There’s not one industry, sector, or business that hasn’t been affected by COVID19—and the digital marketing segment is no exception.
In this guide, we will deep dive into how businesses pivoted their digital marketing
strategies to improve customer engagement during the crisis.
The “Customer” Shift
Customers began to move online to make purchases. Deloitte conducted a study in
the thick of the pandemic and gave us powerful insights into how customers and
companies were embracing the crisis.
Around 14% of shoppers were making purchases using social media. Moreover, 75%
of consumers expected ‘consistent interactions across all departments.’ However,
58% felt they ended up communicating with separate departments (and not one
company)—a big mistake.
What’s interesting to note is that 90% of Gen Z and 75% of Baby Boomers were quick
to adapt their lifestyles to the ‘new normal’—an insight marketers used to their
digital advantage in their marketing campaign (more on this later).
The “Sector Shift”
The same Deloitte study also highlighted how gaming and online groceries exhibited
the greatest growth during the pandemic. In contrast, the airlines, tourism, and
hospitality sectors saw denting after-effects to their business model:
The “Digital” Shift
Re-explaining issues is the main reason why 64% of customers were unhappy with
brands. This core need for unified channels gave birth to the expansion of digital
channels—with digital sales experiencing an 18% growth (in Q1 2020 as compared to
Q1 2019).
Here’s an example of a typical experience a customer faces when purchasing
something:
As is demonstrated above, brands typically have access to multiple communication
touchpoints when engaging customers. And the brands that stood out were the ones
that made the most of these touchpoints in every way possible.
Digital Marketing Trends and Ideas That Caught Momentum in COVID-19
Before we look at the digital marketing ideas that drove customer engagement, it’s
important to understand the ‘mindset’ brands had when chalking out a digital
marketing strategy.
To arrive at their plan of action, companies found themselves asking:
- In which marketing activities and customer journey areas can digital marketing technologies be used?
- How can digital marketing tools be used to improve customer retention, branding, acquisition, engagement, and more?
- What role does a CMO play in adopting marketing technology and convincing stakeholders to invest in the same?
With a solid understanding of the questions above, organizations were in a better
position to drive digital marketing sales as well as customer engagement.
Let’s now move on to exploring insightful digital marketing ideas and trends that
worked swimmingly for brands:
Idea#1: Market from Home
Yes, we’re all familiar with the “Work from Home” phenomenon, which caught global
attention, but guess what?
Seasoned marketers took this concept to the world of marketing as well to give us
the phenomenon of “Market from Home.” This is an idea where you execute
campaigns promptly from your home by collaborating with teams remotely and
keeping marketers engaged with apps.
Idea #2: Empathy-driven Customer Engagement
A lot of the marketing messaging became customer-driven.
Brands started to ‘listen’ to their customer’s needs in real time and use the data to
understand better the user’s existing situation, pain points, and aspirations.
In fact, companies like Guinness took the ‘motivational’ route to engage customers
through its 2021 ‘Saint Patrick’s Day Message’ campaign:
The brand committed to donating $500,000 through its ‘Guinness Gives Back Fund’
to assist communities during the crisis.
The messaging was well-received by customers, some exclaiming that they did not
“expect something so uplifting and wholesome from a beer company!”
According to research, the ad effectively conveyed three emotions: pride, happiness,
and warmth. This is the perfect example of digital marketing done right.
Key Learning: The video is a healthy mix of emotional and inspiring messaging that
tugs at the customer’s heartstrings at a time when things are tough.
The messaging is also able to humanize a beer brand and make it relatable with
original, emotive content!
Idea #3: Digital Communications Became Even More ‘Personalized’
While brands were accelerating their adoption of digital channels, there was an
increased focus on delivering the right message to the right target audience at the
right time and with the right intent.
When you think about it, an outdoor sports brand may not have much to say during
a pandemic that intensifies with human contact.
