How to keep brands actively interested in the Game of Marketing during COVID-19

In these unprecedented times, when most of the brands are revising or are planning to revise their marketing spends, what should the marketing industry do? Divanshi Gupta, Director, The Marcom Avenue, explores the ways in which brands can play a bigger role in this scenario.

The marketing industry must analyse the situation, find the opportunity, understand how it has an impact and revamp the whole strategy to keep the brand actively interested and help it achieve its goal! Not just the B2C brands, but the B2B brands too are currently looking for a way to reach out to their target audience and create a rapport of trust and value, when most of the traditional channels have become irrelevant due to lockdown caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

1. How to encourage brands to spend on digital transformation?

The rise in the consumption of digital content across platforms/ channels has accelerated digital transformation and has become the New Normal of our lives. Today, more than ever, brands will have to depend on digital media to reach and interact with their TG, and to survive in these competitive times. Brands will have to drop their inhibitions about the technology and let it play a bigger role in this scenario to successfully sail to post-COVID-19 era.

Digital transformation is no more a luxury, but the need of the hour!

2. Which channels can brand managers tap into to engage the brand’s target audience?

Communication is the key to staying connected with the target audience. While in pre-COVID-19, one-way communication worked just fine to attract the consumers, but with the shift in behavioural patterns, brand managers have to produce content that is not just relatable but also that engages. As social distancing and lockdown have become our New Normal, brands will have to go where their TG is, that is, social media channels, OTT platforms and conversational commerce.

3. Key areas to focus on while redesigning the marketing plan? 

• People-based approach: More aggressively mapping consumer journeys across multiple platforms and devices to draw a focused and well-targeted marketing plan.
• Big Data + Analytics: People are consuming more digital content, making it easier to track and understand their consumption behaviour through analytics and data tools.

While curating relatable and engaging content is still the cue, but adoption of these parameters will enhance the results for brands across all the sectors.