April 3, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic that the world is experiencing at the moment is affecting everything about our daily lives – from how much we can see our loved ones, to how we are working.
For many businesses, this is a worrying time as they try to contend with changes in people’s consumption and spending habits, to looking after their staff and protecting them both in terms of their health and financially, and of course, considering the implications of potentially having high percentages of staff off sick at any given time.
Although it might not be ‘business as usual’, it is important for businesses to prepare for when the outbreak is over. Just because you might not be able to operate as normal, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be working on certain aspects of your business – and that your competitors aren’t sitting around idle!
The world of marketing, for example, doesn’t stop. In fact, online marketing has never been more important as more people begin to operate and communicate online. And one major aspect of online marketing is content creation.
Content Creation for Marketing During COVID-19
As fewer people are travelling, fewer people are out of the house and fewer people are visiting events, offline marketing is becoming less effective than before. Likewise, the world as a whole is spending more time online, looking for information and to be entertained – in other words, looking for content.
Content marketing concerns the creation of content, firstly enabling businesses to communicate clearly and accurately with their customers – and potential customers, but also to help them to establish themselves as a source of useful and reliable information, getting to the top of those all-important SERPs, and building their reputation. Content marketing is a great way to ensure that you are effectively marketing your business, not being left behind your competitors, whilst also being able to communicate effectively with your customer base.
Keep Customers Informed
It is important to keep your customers informed as to how your business is reacting to the coronavirus outbreak. It is not only good business practice but can also help to build relationships with your existing and potential customers. There are several ways that you can do this through your website, including:
- Making announcements on your website with regards to the measures that you are taking to help your customers and staff to get through this difficult time
- Adding to your FAQ section to cover questions that customers might have regarding how your business is dealing with COVID-19 – food hygiene or customer contact questions, for example
- Updating opening hours, delivery options and contact phone numbers or emails to avoid frustration
- Consider what people might want to know about your business in relation to COVID-19 and answer these queries in your content
Google My Business, Local SEO and Reviews
Google has also changed some of its rules for the duration of the outbreak and it is important that you adapt to these changes.
They have announced that they are changing Google My Business profiles, so that businesses can now change some of the details about how they are operating, including their opening hours and whether they do deliveries.
Google has also disabled the ability for people to write business reviews. It is important to allow your customers to communicate any problems that they have directly to you, so you should consider a different solution for the time being.
Social Media
Social media is a great way to show the more personal side of your business to the world. It is an excellent way to engage with your customers and reach out to new ones and show your fun side. Some of the most successful businesses in terms of social media are devising ways to get their customers involved, respond quickly to actions and if they’re lucky, go viral…
Email gives you as a business direct access to someone’s letterbox and this can be a very valuable tool. What you need to do, however, is make sure that any emails that you send out are not deleted before they are even read, and stand out from the rest of the many emails that most of us receive each day about ‘what we’re doing about coronavirus’…
Try adding a personal touch, making it light-hearted, interesting, and human. Remember that a lot of people have a bit more time on their hands than normal and take this all into consideration when you are thinking about what you are going to put in your email.
Although your business might not be functioning as it normally does, it is important that you adapt how you are working to help your business to still be as effective as possible, and still be seen. And content marketing is a great place to start.
