The novel coronavirus commonly known as Covid-19 is an infectious disease caused by a deadly virus which has spread not only in India but in the entire world causing social and economic problems. The whole world is on a pause and everything is on a halt due to its severe effects.
Since there is no vaccination or cure, the only way to avoid this is to practice social distancing and staying indoors as much as possible. Due to this, all the economic activities are shut down except for essential services having a huge effect on the economy of our country.
Before this pandemic, the marketing strategies and techniques were very different from what they are now. Things happened unexpectedly giving no time to react and prepare ourselves for this pandemic. This virus hurts marketing, advertising, travel and tourism, entertainment, education, construction, transportation etc.
The Global Stock Markets have crashed and will have an impact on all businesses- small or large, marketers and workers. The traditional businesses are shut down due to the pandemic which has given rise to e-commerce and an increase in online sales.
This has resulted in the loss to some companies while some are using this situation to their advantage and making good profit and presence in the market. There has been a manufacturing slowdown in the top economies which has an impact on various sectors. Investors fear the economic growth due to the spread of this deadly virus and some fear government help would not be able to recover it fully.
Since the companies are shut down, the owners don’t have adequate funds to give salaries to their employees. Many big companies are removing people and cutting their salaries to about 50% and even more leading to a huge rise in unemployment.
Top leading companies like Apple shut their work down leading to fewer income and profit and are temporarily paying their employees but many companies and business owners can’t do this because of lack of funds and circulation of money flow in the market. There is a huge loss to the travel and tourism industry, transportation, construction, real estate, agriculture, finance, media, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.
The retail sales dropped by around 46%. Shutting down of malls and markets has affected the retailers and if the situation gets worse, they won’t be able to survive much longer and would lead to major job losses due to lack of funds giving rise to online businesses. Departmental stores, textile stores, clothing stores, footwear stores, food outlets have seen a huge drop in their sales.
According to Forrester, it has been predicted that a global loss of 2.1 trillion might occur in the retail sector. Luxury brands and fashion industry would also suffer from huge losses. Around 80% of consumers, not only in India but the entire world would prevent purchasing from malls and shops, attending events and going to public places for a much longer time to avoid getting infected. These brands are more likely to practice online marketing.
But the best way is to balance financial responsibility and engage with consumers and modify plans and policies and exploiting all the opportunities coming their way instead of cutting down. Even if the virus slows down, the businesses are going to suffer losses for some time, the market might go down and some experts say that we will go into recession but it is vital to adjust and makeup.
Since people travel less and stay at home, this will give rise to work from home opportunities to people and rise to social media. Social opportunities would increase as people are spending most of their time online communicating with each other using social platforms and comforting themselves through it.
Digital marketing is very trending nowadays as everyone wants there business to expand and grow and get wide customer reach creating no geographical boundaries. Digital marketing is required in every field because people prefer online modes much more now. This enables business owners to get a wider platform to interact and analyse customer behaviour and experience. Even in this crisis, people are collecting data and analysing the market conditions.
Since the customer is the king, at this time, the business owners instead of cutting down should use this time to study customer behaviour and preferences and make their policies and plans accordingly. It’s the time to slow down and analyse each and everything in deep. It is important to look at the existing creative ideas and check what has performed in your favour and has attracted more traffic and to check what is not working for them.
Firms should study analytics and promote their products and services by using Ads, info-graphics, visuals and videos and keep a track of each and everything and examine what the audience wants from you right now. They should put engaging and useful content for the consumers to keep them busy and use this to their advantage. Sellers should interact with the customers to develop a personal bond, build their trust and try to learn what they want. To be a successful marketer, your job is to anticipate a customer’s need before them.
It is important to compare the pre and post-pandemic impact on the market and identify the loopholes and make the necessary strategies to overcome it. Visits on Google analytics should be made to understand the fluctuating traffic and intensive research is required to stand out in a crowd. Comparing the pre and post effects and identifying gaps can be very fruitful. Since there is less competition during this crisis, it is easier to get fast results.
