Gillian McCurdy, Head of School of Digital Marketing and Narinder Singh, Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing at Arden University discuss the long-term changes to marketing in the post pandemic world.
Here, they outline how the huge jump in digital adoption during the pandemic has changed the messaging consumers respond to and how brands can stand out in the post-pandemic world and make changes to their long-term marketing strategy.
The Digital Transformation
The biggest and clearest change over the past few years pertains to the speed of digital transformation. Consumers are now not only more digitally savvy and are more aware of the processes behind e-commerce, but they are also now seeking more robust customer service and convenience.
The acceleration of online buying means that companies need a streamlined e-commerce service, or at least, a strong online presence, especially if they want to attract new customers. This means positive online reviews, a good social media footprint and maintaining up-to-date knowledge around good, effective, online marketing practices are a must. A digital marketing strategy including impactful SEO techniques, online trends and effective use of influencers is more important than ever for businesses.
The push toward e-commerce has also transformed how businesses present themselves across digital channels. With more and more people purchasing products via their favourite social media platforms, businesses must use a range of media to sell their products – from Instagram to gain traction with new customers, to valuable email marketing that will entice repeat customers. It also means that marketing strategies need to consider these different avenues and the trends and audiences that come with these digital mediums, as well as ensure the brand is consistent and accessible across different digital platforms – from mobile phones to PCs.
The biggest change that digital transformation has brought on, however, is the rapid pace a transaction can occur. As mentioned, a quick and efficient customer service experience is vital, but consumers also expect personalisation and for the brand to know what they’re looking for rather than being presented with the full range of products on offer.
For example, consumers are more likely to prefer and react to marketing emails that are personally tailored to the receiver. Using consumer insights and data is more important now than ever before, as it allows marketers to target specific items that will gain the interest of their consumers – the main difference now is that due to digital advancements data-led insights are much more valuable and in-depth, revealing what consumers are specifically reacting positively to, which thus allows businesses to be more authentic and personable in their approach toward potential consumers.
Brand value
In Deloitte’s survey of 2,447 global consumers, 79% of respondents recalled instances of brands positively responding to COVID-19 to help their customers, workforces, and communities. When an organisation’s crisis responses are driven by a holistic purpose—connecting a business’s role in society to its long-term value—there is a clear alignment between brand identity and a sustained commitment to all.
This means consumers resonate more with a brand’s purpose and transparency. To maintain and build brand value, companies face the challenge of converting corporate strategies into clear brand actions that connect with consumers. To do this, businesses need to start by understanding the issues of relevance to consumers in their sector.
“Getting to know” the consumer is nothing new, however. But, as previously mentioned, the data insights businesses now have are more valuable now than before. To add to this, the trends and topics that consumers engage and resonate with are readily available on various social platforms for businesses to use when developing marketing strategies; more importantly, with the nature of societal trends and digital, social platform discussions rapidly changing and evolving, it means marketing professionals need to be malleable and quick to adapt their strategy to react accordingly, too.
To overcome this, businesses need to sit down and think about impactful, macro trends that pertain to their consumers, how it relates to their own brand and how they can build authentic connections with their customers; businesses can then relay their stance through media platforms, while reacting to more micro-level trends via social channels, to remain consistent and connected with customers.
Environment first
Following on from the above regarding brand value, with rapid advancements of digital technology, the trends and societal issues that consumers carry close to them have changed. Consumers are much more aware of global issues and the pandemic brought to light the importance of purpose and meaning; this means consumers are likely to think more about their impact on the wider world prior to purchasing.
It is not surprising, therefore, to learn that there is a sharp increase in the number of people who have adopted a more sustainable lifestyle in the last 12 months. They are also most likely to make sustainable or ethical choices in the categories they deem essential and buy most frequently.
Consumers who are likely to be environmentally conscious also place a high importance on security and warm relationships with others, and they often consider ecological issues when making a purchase.
There is a fine line between being environmentally conscious and green washing, however, so when considering marketing strategies, businesses need to take an inward look and also consider how their business must change to make both in line and consistent with one another. This means ensuring that when considering environmental concerns, businesses need to extend further than addressing issues via social channels – it means lining up the company’s own sustainability agenda to the external brand messaging.
As mentioned above, clear, honest and consistent brand messaging are all important factors for businesses to consider when developing their marketing strategy around environment issues. We have seen time and time again the pitfalls that have ruined companies that haven’t approached their sustainability agenda correctly. It also means that businesses need to think about the long-term and the future impact it wishes to have if they want to remain relevant for consumers in years to come.
Conscious about cost
With the cost-of-living crisis and rise in awareness around the environment, consumers are more concerned over the impact a product will have, opposed to its face value. As a consequence of the cost of living crisis, a staggering 83% of consumers said that their purchasing habits have changed. Already this shows the huge impact on how the majority of shoppers are spending, or not spending, their hard-earned money.
On top of this, Brits want reassurance from brands, bringing us to the concept of a brand being 'human' and vulnerable, especially after a time of turbulence and difficulty. It's important for brands to find moments of joy when things feel difficult, that's why Aldi UK gain traction, for example, as they bring an element of humour to challenging times.
Essentially, marketing professionals should be asking the following three questions:
- How can marketers convey the human side of a brand? Is this solely through messaging or something deeper?
- How can marketing professionals use social media in a positive way to encourage purposeful connection?
- Can developments in technology draw us closer to more meaningful connections with consumers?
When thinking about next year’s marketing strategy, businesses need to remain realistic – consumers are more financially conscious than ever before. On top of this, businesses, too, are more financially mindful than before. Pushing money into marketing may seem like the last thing some companies are willing to do, but there is still a smart approach that businesses can take. Using this time to build connections with consumers is vital and being present – via social channels or through various media - during testing times will allow businesses to continue to expose themselves to consumers and remain relevant when things ease.
It is clear a common theme between all the trends mentioned is that connecting with consumers and developing a more authentic approach is important. With consumers being more mindful and knowledgeable due to open-ended information available online, a business’s marketing strategy is much more nuanced in this generation than ever before.
