Top Marketing Strategies Followed During Crisis

Top Marketing Strategies Followed During Crisis

The Covid-19 outbreak has turned everything upside down. Each and every industry is in some way affected due to this pandemic. The dangerous disease has given marketing a very new shape. If you observe carefully, you will find a strategic shift in the current marketing trends.

Let’s mark some marketing strategies used in the current times: 1. Smart, responsible and emphatic marketing During such critical times, marketers are planning their strategies very wisely because people have now become extra conscious about their safety and a drastic change in their purchase pattern is observed. Many products were swept away from market due the sudden fall in their demand. Thus, one cannot afford such losses during the critical times and in order to sustain the brands, they are smartly interacting with the audience and trying to seek their trust and attention towards their brand. The storytelling concepts are making sure that they highlight the upgraded practices followed by them in the current times to ensure their working environment and their products are safe to use. By initiating such efforts they are making a positive space in the mind of their customers. Online food and grocery stores like Big Basket and Zomato are spending time explaining their safety practices to their customers these days. This transparency will change the audience’s perception towards the brand and help them stay in the market for long.

2. Opting for alternative media The business, which was just promoting themselves through a specific media like television or print pre-crisis, are now choosing alternative media like digital and mobile app slots to connect to their customers at large. The more the brand is exposed to the customers, the higher the chance of its remembrance.

3. Free trials and sessions This approach has given brands the opportunity to create a buzz entice users towards their platform and upsell them with value-added services or discounted subscriptions. For example, Plural sight – a subscription-based eLearning platform specialized in technology training – offered a month of free access in April which helped the brand get high recognition and large number of people associating to it. This was a bright strategy by the brand to reach out to people at such time and provide solutions where people can make the most use of it.

4. Shedding out relevant information about Covid-19 Sales remain important but they are not the priority right now. Shedding out relevant details, guidelines, and precautions through various communication materials like the brand’s website, blogs, ads that revolve around safety of the customers have taken center stage. This has helped people associate with the brands on more humane level. This will help the brand have a positive image among the audience.

5. Relevant campaigns To stay in the top mind of people, almost every brand is coming up with engaging ad campaigns and content that majorly highlights activities undertaken by customers to be safe. By doing this they are endorsing and encouraging safety measures among the customers and easily pulling their attention towards the brand. With people being more concerned about their health than usual, such an approach helps such ads gain more viewership. Amul for instance did a tropical ad featuring its brand mascot the Amul girl washing hands with a copy “Better saaf than sorry”. This ad appeared in print as well as social media handles that turned huge attention of the audience towards the brand.

6. Widen social media presence Social media has become an indispensable part of most people’s lives with over 3.8 billion people now using it to connect to others. Social media has increasingly become a tool for individuals to find out information about anything they want to know. During a crisis, it is likely that people spend more time on social media to read the latest news and get updates on any sort of crisis that might be happening. By increasing the social media publishing frequency, brands can engage with their audience more. For example, Red Bull India came up with a plan to engage their bored audience through the live interactions between famous celebrities. In the live sessions, the famous personalities shared some historical moments of their life and most importantly they shared how they are utilizing the quarantine period on something useful. This kept the viewers highly motivated and engaged as well as it helped them remain connected to the brand.

7. Adjusting to the new reality

To keep up with the current times and sustain in the market it is really essential for brands to evolve and make suitable changes in its offerings. As strong immunity is a way out to this disease, brands are launching products that promise to either enhance immunity or safeguard against the infection. For example, an ice cream brand Dairy Day recently came out with two new flavors of ice cream, Chyawanprash, and Haldi ice creams. Both of which are known as high immunity boosters.

8. Practical actions In a period where most of the brands are just limited to talks and suggestions, a brand which is actually contributing in the frontline by giving out charity or engaging in other social work are gaining great respect, love and even loyalty from their customers. For instance, Starbucks offered healthcare workers and first responders free coffee for a couple of months in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, which has created a great image of the brand. Small acts of kindness show your audience how much the brand cares for them and it helps make a positive impact on your brand.

9. Digital marketing The swirling pandemic has pumped digital life even more. A brand may lack behind if it does not have an online presence. Today every brand is marketing itself digitally as people have now shifted to the digital era where every work is done using the Internet.

10.

Sensitive language At this time when people are so scared about their safety and hygiene, marketers are reaching to them with content that is emotional. Giving such touchy tint to brand communication will bring the audience closer to the brand.

With the most tactful marketing strategies, a brand can really go a long way.

Brands should not even take the slightest of risk at such a bad time where the market is so uncertain. Collaborating with a marketing agency in such time would be a smart and safe move. If you are looking for the best marketing agencies in India, you can opt for Apppl Combine. It is a 20+ years old marketing, advertising, and creative agency. They have a demonstrated history of conceptualizing and implementing most relevant campaigns and communication strategies. They can help you with the best marketing strategy that can definitely make your brand sail through these tough times.