The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively impacted the world. It is spreading quickly and will continue to spread, as new cases are being registered daily worldwide and growing rapidly. No one knows how many more people are going to be affected (or will pass away sadly).

There’s been a lot of uncertainty and misinformation spreading during the outbreak, which we can see in public behaviour, necessities like toilet paper, hand sanitizers, masks, hand soap and other common items are going out of stock.

Brands have also been impacted as the virus continues to spread. Industries such as airlines, hospitality, events, manufacturing, etc. are facing adverse effect that they have to either reduce or shut their operations. Many Major conferences and events have been cancelled at the moment. The cancellation of events will impact the travel and hospitality industry and will harm local businesses. We could see the impact well into the year ahead.”

During these events, there is a lot of concern and confusion among professionals, internal and external stakeholders, suppliers and customers. You need to have a solid crisis marketing strategy in these tough times.

Time will tell us how serious the pandemic is, and how well prepared are we to handle it, and how it will impact our daily lives.

Here are some of the forward-looking strategies for businesses and search marketing companies to understand how to face this pandemic. This article includes:

• The Impact of the novel coronavirus on marketing
• Don’t isolate your marketing
• 10 things-to-do for marketers in the current crisis
• Impact on search marketing vendors

The Impact of the Novel Coronavirus on Marketing

Any gatherings of more than 10 are being avoided or are cancelled.

Working from home and self-isolation are the new rules until further notice. Therefore, there is less traffic on the road, in the air and companies.

Companies that spend marketing and advertising budgets on things like posters, Hoardings will get less visibility. And organizations that rely on events and meetings to generate new business and revenue is having a hard time.

Marketing & Advertising investment in radio and television may increase. Businesses are also likely to conserve cash, including marketing budgets, to prepare for impact.

Some industries will fare worse during this crisis than others. For example, if a company cannot bring a product to market, it can reduce marketing.

If you are in one of the most-affected industries, your search traffic may also have decreased in recent days.

We can assume that the more people work from home, the more flexible the “working day” becomes. This means that people may conduct personal or business searches at any hour of the day or evening.

And of course, search behaviour varies according to industry and query. For example, coronavirus dominates most of the searches on the news and social media channels. What does this mean for search marketing? For some industries, some marketing budgets and some inquiries, the need for SEO and pay-per-click will be greater than ever.

Don’t Isolate Your Marketing

How an organization responds in any crisis is key. Are they calm and taking action, or panicked and paralyzed?

Two things people shouldn’t do right now: hoarding hand Sanitizers, toilet paper and other items and hoarding search marketing budget.

How businesses handle marketing can make or break them. The answer at these times is not to stop marketing. For many, it might be a good idea to reallocate your current marketing budget (such as the event budget or the billboards) to different digital channels.

10 Things to-do for Marketers in the Current Crisis

Businesses should consider these 10 things when faced with the current situation or future situations like it.

1. Know search trends.

To be more relevant for short-term SEO and PPC campaigns, be aware of what is currently being searched for (use Google Trends). As a retailer, you may get huge profits from search engine marketing campaigns if you have the products that people are looking for. On the other hand, if you know the type of search results that appear for a query right now (remember: the query deserves freshness), you can create relevant content to answer.

2. Create timely and relevant content.

What does your audience or consumer want to know from you right now? Use this opportunity to reach out and give the brand and unique insights into the situation. Ensure that you have a good mix of ‘business as usual’ and crisis-related content so you don’t sound silent.

3. Access up your digital content.

Consider creating your business now to produce more digital content like podcasts and webinars in the short and long term. If you work with a lot of consulting or personal training, then it’s time to explore online training. By 2025, research estimates that the e-learning sector will be estimated at $ 158 billion, so it’s not a bad time to get it. Lessons learned now about these strategies will prove useful if you need to continue making them part of your business.

4. Shift offline to online or modify.

If you are a local business or retailer, you will have to think long term. Is it possible to transfer part of your business online or change your business model? Can you convert in-store experiences to virtual shopping or in-store shopping delivery?

5. Optimize your content.

If you are creating content about coronavirus or something common, you want to intensify your optimization efforts so that they can be found in the search results. Schema.org recently added structured data types related to COVID-19.

6. Use search marketing for branding and crisis communications.

Even if selling your products and services slows down, you can use search engine marketing for brand purposes. For example, ads can refer to landing pages that contain basic information about them.

7. Use search marketing for reputation management and trust-building.

Corona beer, for example, may need to do this based on people’s perception of its relationship to coronavirus. You should also monitor how online feelings affects confidence signals during this period.

8. Stay ahead of your competition.

If your search campaigns have been paused and your competitors have not paused, who will be prepared for success when everything goes through? Which brands will people follow through all of this – those that stay in touch, or those that are closed?

9. Remember that SEO is a long-term strategy.

Unless it’s critical, you don’t have to transfer your SEO budget. You must remain calm and persistent because Google algorithms do not take a break during crises. This slow period may just be the opportunity you need to do backup projects (such as creating new content or server improvements) that could put you in an SEO site that wins down the road.

10. Don’t buy cheap SEO.

When budgets are limited, the trend may be to go with cheaper SEO services or purchase bulk marketing services instead of hiring specialized experts. At times like this, companies can’t do anything less or afford an SEO expert. After the dust settles, they will be dealing with another crisis: no ratings, no targeted traffic, and possibly Google penalties.

What Will Be the Impact on Search Marketing Vendors?

This will not be a fun time for marketers. Unless you are on the right side of things. For many search marketing firms, employee cuts are certain to happen.

Many of the big agencies that used to thrive on inexperienced professionals will not succeed as a lack of experience without close guidance does not produce excellent results. For this reason, I assume that many search marketing firms will not succeed due to the lack of senior staff.

Agencies will also need to do what is necessary to continue serving new and existing customers. For some customers, budget cuts can be a concern (although the hope is that they see value in ongoing marketing to find all the reasons explained in this article).

This means that the need to adjust existing campaigns and programs to focus on what is needed now. Some may have new strategies while others may choose to do baseline tactics but not as aggressively as before.

Look after yourself, look after your brand and – together – we will all get through this.

Conclusion

We need to create short-term solutions and future-oriented strategies for our business and clients.

We need to be creative with our products, services and communications. We need to send the right message: We can continue to face the crisis.

In the eye of the storm, it can be difficult to see anything but chaos. The best defence is to do what is necessary to still stand after the storm.

We hope that Coronavirus will pass soon and has minimal impact on our lives. For the time being, try not to socialize with others or go into crowded places.

Let us know if we can help you navigate your business during these times. Call us or fill in the contact form.