Last week, I moderated a webinar called “Effective Online Marketing” for the City of Brunswick where we explored how to communicate with customers in the time of COVID 19, how to get in front of customers online, and the importance of preparing for the future.
This was one of many webinars we are leading right now for our clients to help them support their communities at this time.
I’m grateful to have colleagues and experts I can tap into to provide additional guidance for businesses and organizations. Our guest speakers for this webinar were Whitney Hahn of Digital Bard and Jon-Mikel Bailey of Wellspring Digital.
We discussed some key strategies for getting in front of customers online such as:
- How to expand your reach from a local audience to a larger audience
- How to use this time of very high social media usage to learn important information about your audience through A/B testing
- How to decide what kind of paid social media advertising you should be doing
Here are some other key takeaways from our conversation:
Timeless Marketing Suggestions:
Be helpful, insightful, and credible in your communications. These are timeless suggestions that you do at any time – and we should continue doing so right now.
The Importance of Empathy:
Bring empathy into your relationships as much as possible. Ask your clients and customers how they are doing and let them know you care. Through your empathy, you will become more than just a business – you’ll be an important resource in their lives.
Intentional Marketing:
One of the positive effects on marketing strategies right now is that businesses are forced to get very intentional about their marketing… which should continue after this is all over. Allow this question to lead your marketing efforts: What do my customers and clients need right now… or in the very future?
Tips for Preparing for the Future:
If you aren’t able to sell online, you can also use this time to prepare for the future. Here are some ways to do that:
- You can focus on relationship building. Send out emails or even notes in the mail to remind your customers that you care.
- Review and update your website so that you are prepared when this period is over.
- Do an SEO audit and update your SEO.
- Do a content audit.
One overall message of our talk was: remember, we WILL come out of this. The companies that get creative during this time will not only survive during this time, but thrive afterward.
‘Til next time,
Sandy