But Nike’s campaign proved this trail of thought to be wrong:
The brand focused on delivering value-driven content and used in-app messaging to
keep customers engaged. It first perfected its messaging content and then used a
mix of relevant channels to connect with customers on a deeper level.
Key Learning: With 28.2K reposts, 117.8K likes, 1K+ comments, and counting, this
post was a resounding success. But Nike’s messaging was not just inspirational in tone
with no real value to deliver.
The brand made its club training subscription free for a specific period so that
customers could be motivated to stay fit.
Idea #4: Knowing Your Customer Isn’t Enough, Knowing Your Customer Segment is the Need of the Hour
Brands understood the importance of communicating with customers locally and
specifically. This became possible as marketers divided their customers into different
segments based on their current (and relevant) needs.
According to the Harvard Business Review, brands were looking at five different
cohorts of consumers:
- Affordability First (32%): Living within their means and budget, choosing functional products
- Health First (25%): Protecting the family’s health, choosing safe products
- Planet First (16%): Buying products from brands that focus on minimizing the impact on the environment
- Society first (15%): Buying from transparent and honest organizations that want to do good for the society
- Experience first (12%): Living in the moment and experimenting with new products and experiences
Let’s look at how Lego targeted the Health-first customers with its Hands, Elbow,
Face, and Space song:
Lego is a brand for kids. So how did it communicate to its target audience to stay
home and educate children about a few tips without being boring?
It created an animated video and added a fun song while urging children to be
‘superheroes’ by staying home and practicing a safe distance with ‘air hugs!’
Key Learning: The brand experienced record sales during the pandemic, which was
possible as a result of its genuine, audience-relevant, and content-first messaging. The
brand integrated the educational aspect into its entertaining messaging and won
hearts.
Idea #5: Brands Researched the “Ground Reality” to Build Relatable Content
No list of digital marketing campaigns is complete without mentioning Apple.
Here’s what Apple hilariously did with its “The whole working from home thing” short
film:
This video ad works on many levels:
- One, it talks about the ground realities people were facing (think: screaming kids, ever-present moms, etc.) while working from home for the first time.
- Two, the brand cleverly positioned its Apple products and demonstrated how people could use a constellation of Apple tech to get more done in
- challenging times.
Key Learning: Finding a balanced, humorous, and sensible way of showcasing your
product in a sensitive health crisis is easier said than done.
However, Apple does this with aplomb. It demonstrates exactly what customers are
going through and offers workable solutions to their current problems—mastery in the
making, if you ask us!
Idea #6: Thinking Outside the Box Helped Uber
Imagine being confined to a smaller space and riding with other people when you’ve
got a global health disease at large that spreads with human contact!
Disaster, right? But Uber took this opportunity in stride and created one of the most
memorable ads of 2020 with its “Thank You for Not Riding” campaign:
There’s no narration, only great background music and two powerful lines at the end:
“Stay home for everyone who can’t. Thank you for not riding with Uber.”
Key Learning: It takes a lot of courage for a brand to encourage users ‘not’ to use it.
And this is why Uber’s video spot takes the cake in the end.
The visuals are highly relatable, making them all the more engaging and impactful.
Users branded the ad as “bold and considerate,” and we couldn’t agree more!
The Bottom Line
It goes without saying that the pandemic upended every marketer’s playbook and
literally forced marketers to rethink their customer engagement strategy.
Companies were challenging the existing rules and breaking them, if needed, to cater
to what was then the new normal. The biggest lesson of them all is that marketers, of
all people, must be ever-ready to pivot according to real-time business and customer
demands.
Technology’s role has been intensified when engaging customers, and three years in,
it’s safe to assume there’s no going back. Though the pandemic may now be a part
of the history books, its after-effects in marketing remain as potent and fresh as ever.
So, take a cue from these lessons as we advance and give your digital marketing an
edge. If you don’t know where to begin, let the experts at Lead Experts give you a
head-start.
Connect now to get started!
