It’s certain it was a year unlike the other and that 2022 isn’t likely to go to the previous normal. Therefore, as marketers contemplate building brand identities in the coming period and in the future, what can we learn from the epidemic? How can we assist businesses to grow faster? What is the way that marketing is changing in the Covid-19 era?
1. Old-fashioned truth: Marketing starts by knowing your client.
The new truth about marketing begins by knowing your target market.
The Covid-19 scandal has reinforced the things we know already that brands must be communicating with precision and local ways. Focusing on specific customers in accordance with their specific circumstances and what’s most important to them. That requires a thorough understanding of the current situation in each country and state by state zip code by zip code. For certain businesses like restaurants, banks, and retailers, it could require customization of communications store by store.
Beyond geography, we’ve realized that marketing messages should be personal and relevant. In line with an individual’s circumstances and preferences and in contrast to demographics such as gender and age. The creation of a personal, authentic connection with any commercial advertisement is about defining segments of consumers that define individuals. Based on various factors that affect their buying behavior including their psychographics to their attitudes.
2. Old-fashioned truth: You are competing against your competition.
The truth is that you are trying to compete with the most memorable customer experience you can provide.
Consumer expectations were already rising prior to the Covid-19. Gen Z was raised with technology that was seamlessly and seamlessly integrated with the lives of their parents. Direct-to-consumer companies (like Glossier or Parachute) were already conditioning us to expect a level of hyper-personalization since they were particularly adept with our personal data.
However, when the coronavirus struck the world, a digital transformation took off in a flash. This led to consumer expectations soaring with regards to what companies could offer with an enhanced digital experience. The consumer expects more than a simple digital transaction such according to Carla Hassan, chief marketing officer at Citi, explained to me this summer. Since companies now have access to their own personal information customers want to be able to anticipate personal experiences across the whole customer journey.
3. The old saying is that customers want to know that you will provide them with what they want.
The new truth is that customers want precisely what they need.
If the bar keeps increasing, we need to strive to new standards for customer experience — for both the B2C as well as B2B context. Today, consumers expect that any experience they have will be seamless and relevant, as well as anticipatory and asynchronous. That is, they’re only concerned with having what they want whenever they want it. They will not let anything get out of their way.
To create these experiences, companies need to put data and technology at the center of their business. This could mean incorporating an element of machine learning or artificial intelligence into the mix. Why? Because we can use data to design more engaging experiences in the various dimensions from the 4 Cs
- Content
- Commerce
- Community
- Convenience
4. Old-fashioned truth is that your customers should be the focus of your marketing plan.
A new reality: Customers should be at the center of your customer experience.
The idea of customer-centricity is not new. But the functional silos that work with customers are often apprehensive due to politics, org charts, technology, or even geography. The question is how do we hide these internal rifts from the consumer, who believes that the entire company is aware of them? We’ve all called customer service and talked to a representative from a call center or chatbot, but they were not using similar information to a store -and in reverse.
We should keep in mind that marketing is typically only the beginning of relationships with customers. For instance, in the B2C context, it is an interaction with the customer, making them an eventual sale either in a direct or indirect manner and hopefully keeping the customers so that they become advocates and are willing to cross-sell and upsell. Marketing should be considered as part of the complete journey.
It’s not a good idea to think that the operational model for all functions that are customer-facing must or could be reported to the same location. Reorganization is not the solution to everything is a myth. It is more important to examine the operational model and think about the process.
5. Old-fashioned truth is that relationships matter.
Relationships are the most important thing in life.
It is a given that it’s essential to establish relationships with your customers that are based on trust. Advertising, for instance, promises a promise to customers that is then left on the product, service, and the experience for customers to fulfill that promise.
However, Covid-19 has placed a focus on relationships, specifically when it comes to B2B selling. In a virtual sales environment, teams with established relationships are able to sustain the momentum of their revenue, leveraging your previous relationships. Prospecting in search of new buyers has demanded an evolving set of capabilities that are focused on selling services, and not selling products.
