is stagnant, neither profit nor loss. It might sound crazy, but there’s a huge probability that this state is going to continue for MONTHS. And oh, all of these will happen to the offline vendors.
Then what’s the issue with the online market?
I’ll get straight into it. There are two major issues here:
- The lack of customers and potential leads for some of the services that you regularly provide. You cannot ship items, work with companies with offline services, B2B vendors will stop investing, and so on.
- The decline in the Euro, Dollars, and other currencies will bring losses to the companies that have a majority of international customers.
- It becomes extremely difficult for you to rely on the employees who are working from home right now. Productivity issues, data security, communication barriers, and a lot more come into your way.
Although there are a lot more hurdles in the online market during this Corona downturn, they may vary from one company to another. And honestly, this blog would never end if I start listing all of those issues here. So let’s not beat around the bush now, and get into the solution for most of the issues that you’re going to encounter in the coming months.
The Solution
I don’t want to sound repetitive here, but the ONLY way to deal with the situations stated above is to act now! Nevertheless, here are some of the things that will keep you thriving in the online market in the coming time:
1. Selective Marketing
This point is so obvious; I feel like everyone gets this. As I have mentioned above, there’s no point in marketing those products heavily that won’t get you bread and butter right now. Focus. Focus on your products that are going to bring revenue, and make sure you market them the BEST WAY POSSIBLE.
Here I am not asking you to dedicate your entire digital marketing strategies to that one product you are thinking of right now. I am, somewhat, asking you to incline your efforts towards it.
Make sure all of your websites and social media profiles SHOUT about this product. Don’t be afraid of sounding promotional in your content whenever necessary. Anything that catches audience attention will be good- even if it is promotional. Try to cross-market your products, include links in the description box, tweets, and everything else.
2. Focus on your SEO
If not now, then when? The world population is using the Internet more than ever, and there’s nothing that is going to reduce this traffic for the next few weeks (until they get really, really bored). However, getting leads out of such enormous traffic is not as easy as it sounds, and requires some solid SEO skills.
Here’s a thing- there’s a situation of lockdown and quarantine, the internet traffic is high, everyone is trying their best to grab this traffic’s attention, so your competition is high too. Do you get it now?
The increasing internet traffic is not necessarily a threat but rather a boon, only if you know how to entice the viewers with your services. Make your products stand out in front of new viewers. Remarket your campaigns, and try to stay on the top of their minds. The day you manage to get organic traffic this way is the day you can be sure that your strategies are working well, absolutely well.
3. Monitor Your Telecommuters
You cannot skip implementing work from home for your employees with the health hazards that lie just outside their doors. This situation brings a common question from all the employers- how to make sure if the employees are actually working or just petting their dogs, with the laptop open in front of them?
The answer is simple- by keeping an eye on their systems remotely, capturing screenshots, analyzing their performance, and formulating better strategies for them. Then you can use constructive criticism, and discuss how they can improve their performance.
Apart from increasing productivity, you can also stop worrying about your data security this way. Many tools let you track the user logs, keystrokes, visited websites, the most used apps, real-time activity checks, and many more. Various software available in the market let you do so, for instance, EmpMonitor, Teramind, Hubstaff, etc.
4. Improve Your SMM Strategies
I cannot remember the last time I stopped myself from unlocking my phone when I was bored. Guess what? It’s a rare phenomenon, all thanks to social media. And boy, everyone is so FREE this quarantine, how do you not expect to be online 24X7?
Social media marketing has always been a win, and now the stakes are getting higher. With so many people using the internet, it’s so not possible to grab some eyeballs for your business now (we have talked about this earlier, Duh!).
With ever-increasing users on Social media, you have to mold your marketing strategies accordingly. TARGET your consumers, do not try to bring everyone under your blanket, or else you will waste a lot of money and time. Create the best quality, relatable, and engaging ads, boost your social signals, maximize your audience reach, and make sure you interact with them regularly.
5. Stop Abandoning
What did you abandon? The products that are NOT going to earn revenues for your company for some time now. Why talk about them now when we have already discussed selective marketing at the very first point? Because these products are not going to be permanently useless.
Listen to me- you have put in a lot of effort to rank your websites, and letting all of that go in vain makes no sense. Selective marketing does not refer to working in only one direction. You do have to focus more on the products and services that will earn for you at this point, but not at the cost of all the remaining products!
Advertise and market even those products that you cannot ship right now. Corona is not going to stay here forever. People are going to get out of their homes, and everything will get back to normal- including the online market. Then why not advertise everything beforehand? Why not be ready to face the customers even before they’re here to buy?
Get Ready To Punch Corona On The Face
The impending global recession due to COVID-19 may or may not take a scary form. But one thing is for sure- we have to keep our strategies ready with us beforehand. Corona is, already, hitting the world economy pretty hard. Should we be scared? No. We should rather be alert- very, very alert with the changes happening every day, and act accordingly.
Do you have any queries? Want to suggest something? Do not forget to let me know in the comments below.
This is a guest post by Sumit Ghosh. Renowned performance marketer, user acquisition expert, and a product fanatic from Bangalore. He is a prominent speaker in masterminds and events in the performance marketing space. Sumit is the Founder of Socioboard, which owns products like PowerAdSpy, Socinator, Gramboard, DominatorHouse, and mobile apps in the social media automation space which have millions of users.
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