How to Realign Your Brand and Digital Marketing Strategy

COVID-19 is an unprecedented global pandemic, the likes we have never seen before. Obscure terms (social distancing and self-quarantine) and new habits are now everyday words and behaviours.

For the consumer, the impact of this crisis has been fear. Not just for their health but also the economic impact it will have on them and their family.

It is far too early to fully assess the economic impact in any meaningful way, but it is clear both Direct-to-Consumer and B2B companies are scrambling to meet the immediate needs of their marketplaces.

In particular, those who have viewed digital commerce as a secondary channel now need to reevaluate every aspect of their business towards this mindset.

B2B marketing challenges:

Some businesses face further challenges; particularly those who predominantly focused on the B2B market but who now want to (or have to) attract and sell directly to the consumer. If they didn't have a strong direct to consumer offering, they are (or at least should be) reorientating quickly to building a stronger consumer-centric brand.

Right now, there is a huge opportunity to double-down on digital commerce and it represents a huge opportunity to grow revenue,  attract new customers and drive channel shift.

Products and offerings may need to be refined and new services can be explored. But to achieve this shift, requires the right capabilities, skill sets and underlying scalability to handle the shift and potential demand.

To capture the opportunity businesses need to be able to flex quickly! Plans and actions need to be implemented immediately.

Digital marketing steps to realign your business:

Customer and channel immersion:

• Evaluate shifting consumer patterns and think carefully about how you can engage with your ideal customer.
• Identify current pain points in the value chain of your business, focus on how you can overcome these and the people you need to do this.

Prioritise your products:

For businesses realigning their model, it is usually best to prioritise their offerings in a managed way. Focus on a few core products or services which I likely to have the most impact.

MVP:

Re-aligning a business should not be attempted in one big go. Inevitably there will be surprises and mistakes.

A way to manage and mitigate this re-alignment is to do it over stages which enables you to refine the offer, measure the success and review marketing channels.

The MVP is your minimum viable product and getting this to market quickly is crucial right now.

Optimisation:

Analyse data from the MVP based on initial consumer response and strain on existing supply chain or systems. If there have been any deficiencies this is the time to fix and optimise, then you can prepare for a full launch.

Post-launch of the new marketing strategy:

Once you have launched you're new direct to consumer offering, there will many other challenges to face. Every channel, touch-point and piece of content matters.

Brands need to do a thorough audit to make sure that they are sending a consistent and reassuring message, building on customer confidence and deepening trust.

For example, parents will have different questions and concerns than teens. Be helpful and let them know the precautions that you have undertaken to protect peoples’ safety and be sure to rework your service content to ensure it continues to be relevant.

An example of a company learning from previous epidemics is Alibaba. In 2018 they launched a special senior-friendly version of its Taobao shopping app with large print and a function that allowed their adult children to pay for their shopping.

Steps you can take:

• Initiate an audit of your commerce experience to ensure it properly represents your brand:

Realizing that commerce has become your primary channel in which to do business, you must ensure that the experience is more than a transaction engine for goods and services. It needs to appropriately represent your brand position and what you stand for as a business.

• Be responsive and listen:

Businesses that are keeping up with their customers are scaling rapid response capabilities properly, by asking the right questions, analyzing the data, and then meeting customers where they are by acting on real-time predictive insights. And by putting this listening infrastructure in place now, businesses will be able to adapt practices over time, making them more relevant and connected to their customers on an ongoing basis.

• Trust
  

Finally, reassure your customers.

There are unprecedented confusion and fear. People are gravitating towards brands they can trust, who are transparent and truthful. Companies who can demonstrate these attributes will deliver a differentiated level of customer service and by doing so will make themselves more relevant and connected to their customers.

If you would like to speak to a member of our digital marketing team at Barr Media to see how we can help you, please get in touch.