Selling of Mask, sanitizer, toilet paper, gloves have seen a huge rise and made abundant of profits at this time. Home delivery services would be preferred than going to stores and retailers should try to provide such services to the customers. There is an increased rise in the popularity of grocery stores and cleaning products without increased marketing. Telecom sector has also seen a rise.
Also, a huge rise in the demand of online applications is seen especially Zoom call meetings, Google meet etc. which has enabled mass video calls making it easier for companies to work and students to attend their online classes so that they do not suffer. Entertainment app house party also showed good responses from the consumers. Facebook daily users were increased by 11%.
TikTok has observed about 2 billion lifetime downloads, making it one of the most downloaded apps in 2020 surpassing Whatsapp. But due to the latest controversy, the rating of the app has reduced to 1.2 and was pulled out by Apple and Google play store. Now the ban has been lifted after certain changes in the app.
Netflix has observed about 16 million new subscribers in 2020 which is more than double its target. So, instead of binge-watching shows and movies on Netflix, it’s time to do something for your business by exploring the market and adapting new ways to grow and expand.
More money would be spent on digital ads as consumer spends more time online and might result in a decrease in hoardings and posters. 89% of large companies have paused their advertising campaigns and reduced their spending on Ads and have opted digital means to advertise their product and services. Brands have stopped sponsoring their products to influencers, bloggers due to lack of funds causing a decrease in their income. Travel bloggers face the most loss.
According to E-consultancy, Amazon-the World’s largest retailer has observed a 26% rise in global sales during April 2020 as compared to March 2019. Instead of running away from the challenges, it is time to prepare your business for the long run. Anticipating changes and adapting to them will have a positive effect. You need to adjust your marketing strategy according to current marketing pattern. It’s time to work smarter and not only retain our existing customers base but attract new customers and increase our profits through various cost-effective marketing techniques and exploit social media to your full benefit and by producing engaging content.
Be active on social media and have an Omni-channel presence to attract potential customers from wherever you can and stay connected with them. Try to get more visibility and build brand awareness and find opportunities to explore your brands. Try to use all the latest developments and artificial intelligence that can give your business a competitive advantage and a chance to outshine.
Invest in your website and try to give customers a more personalised experience and win their trust. These small and cost-effective changes can do wonders for your business at this time. Measure your performance, again and again, to see what is working for you and what is not. This is a very essential step as you will be able to focus more on all the factors helping you and eliminate the ones which are not helping in your growth and development.
It is the time to use your resources effectively and efficiently to gain the maximum out of them. Measure your success and experiment ideas and try creative ways to engage your audience as you don’t know what might help you rise. Recently, our honourable prime minister announced a fund of Rs. 20 lakh crore which is India’s 10% GDP to fight this pandemic and to make India self-reliant and to support MSMEs industries, farmers, labourers, informal workers, daily wagers, vendors etc. This mission is called Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and would promote the interest of businesses.
This mission is to make India self-reliant and to export more and start producing here. Around 2,00,000 PP kits are made in India every day which were earlier imported. Same is with the N-95 face mask which is being made which is a good start. This will give a chance to local businesses to raise and grow ‘LOCAL SE VOCAL ‘. Local businesses should give their best at this time as they have a golden opportunity to rise and outshine foreign brands. ’Due to self-reliance, production would increase after the pandemic which might result in increased competition, aggressive advertising and decreased profits for companies due to lesser price.
People would prefer home deliveries of products and companies like urban clap, Groffers, big basket, amazon would grow even more by giving personalised services and products to the consumers. In the coming time, e-commerce would see a huge growth resulting in the involvement of more and more consumers. Despite the uncertainty and rapid changes, it is important to evolve and grow, study their business environment and make their plans accordingly and take this time to slow down and analyse and evaluate everything.
This pandemic has created uncertainty in the entire world. We all are facing problems one way or the other, but it’s not the time to give up. It’s time to stand and grow and give our best. We are all in this together.
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