In both instances cases, trust, and honesty are crucial for generating momentum in the market. For the leaders of marketing and sales in B2B businesses, This has required significant recasting of their skills to determine the best people to build relationships in the digital age -which is a world that rely much less on charisma (and even the expense account) instead of insight and solutions. Trust will be earned by and rewarded to those who take note of the needs of customers and develop solutions to meet these needs.
6. Old-fashioned truth: Agility is a process of technology.
The New truth: Agility is a contemporary marketing method.
We’ve heard for a long time that technological advancement can benefit from the use of agile cycles instead of linear or sequential “waterfall” methods. The Covid-19 crisis created an irreversible trend that encouraged marketing to adopt the same agile mindset. In the course of the crisis, the company may discover its message was not right. And that its supplier chain was not capable of delivering quickly, resulting in an advertising or public relations crisis. Imagine a commercial that shows people gathered together, but not showing social distancing, as an example. In the blink of an eye, long-lead-time creativity processes and budget cycles for the year seemed outdated. And all the traditional ways of approving become limiting.
The positive outcome of the crisis was the creation of an attitude of marketing agility that is likely to become lasting. This is a result of continuous listening to the consumer and demand sensing. Not just to benefit marketing, but also to allow the whole enterprise to catch the pulse of consumer behavior. Additionally, operationally it means speedier decision-making and greater flexibility. In areas that are crucial to the business, such as budgeting, creativity, and media.
7. Old-fashioned truth: Your brand should be able to stand behind your products.
Brands are changing: Your name should be built on high-quality values.
The pandemic seriously impacted brand loyalty. It was evident that brand loyalty has been eroded. EY Future Consumer Index found that between 61% and 61% of consumers dependent on the product category were willing to think about the possibility of a white-label product and even switching to other brands. The combination of this with increasing awareness of the consumer and increased activism by the turmoil in social media of 2020 ought to ensure that brands are aware of their values.
In reality, the main issues from EY research indicate that although quality, convenience, as well as cost still play a major role in the decision-making process of consumers, other aspects like sustainability, trust ethical sourcing, as well as social responsibility are becoming increasingly crucial in the way consumers choose the products or services they purchase. Marketing has the opportunity to inform the executive level (and perhaps even board members) about the importance of values associated with brands in determining what brands are worth their money in a post-pandemic market in which consumer preferences for brands have been thrown out of the window.
8. Old-fashioned truth: You require the right stack of technology to ensure that your marketing is successful in the modern age.
The new reality You require the correct combination of factors (including your technology stack) to achieve modern-day marketing achievement.
With the abundance of marketing and advertising, technology has been circulating. It’s easy to look at the infamous “tech stack” as a game-changer in marketing. But, possessing the capacity of a Ferrari that allows you to go 40 miles per hour isn’t much of a benefit.
To allow your technology architecture to yield results, it has to be supported by a sufficient amount in terms of data to drive its performance. The appropriate usage cases to generate outcomes and the appropriate method of human empowerment. This is the most crucial. Human enablement requires knowing how technologies and data will be utilized across the company. Ensuring that employees have the capabilities to effectively use them and that the proper measure is used to encourage innovation and achieve success.
9. Marketing is crucial to grow.
The new truth is that marketing is at the heart of the growth plan for the entire C-suite.
It is true that there was an era when marketing was a price center within businesses. For which the main responsibility was to maximize the return on investment. When the performance was not up to par the marketing department was frequently among the areas first that were eliminated.
In the midst of the epidemic, marketing is now seen in the C-suite to be a driving force in the digital revolution. As a key driver of the customer journey and as the voice of the consumer each one is crucial to the other functional leaders. If they don’t understand the current state of the market, both in both good and bad times the C-suite will not be able to adjust to the challenges and opportunities that are present and effectively manage the future.
Covid-19 has established a leadership culture of instant collaboration focusing on the need for resilience. Marketing is now able to play a permanent key role in that dialog. Thus, driving the company’s expansion and innovation strategy