How businesses are relooking at marketing in the new normal

Authored by Neelima Sinha, Director Marketing, Acuver Consulting

The smart marketer needs to go beyond linear marketing funnels and account for the information that consumers will gather going back & forth between the stages of awareness, interest, evaluation and purchase, and create dynamic funnels for the entire customer lifecycle. It’s also crucial from now on that marketing accounts for at-home behaviours, where consumers are shopping at leisure, with more time and entire families opining together. Optimizing for voice-search, smart assistants and IoT enabled devices is advisable.

The world has witnessed a massive change and restructuring of almost of all arenas of work and life in the wake of COVID-19. The pervasive impact of nothing possibly being the same again, can only be conceded with by the now popular adage: the new normal. Certain sectors like hospitality, events and travel saw an almost complete shutdown in the thick of the lockdown, while many others like education, fitness and conferences transitioned to a completely digital model. As industries gear towards recovery, and need big marketing efforts to support their endeavour, its paramount to rethink marketing for the new normal.

Until there’s assurance of the virus receding and perhaps even after that, we all will continue with the ‘new normal’ of due caution, social distancing, work from home and virtual interactions. We knew ‘necessity as the mother of invention’, but recent events have also revealed necessity as the ‘mother of adoption’. Existing digital technologies have seen a decade worth of rise in adoption in the pandemic induced lock-down. As industries prepare to rebound, it’s key to remember that digital consumption from hordes of first time converts is here to stay and time is of essence in attracting said cohorts of digital migration.

Most big players already had digital as a big chunk of their marketing mix and some trend-leaders were utilising cutting-edge tools like AI, ML, Big Data, IoT & Automation. In the new normal, the customers’ priorities have changed – they want safety, transparency and authenticity besides the usual cost-effectiveness and quality. With the worldwide economic slow-down, consumers will be parsimonious for a while, and brands must leverage innovative digital strategies to reach out to and win-over the customer, amidst extremely high competition and cautious sentiments. The cutting-edge tech stack is a must-have for not just avant-garde players, but for everyone who is seeking to survive.

Digital marketing is remarkably more accessible and affordable than traditional marketing channels. However, it’s a complex and constantly fluctuating environment with new technologies, trends and platforms emerging overnight. Rather than carpet-bombing all social platforms and online channels, one must carefully consider where one’s audience hangs-out, and use personalized, hyper-relevant messaging backed by data, marketing automation and result-analysis. The internet is abuzz with loud hackneyed sales-pitches and questionable data-mining tactics. Content fatigue and privacy concerns can send previously loyal customers shopping elsewhere in no time. Your message should be what your customer wants and needs to know, rather than merely pushing a brand.  Also, do what you can with the data at hand rather than probing customers for more.

It’s not just brands that are getting to know customers better via the web, consumers are forming their own collectives to assess multiple aspects of brands before making purchasing decisions. The smart marketer needs to go beyond linear marketing funnels and account for the information that consumers will gather going back & forth between the stages of awareness, interest, evaluation and purchase, and create dynamic funnels for the entire customer lifecycle. It’s also crucial from now on that marketing accounts for at-home behaviours, where consumers are shopping at leisure, with more time and entire families opining together. Optimizing for voice-search, smart assistants and IoT enabled devices is advisable.

Many say that the COVID crisis is converging attention and demand for resolution for several issues long in the making. This becomes apparent in the quest for localization across the globe, the demand for brands that stand for humanity rather than profits and for brands that voice universal concerns over pressing their agendas. If you haven’t already, its high time to find the larger purpose of your brand beyond products, services and transactions; and communicate it. Address the elephants in the room before everyone else slips out.

How one conducts oneself in crisis and strife, is the true indicator of one’s character. It is time to be authentic, humane and empathetic. Voice, not noise. The world is asking for a new era of non-exploitative, non-opportunistic voices to lead them into the clearing out of the storm. Will yours be among those that resonate?