The Importance of Local Digital Marketing in the Current Covid-19 Climate
As society slowly comes back to life after Covid-19 lockdowns, it is now more important than ever to invest your time and efforts into adapting your marketing strategy to meet the “new norm”.
With restrictions on travelling abroad, as well as consumer fear over booking European and International flights that may be cancelled and non refundable, 2020 is set to see an increase in local and national travel and consumers staying local to support local businesses and in turn help boost the local economy. It is therefore imperative that businesses focus their marketing on these markets and put strategies in place to re-capture existing customers and reach new ones.
Communication is Key
Have you changed your business hours? Are you implementing new health & safety measures to conform to Covid-19 regulations? Are you offering additional or different products or services all together? Important information like this is best communicated digitally as it’s an easy way to quickly update your customers as sudden or unplanned changes occur. In times of uncertainty, having up to date, reliable information is something consumers are craving, and offering it to your customers will works wonders for attracting new audiences and building brand loyalty.
A Fast Shift to Online
Lockdown forced a near overnight shift to businesses moving online, and although restrictions are easing, don’t expect a return of in-person consumers to come flooding through. Customers are looking to get back to normal, but will still be wary of large crowds, closed quarters, and unnecessary travel so the more you can move your business into the digital sphere, the better chance it has to attract and retain customers.
If you’ve always had a completely offline business, creating a website and social media accounts is without a doubt an essential task now. If you’ve already dabbled in digital marketing, take the opportunity now to analyze your website and social media traffic to find new and improved ways of staying in the forefront of your customers’ minds. A solid digital marketing strategy, optimised specifically for today’s new normal business sphere, is critical to give your business the coveted visibility it needs to succeed in today’s market.
Shop Local
When it comes to purchasing power, it has not only become a practicality to shop closer to home, it’s become a nothing short of a movement. Consumers want to actively participate and promote their local businesses as part of the social recovery efforts after Covid-19, support their community and help build up their local economy. An easy way they are able to do this, and one your business should absolutely be taking advantage of, is through social media and Google My Business. Both offer the opportunity to connect to your local community in a way that customers really respond to: increasing customer loyalty and potentially growing your business to one that’s bigger and better than the one you had before lockdown.
Key Local Digital Marketing Channels
Social media paid advertising campaigns can effectively help increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website and get more people to contact you at little cost. Campaigns can be highly targeted and implementing AB testing allows you to analyse results and tweak campaigns in order to achieve the best results.
Optimisation of your Google My Business page can help increase your online presence and visibility for “location” and “near me” searches in the local market.
In addition SEO and paid Google Adword, Re-marketing and display campaigns can also be re-adjusted to focus on local and national markets, giving you greater presence where market demand is.
Focus On What You Do Best
You’re great at what you do – so are we! With years of experience in strategy and planning, branding, graphic design, web design, social media marketing, digital marketing, and much, much more, our team of specialists help local businesses build and gain the best exposure on their social media accounts and business profiles. With a thorough understanding of how consumer minds work, even after a such a massive global shift, we have the experience and know-how to get you not only the most, but the best, exposure online, so that your business has the best opportunity to thrive.
Contact us today to discover the multitude of ways Peppermint can help you navigate these new business waters so you can focus on what you do best and rest easy knowing that your business is in great hands!