Life after lockdown: a ten-point checklist for digital marketers

As countries around the world start to ease their lockdown conditions, here are ten things digital marketers should bear in mind:

 

1) Demonstrate the importance of customer safety

All research points to safety being paramount in the customer’s mind. How long that will continue is not yet clear, but for the foreseeable future we can assume ‘staying safe’ is going to be a key driver for consumers seeking reassurance.

• Demonstrate safety in images for your website and advertising
• Add new copy about measures to keep customers safe
• Provide FAQs to answer customers’ safety questions

 

2) Detail new processes clearly for customers

• Use your website to spell out to people what to expect and how things work at present:
  • If you are limiting the number of customers on your premises or organising new queuing systems and so on
• This will take pressure off your staff in customer support and on the ground

 

3) Use digital to support the physical environment

For example:

• Show store traffic by the hour to help people pick quieter times to visit
• In larger stores, provide a floor layout to supplement physical signage, so people know where to find specific products quickly in store
• Make product suggestions or engage with customers, while they wait to enter the store?
• Send menus and specials to customers’ phones to avoid them having to handle paper menus

 

4) Review your FAQs

• Add common customer Covid-19 related questions to the FAQs to reduce pressure on your customer service team
• Ensure FAQs are helpful to your own team if they are covering the roles of furloughed colleagues

 

5) Evaluate your paid media messaging

• Is it sensitive to the Covid-19 context?
• Is there new information you need to share with your customers – new processes to follow in store, new opening times, limited numbers in your waiting room and so on?
• Are your sitelinks updated to promote new important information?
• Is there scope to increase spend – with more customers online and fewer advertisers in some auctions, now might be the time to ramp up spend to take advantage of reduced CPCs

 

6) Use data to guide your decisions

Events are unfolding faster than normal in ways that are difficult to predict. It is certainly worth far closer review and data analysis than usual:

• Find out what is and isn’t working and unpick the story behind the data
• Set up alerts for unusual website activity and mark key events and changes so you can work out what impact they have (and to provide a record for future analysis)
• Take a view on whether the usual search trends on seasonality etc for your market are still relevant. If not, when will they shift to?

 

7) Keep up to speed with the news

Public policy is being created and shared at speed. You must make sure your website reflects local law changes and local best practice. Each country (and sometimes regions within countries) is doing this slightly differently for now which puts extra pressure on international websites.

• Use local in-market experts to stay on top of local developments
• Review your website to make sure it works appropriately in each market

 

8) Ensure content meets audience intent

Customer behaviours are evolving so make sure your content still reflects audience intent. For example:

• People are learning to bake, garden, sew, teach and more. Review your products to see what you have that can help people develop their new interests
• People are having to work without the usual expertise they have on hand from tradespeople, or from IT support in the office. so they are hungry for ‘how-to’ video content showing them what to do
• Maybe create a Covid-19 blog section if there is lots of information to share

 

9) Keep up to speed with your competitors

Keep a close eye on competitor websites and messaging:

• Have they thought of something you haven’t?
• Have they left a gap you can fill?
• Use local in-market experts to find out what competitors are doing in each market

 

10) Consider diversifying regions

The pandemic has affected some countries more than others. Now could be a good time to diversify your business by going international through:

• International SEO
• Localised content
• Activating paid search campaigns in different markets

 

Oban International can help

If you need digital marketing support as we emerge from lockdown, please get in touch. For more digital marketing insights, visit our blog.

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Chloë McKenna | Director of New Business

Oban International is the digital marketing agency specialising in international expansion. Our LIME (Local In-Market Expert) Network provides up to date cultural input and insights from over 80 markets around the world, helping clients realise the best marketing opportunities and avoid the costliest mistakes.