23 Jul Digital Marketing Amidst the COVID-19 Coronavirus
As a country, we are in unprecedented times, and the uncertainty that faces every single person, as well as each and every business, can feel unnerving even at the best of times.
Although South Africa is still in the early stages of the COVID-19 Coronavirus, it has evidently had an effect on many businesses – big and small. One of the biggest impacts a global health pandemic has is in the economic sector. Naturally, many companies have already started cutting budgets and costs to future-proof their business and protect their staff salaries. A question on the minds of every business owner is, “Where should I cut back, and where should I continue to invest in order to safeguard my business?”
Our best advice is: Do what you can now, to Small Business SEO in the future. In our opinion, companies should look to hold off on short-term conversions and rather focus on organic strategies to ensure success in the future. It’s crucial to consider a long-term strategy so that once our country manages to overcome this hurdle, your company has a solid foundation and is ready and waiting to welcome new customers. This will certainly give you an advantage against your competitors.
In other words, instead of putting money into short-term advertising such as Google Ads, rather shift that budget into a service that will give you longer-term organic success, such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), social media, and blogging. Remember: What you put in today, will benefit your business for years to come.
During a period of self-isolation and quarantine, the majority of individuals will be working remotely from home, and there will be an even bigger surge of digital life occuring. This will be a time where everything possible is performed online whether it’s ordering groceries online or keeping in contact with friends and family. So how can you use digital marketing to your advantage?
Depending on your industry, this could be a crucial time to communicate how your business is handling the outbreak, which will ultimately give customers peace of mind to continue using your services or products. For example, if you work in the restaurant industry, you might be losing business due to customers self-isolating and not wanting to dine-out at your restaurant. Instead, you can market your takeaway/delivery services through blogging and social media, talking about the stringent precautions you have in place with your chefs and staff sanitising their hands every 30 minutes, or the fact that you offer a “no contact” food delivery service.
In closing, we’d like to remind you of the famous Greek analogy of Pandora’s box, which when opened, unleashed many undesirable things including fear. But the last thing to be released from the box was hope.
So, here’s to plenty of hope, planning ahead, and the comfort that we are all in this together.
If you would like any advice as to where you should invest when it comes to Online Marketing for Business during this time, please feel free to contact us and we will endeavour to help your business succeed.