With new challenges during these uncertain times, how will you connect with your customers in 2021? According to experts, it may not be easy. A recent Forrester report found that the current pandemic will lead to “deeper budget cuts with broader effects across the marketing ecosystem and broader economy.” However, that same report advises against cutting back on your marketing because “study after study shows that going dark with marketing altogether hurts your chances of recovering well out of an economic downturn.”
In other words, it’s time to work smarter, not harder, with your marketing budget. In her latest Forbes article, Amy Osmond Cook shares some ways Osmond Marketing can help clients cut marketing costs while still reaching their target audience despite the current pandemic.
Here are some of the Forbes article highlights.
1. Focus On Your Existing Clients
During times of uncertainty, your clients want to hear from you. Use email campaigns, phone calls, and video messaging to inform customers about ways you are navigating the pandemic, and ask what they’re doing. It’s more than likely that they’re also trying to cut costs. Your messaging should demonstrate that you can be part of their solution, not excess fat that needs to be trimmed.
2. Change All Events from In-Person to Digital
What we lack in personal interaction, technology helps us gain in digitally connecting with customers. Prior to the pandemic, Osmond Marketing helped a client engage in a series of in-person, on-campus events for their target audience of young, expecting mothers. These events were huge sources of leads and were building in momentum. However, when the pandemic forced the state to restrict and then cancel large group gatherings, we proposed moving these popular events online with Facebook Live.
The result? Success in two areas. First, the client could build on the momentum of the in-person events. For example, a recent event enabled our client to collect nearly 60 forms from attendees, which was more than twice the number of leads from the in-person events. Second, Facebook Live events serve as residual lead sources since participants can view the event long after it occurred. This option yields leads while the client focuses on other activities.
3. Move Your Resources to Email Advertising
Consumers are more responsive to marketing emails than they were before the pandemic. According to Mailchimp, “By March 25, almost all industries saw an increase in engagement compared to their previous year’s average.” Those Mailchimp users who were tracking their engagement “began to see a steady increase in click and open rates, accompanied by a decrease in unsubscribe rates, compared to their previous year’s average.”
4. Use Referral Marketing
Today, word-of-mouth marketing is especially important for businesses as consumers spend more time on their screens and devices than ever before.
If you’ve been cultivating your relationship with your customers, you’re in the right place to focus on referral marketing, and it can be done at a relatively low price. For example, one of our clients has offered customers cash and discount incentives to refer friends and family, with those incentives being contingent on a successful transaction. They’ve seen incredible results, with more sales than before they began the offering.
5. Repurpose Old Content
From converting an article into a video or reworking an older blog to make it applicable to current developments, repurposing old content can take many forms. And it can help you get the most value out of your hard work.
For instance, one of our clients runs individual websites for nearly 50 different properties, each with its own blog. To cut down on costs, we proposed writing a handful of original articles, which our writers would then repurpose to create unique blog entries for each property’s website, customized to the location. Doing so cut our monthly writing and proofing time by half, allowing us to do more while staying under budget. Not only that but, on average, site traffic increased by 25 percent after the client started repurposing blogs.
We can’t control the pandemic, but we can navigate the effect it has on our marketing efforts. Work smarter, not harder, by focusing on current clients, switching to digital events, prioritizing email marketing, pursuing referrals, and repurposing old content.
To read Amy’s full Forbes article, click here.