published on 16 March – 2020
How to keep your online relevance in times of crisis
We are in a unique period in modern history, with the medical situation affecting the entire world. The implications go beyond the health industry with an economic crisis in sight. More and more businesses are being affected by the new situation, yet despite the circumstances, it is a time for entrepreneurs to take serious measures to keep their relevance.
The importance of digital marketing in times of crisis
If business is slow during this period, your online strategy should be stronger than ever. It is essential to remain active and relevant for your customers thus ensuring your brand is not forgotten. During this period, your customers and potential clients will spend increasingly more time online which is why they need to find you there, engaged on all your online platforms. This way you will be able to stay close to your target audience and build a stronger customer relationship. Jim Nail, a principal analyst at Forrester, says: “The first thing brands have to do is not think about today, but about how they want their brand to be perceived when the world starts to return to normal.”
Your social media strategy
With time to spare, people are spending much more time on social media channels. This is the time for you to build a stronger customer relationship by implementing digital marketing solutions that support your existing clients during the crisis. If the services or products you provide could potentially help the community, don’t hesitate to expand your reach.
Engage your community by reaffirming your commitment to them. After closing its retails stores on March 13, 2020, Patagonia could have made a simple statement announcing the decision. However, their approach was to over-communicate and provide customers with information on the measures taken to protect their employees. This way Patagonia assured its customers of its commitment to them and to the company’s employees.
Create an online community that is eager to do whatever they can to help is a digital marketing solution that brings people together and increases visibility. Join forces with partners, influencers or public figures in creating solutions relevant for your customers during this crisis. Whether it is an adapted service or simply a distraction from the surrounding chaos, if you can be there for your customers, don’t hesitate to go the extra mile in order to have a real impact during this period.
As trades, conferences and other events have been cancelled, communicating and engaging with your audience online can remain undisrupted with the proper content strategies in place. Customers seek out content that entertains, informs, educates and inspires, and leveraging such elements will increase your visibility and relevance.
Your SEO strategy
If you’re considering interrupting your SEO activity to cut down costs, stop right there. Your SEO strategy is your marathon to reach first positions in Google rank on the keywords relevant to your business. But more than that, SEO is about creating content that keeps potential clients engaged through the crisis. If such optimization process ceases, Google will read your website as irrelevant for users and move it down the ranks.
Optimize your landing pages for coronavirus. Yes, we’ve said it. Focus your efforts on what are the most relevant queries for your customers during this time. Show what you are doing as a business, what responsibilities you have assumed towards your customers, employees and community at large, while also adjusting to their new situation in order to keep them as clients.
It doesn’t stop here. Google also takes into consideration how users interact with your website: Is it mentioned on social media channels? Is it shared on blogs or other platforms? Websites that will continue to be active during this period will take advantage of Google algorithms and maintain and even grow their position. A further reason to stay active on social media, too.
The cost
Falling from Google ranks will eventually cost more than the investment necessary to keep your position, as high positions will become harder to regain. If during this period, your budget can support SEO services, our recommendation is to continue to do so.
All in all
Businesses around the world have been impacted in a way or another by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s become increasingly important to be able to adapt to this period of uncertainty and seek new ways of becoming relevant to your audience. Strengthening your digital marketing by remaining active on online platforms, investing time in creating engaging content and optimizing your website for times of crisis is an important step for companies in order to lessen the impact of coronavirus spread on their business growth.