Coronavirus (or Covid-19) is currently causing worldwide concern and understandably, businesses are worried about the impact it could have.
Some senior business managers and owners may think that now is not the right time for marketing, however there are multiple ways that businesses can use this period to help their clients meet the challenges they face, as well as getting ahead of the competition.
More of your customers are going to be online
With an increase in home working and some people self-isolating, it’s important to recognise that your customers will be spending more time online. It’s a favourite pass-time to sit at home on the phone and scroll endlessly. This can be turned into something positive to help those working from home as well as helping your business. Whilst in some sectors (e.g. travel, corporate events etc) direct sales are less likely, brand awareness and lead generation have never been so important. You want to make sure that business continues as normal as soon as the situation resolves, and that you retain a promising sales pipeline.
Re-evaluate who your customers are
When taking advantage of the increase in web usage, it’s important that you push your message to the right target audience. We can help you analyse and cleanse your database which will result in more effective marketing and increased conversions.
Spend time planning
Many business owners and senior managers often spend too much time working in the business and not ON the business. If you find your schedule has opened up, then put in some hours doing that all-important pre-marketing planning. This will ensure your future marketing campaigns have the best chance of success.
Give yourself the competitive edge
Some businesses might be looking to scale back and this opens up a huge opportunity for you to get in front of the competition’s customers. Be the business that people see and the one they think of when they want your service. You might even be able to do this at a cheaper cost because there is less competition right now. Don’t sit back and watch. If you do, it will be that much harder to get back up again later down the line.
What Marketscan can do to help
Get a free data audit
Wouldn’t it be great if more people in your contact list purchased your product or service? We can make that happen. We help businesses like yours clean up their database so that they see an increase in conversion rates. We start by giving you a data audit completely free of charge*. This will help you to understand the quality of your contact list and enable you to address any potential issues. We’ll send you a PDF of our findings which will outline all the ways you can be making the most of your database.
We can cleanse your database
We shout about this a lot, but business data can decay at over 40% per year, so your database needs to be kept up-to-date if it’s going to consistently deliver the results you expect. Businesses often get complacent with their databases but this in turn could be using up and wasting vital marketing , especially at a time of a crisis.
So make sure you are using that budget wisely by not sending your campaigns to a database containing errors, gone-aways or even illegal data. More reliable data will ensure a greater success rate for your campaigns.
Find out what your best customers look like with our industry-leading penetration report
We can offer your business a penetration report that will show you what markets your best customers are in. We can then supply you with new data which fit those profiles. Equipped with this report, you can target your advertising much more effectively than before. With so many more customers browsing the web from home, it’s an opportunity not to be missed.
Expert Data Consultancy
Marketing campaigns are only as good as the data they are built on. Now is a great time for you to start creating more effective customer and prospect profiles. We can make this more manageable and produce valuable insights into your prospective audiences. We can help with:
- Discovering the true identity of your perfect customer through your existing database
- Find new, targeted contacts that match the profile of your best customers
- The tone-of-voice and design elements each persona is likely to respond to
- The problems your potential customers face that your products or services can help solve
Summary
Businesses need to stick together during this time and adapt to change. Rather than going into panic-mode, now is the time to plan for the future and build your sales pipeline. Marketing strategies need to pivot, but not stop completely!
Whilst hard sales approaches are likely to fail for many businesses right now, lead generation campaigns can be extremely effective and present you with a breadth of opportunity after the Coronavirus passes.
Marketscan is ready to help you reach your business goals, target new, effective audiences and give your business the edge it deserves. Get in touch to find out more about our services.
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