It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything around, especially the markets. As everything is evolving, the best any business or brand can do is to adapt to the emerging trends and continue to transform in real-time while maintaining a strong connection with its consumers.
The pandemic has a significant impact on brands and how they are communicating with their customers. Brands are now coming to terms with the hard truth that is, “the new normal” – the period of uncertainty.
Here are some of the insights that are examined from a single sentence- “marketing in the new normal”:
- Being digital is everything. Technology is the way to go! Connecting digitally with customers is the best way for brands right now. Introducing unique digital initiatives is the key as ground activities will continue to take a back seat in the near future.
- Consumers expect action not only from their government and fellow citizens but also the brands they buy from.
- E-commerce businesses are seeing a spike. Lockdown restrictions have led many businesses to rapidly turn to ecommerce. Also, these sites are increasingly serving as advertising platforms.
- Health and safety have emerged as a key differentiator of brands experience in this era. How a brand reacts to these new consumer expectations could make or break it. From temperature monitoring, fully sanitised rooms or at home salon services, brands are adapting to consumers’ peace of mind.
- Innovation is now being taken on a faster scale. Most of the brands have gone out of their comfort zone and have brought the idea-to-implementation timeline gap down from months to weeks. Earlier, it took months or more to execute an idea, whether it was about a product launch or developing a new marketing campaign. Now, everything has been broken down to weeks.
The world is evolving and this pandemic is just the one phase of many that we will go through. There is no fixed date as to when things will return to normal. While things still remain uncertain, brands rely on marketing to keep a connection with consumers in these restless times.