As the pandemic hits hard worldwide, Internet usage has surged by 70% and streaming by 12% as cited by Forbes. The impact of covid-19 had a positive impact on businesses.
Reason being, people have suddenly shifted to social media platforms also the craving for digital content got increased. This opened the doors for digital marketers to serve customers online.
With a faced-paced behavior shift of customers, new advertising methods emerged. Gradually all the businesses had gone digital and soared high across the globe during the pandemic.
Know The Significant Impact of Covid-19 On Digital Marketing
Digital marketing has gained massive popularity worldwide during the pandemic crisis. One of the most targeted industries were travel & tourism and manufacturing.
On the other hand, amidst the lockdown period, many digital brands have incredibly boomed due to the massive online customer engagements on social media platforms.
Let us delve deep and understand the impact of covid-19 on digital marketing -
1. Better Connect via Social Media
During the lockdown, people across the globe were found surfing and streaming over the Internet.
One of the biggest impacts of covid-19 on business is tremendous customer engagement on social media. This opened the doors for entrepreneurs and digital marketers to connect with potential customers online.
2. Huge Surge in Virtual Corporate Training Sessions
As the digital era became the new normal, many small and big companies have adopted digital marketing also empowering startup entrepreneurs to become digitally trained through webinars and virtual sessions.
Even the manufacturing sectors like oil and gas firms have turned out as digital and they have adopted the idea of AR/VR based training systems to floor workers as cited by the economic times report in 2020. Interesting!
3. Healthcare Industry Boomed
During the disruptive times of covid, there was huge pressure on doctors and patients across the globe due to rapidly rising covid cases. The entire situation caused tremendous stress and anxiety amongst people.
This led to the idea of Virtual care for the people. Covid-19 actually pushed healthcare systems to adopt telemedicine and access to mobile healthcare apps to make people's lives easier, healthier and happier.
4. Rise of Online Education System
Coronavirus outbreak had severely impacted many industrial sectors globally and one of the booming industries is the Education sector where teachings were conducted virtually across the world.
Furthermore, as per recent reports, it has been forecasted that the online education system is expected to reach 350$ billion by 2025.
5. Demand for Video Content Surged
During the covid outbreak, people had so much free time at home that the demand and consumption for video content in Tiktok, Instagram reels, Youtube showed a huge spike.
From the global perspective, it has been projected that the desire for video content will tremendously rise in the coming years.
6. AI Chat Bots Took the Center Stage
Artificial Intelligence is one of the most popular and hyped technology for businesses and digital marketers. The demand for AI for digital brands has enormously increased amidst covid-19.
Furthermore, as work from home has become the new norm, many companies have adopted AI chatbots to provide instant assistance to customers via chat rooms.
7. Increased Demand for OTT Platforms
During the lockdown period when the entire world was forced to be at home, the demand for OTT platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime incredibly surged.
The viewership got increased which ultimately opened the doors for digital marketers to promote their products and services with the help of advertising on these platforms.
Things To Consider To Build A Thriving Business Online Post Pandemic
The behavior of customers due to pandemic crises has changed the entire game for digital marketers over these years. Post pandemic, people are back to their normal lives.
Therefore, there is a dire need to reimagine the entire marketing strategy and conceive better business ideas to connect with potential customers.
Having said that, here are some key factors to consider for building a flourishing business over the Internet.
Priortise Customer's Sentiments
As we know the pandemic crisis took a huge toll on people's health, so from now onwards every business should priortise customers' sentiments and become socially responsible.
Analyse how people feel about you and your brand rather than just focusing on numbers and revenue. We need to keep a balance between sentiments and revenue and then create a rock-solid strategy that wins customers organically.
Consistent Customer Interactions with Empathy
Considering the entire scenario right from 2020 to 2022, it is paramount to deal with potential and existing customers with empathy. Being human is the key to success for entrepreneurs today and in the coming years. Make sure you handle each customer query and grievances quickly, empathetically and responsibly. This ensures long-term healthy relations with clients.
Content-Driven Business
People around the world are actively looking for new and accurate information over the Internet. Moreover, there is a huge gap between customers' expectations and the reality that needs to fill.
Henceforth, we as digital marketers and content creators must plan out a rock-solid, well-planned, fresh, detailed and structured content that stands out and serves a larger audience. That way we can expect to see the growth curve of business moving upwards.
Adoption of AI for Digital Marketing
AI (Artificial Intelligence) is the most popular and emerging technology in the digital world. Nowadays, the idea of programmatic advertising is rapidly rising for businesses.
It is an automated advertising technique that uses AI technology to maximize quality leads and ROI to their business. We can say that AI will continue to be in demand for digital marketers and entrepreneurs today and in the near future.
How Does The Future of Digital Marketing Post Covid-19 Will Look Like?
Considering the above scenarios gave us a fair idea of how the covid-19 pandemic became a boon for digital brands across the globe. As a result, there has been a sudden shift in consumer behavior that forced marketers and businesses to reconsider the entire marketing strategy and adopt better ways to connect with customers online.
Now the question arises - How can we connect and interact with customers after the unprecedented business environment?
Let's take a quick look at customer’s expectations.
- Customers expect better value from brands
- Customers demand a quick response
- Customers are wary of brand reputation
- Customers demand online experiences
Final Words
This brings us to the end of this article. As we've understood how covid pandemic crises became a game-changer for everyone be it customers or businesses, it is super important to think out of the box, enhance your brand credibility and visibility instead of going after pushy marketing techniques that won't bring any results.
If we talk about the post-pandemic scenario, one of the biggest challenges for digital marketers today is acquiring more customers. For that matter, entrepreneurs need to priortise more on how they can solve their problem instead of highlighting what services they offer.
In a nutshell, we can conclude that business needs to be customer-centric, be proactive, analyse consumer behavior carefully and emphasize more on value-driven and personalized content that converts and caters to a bigger audience.
Hope this article has brought enough clarity on how digital marketing during the pandemic became a game-changer for all of us. The more you embrace the changing trends, the more your business will prosper in no time.
A Quick FAQ Guide
1. What was the biggest challenge for digital marketers during the pandemic?
Ans. Amidst the tough times of covid, the entire marketing strategy took a 360-degree turn due to drastic changes in the behaviour and lifestyle of customers. So, the brands had to be more transparent in connecting with potential and existing customers and adopt new interactive methods by sharing personalized content and being more empathetic towards the customers.
2. Is there any limitation of AI(Artificial Intelligence) in Digital Marketing?
Ans.Yes, The biggest disadvantage of AI is that it has certain algorithms which are difficult to understand for people and even the algorithms could be wrong. For digital marketers, this will be a challenge to market their business. Moreover, there are certain tasks in digital marketing where human intervention is important so here we can say that - Technology can't work without humans.
