Marketers are always ready with plans and marketing strategies, and in this year where everything went upside down marketers are here with some solutions.
However, if there’s something that the chaos of 2020 has taught us it’s how hard it is to prepare. Publishing, and e-commerce brands, from the emergence of direct-to-consumer businesses to the omni channel movement. Yet I’ve never seen anything as daunting as the atmosphere at present. Markets are competitive, rivals are unpredictable, and customer preferences are evolving.
Instead of making static plans and seeing them fall apart this holiday season and beyond, consider these four versatile marketing methods instead.
1.Get used to pivoting a lot: When the service you offer or the commodity you sell is wiped out overnight, what do you do? This is a dilemma that company owners around the world, both large and small, had to deal with because initiatives of social distancing and national lockdowns have either forced them to shut down or simply reduced demand. Even the most air-tight company and marketing plans will fail in these circumstances.
Just as restaurants and bars have had to pivot, double down on takeout programmes and substitute the tapas menu for staples such as flour and sugar, this holiday period is being transformed by retailers of all stripes.
Take Face gym, a face workout studio that provides non-invasive facials, and I sit on its board. In previous years, individuals may have flocked to their platform to purchase gift cards for an in-person experience. Many people are uncomfortable doing so this year, even in areas where you’re legally required to visit a salon. And that’s why the business pivoted, creating a series of directed, at-home facial exercises to help minimize the tension and stress that everyone felt.
Its the time to change your traditional shopping method and step into online and adapt new methods in this holiday season.
2. Understand how you add value
Knowing the answer to this question is the way to ensure that you can work through the uncertainty: How do you bring value to your clients?
For example, when the pandemic hit and stay-at-home orders were placed in place, you should know that the importance it gave to consumers helped them build a home where, regardless of what was going on outside, they could feel secure and relaxed. Even as its stores were forced to close, it was there that inspired people to stay at home with heart warming advertising.
This holiday season, knowing how you add value will be even more important. Customers want brands to stand for something better, more than ever before. That’s maybe why 65 percent of U.S. customers who plan to shop this holiday season say they’re going to shop more at small local companies.
3. Stay on top of emerging trends, no matter how fast they change
Even in a complex, fast-changing world, the items people are looking for online can give clues as to what to expect next.
Tapping into this sort of Google data ensures that you can get ahead of the curve instead of getting taken off balance by a new trend, Google Analytics and Search data showed us that sustainability was becoming more important to customers in 2014. Knowing this, we were able to change quickly, letting consumers use packaging that is more environmentally friendly. More precisely, however because we got ahead of the trend.
4. Make decisions quickly
We marketers have the privilege of taking our time to create ideal plans, spending weeks putting focus groups together and testing and retesting our tactics in ordinary times. This method can lead to paralysis of analysis, and it’s always necessary to move rapidly in uncertain times.
Instead using what you now know, concentrate on making the best possible marketing choices and make changes when individuals react and new knowledge comes in. Understand that there is a fair possibility that it will change when establishing a marketing strategy in today’s world, and set it up in a way that helps you to pivot.
4.Planning for the unknown
It can be easy to presume, in the presence of difficulty, that making plans is an utter waste of time, something bound to fail. But this holiday season, instead, marketers should look to embrace the unknown, baking it from the beginning into their strategies. My team and I have made sure that our approach is not too focused on market conditions and that we have messaging ready for many scenarios, as I look forward to 2021 with my own plans.
For every brand and sector, how this happens will be different, but by following these steps, marketers will make sure that whatever new problems emerge, their strategies will be flexible enough to adapt.