The world has turned upside down since the emergence of the deadly COVID-19 outbreak. The significant change has also impacted the way businesses work. Due to the strict social rules, entrepreneurs and businesses are moving toward a digital future. Since there are more eyeballs in the digital space, it also gives businesses more room to leverage the business.
However, not everyone knows the correct methods or has the right tools to make the most of business online. As everyone goes digital, the competition as a result is increasing day by day. In a scenario like this, it is vital to move forward strategically. The better your strategy, the more room it will give you to attract online customers.
To help you attract more online customers than your competition, here are some strategies that will work better in the long run.
1. Focus on pre-existing Customers
If your business is falling behind because of the lack of new online customers, it is wise to focus on the ones you already have. Target your current customer base by creating new services and ad campaigns. In addition, you might want to issue refunds to customers who paid for your memberships during the time without COVID.
While the refunds might affect your cashflow in the short term, the trust it will build with your online customers will be a lot beneficial in the long run. When the economy stabilizes, these are the loyal customers you can bet on to stick with you and your business.
During these tough times when unemployment is at a high, it is crucial to look after your online customers. The right application of this strategy will help you grow your business in areas such as customer loyalty, organic traffic, brand awareness, social media management, and potentially gaining new customers.
2. Go Digital
This is the only logical step during the pandemic. As the restrictions become strict, the digital world is where your potential customers are most active. If your business has an already active e-commerce element, notify online customers that they can get everything they got offline on the website as well. This is not limited to the pandemic, you can offer discounts or coupons to customers who wish to buy from home even after the pandemic.
Service-based businesses might want to offer gift cards that are redeemable after the pandemic is over. This will help you keep stable sales numbers and create excitement among online customers as they gear up for after-pandemic shopping.
3. Facebook Ad Investment
As lockdown leads to increased use of social media, it has led to increased ROI on PPC ads in different sectors and industries. Facebook ads are an effective way to let people know about your business and also showcase that you have adapted well to the online way of doing s business.
Another benefit of Facebook ads is its affordability. Additionally, the ads also enable you to showcase specific discounts and promotions during the COVID-19 lockdown. The ads have always been effective for most businesses, now during the lockdown even more so, as they will help you scale your business to new heights.
The ads are especially effective in targeting a particular demographic. You can reach online customers based on gender, location, hobbies, marital status, profession, and more. During the lockdown, there has also been an increase in the CPM (cost per impression) of ads because of the limited marketing budget of the companies.
A good Facebook ad strategy will help you bring more leads and sales without spending too much money. However, it is important to note that advertising messages work better when your target demographic sees them consistently and repeatedly. You can do this with the retargeting feature of Facebook ads.
4. Offer Special Deals
Exclusive sales promotions are a great way to attract customers before businesses re-open. You can advertise these deals on your socials or even send promotional emails. In addition to attracting new online customers, this will also help you win back some of your old customers.
If the industry was highly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, the deals could work wonders after the lockdown lifts up. In addition to other deals, you could also offer customers membership deals to people for trusting you during a certain period, especially when a situation is as severe as the pandemic.
5. Revamp Communication Strategy
As business shifts online, the communication strategies that worked offline aren’t necessarily going to work for the current digital space. As people’s schedules change, it would also be beneficial to reach your online customers through the introduction of newsletters, and other types of content tools.
To reach customers through content, you will need a content calendar along with blog posts and articles that target your specific audience. This will help you clear the doubts of customers and also answer their questions. To get more clarity on the topic, you can take a poll through an email survey and know the priorities of the customers in addition to other information. Once you know their needs and priorities, you can then market yourself accordingly.
6. Leverage Paid Advertising
Paid advertising can help your business tremendously. Many platforms offer paid advertising tools such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, and Twitter Ads. Using all of these at once will not do any good. It is crucial that you focus your ads where your customer base is most active.
7. Enhance the Website
The website is the first thing your user base interacts with online. Having a website that gives online customers a memorable user experience can provide many long-term and short-term benefits for your business. To do that, you need to work on certain aspects of the website such as overall design, and ways to navigate through the website seamlessly.
Summing Up
In this era of digital marketing, having a concrete strategy will give you an edge over your competition when things become normal. In addition to this strategy, it will also be essential to know exactly what your customers want and provide it to them efficiently.
