This pandemic situation we are in right now, the period is called "Black Swan", which is a situation that happens once a decade or century. The period of this occurrence can be separated into 3 terms.
1. Short Terms : 1-3 months, during this period, we will see the change of businesses whether in a positive or negative way. Restaurants that have many branches and have a strong connection can offer the customers delivery service and other suitable solutions. For small businesses with limited budget, the best way is to pause all marketing campaigns both online and offline, analyze the situation and see how it goes around 10-14 days.
2. Medium Terms : 3-9 months, the pandemic has affected most of the businesses in this phase, the best thing to do is to adjust the marketing metric e.g. ROI (Return On Investment)
3. Long Terms : 1-3 years, in this period, all businesses whether big or small obviously get affected by the pandemic. The best thing to do for the businesses to go on is to be thoughtful in all situation. Do not change any strategies, but keep an eye on the consumers' behavior then analyze the next step carefully.
We can see that in this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many brands have adjusted themselves and their marketing strategy to blend in with the situation. They have approached new, unique ways of advertising, mostly promote the concept of self-quarantine. Netflix has made the #STAYTHEFUCKHOME to spread the word and tell people to stay home. For those who still going out, they will see the advertising, banner around the area that contains spoiler for each movie and TV show.
Online marketing strategy should be changed as well, by following these steps;
1. Stay Active : keep track on the situation, and see which direction it shifted to. The content posted online might changed quickly during this period so make sure that the content is appropriate and accurate.
2. Recheck Before Posting : rapidly check your content before posting since the situation changes all the time, you don't want the message to go out and make a wrong impression. Let's take a look at Spirit Airlines, they sent a promotional email messages with the cheery subject line “Never A Better Time To Fly” – the day after President Trump announced that the United States was instituting a 30-day ban on travel from Europe.According to the airline, the messaging was created months ago and sent accidentally.That was an automated mishap and evidence that the safest thing for some categories to do is to pull all of their advertising during a quarantine.
3. Give Your Customer An Advice : since you and the customers are business partners, and a crisis is temporary, displaying the sense that you are in tune with your customer and providing specific messages can instill a sense of trust and value that will be long lasting.
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