While the COVID 19 pandemic and its fears still linger around the world, people have changed how they click, interact, and buy on the internet. This shift in behavior has affected many small businesses who are clueless about changing their digital marketing ways to suit the current market situation. While most companies have tried to cut costs and shrink their budget to survive through the pandemic, only a few have proven to be smart enough to find new avenues and varying their approach to digital marketing. So you may ask how to change my digital marketing campaign or what new ideas I should adopt for the growth of my small business. Here are four changes that you need to adapt to your digital marketing campaign during this pandemic quickly.

Adjust your PPC advertising to new search terms

Pandemic has dramatically impacted the performance of PPC advertising. The so-called ‘new normal’ people staying indoors have searched for new terms or variations of old ones. So a small business has to take note of this behavior and research for new keywords and change the existing ones appropriately to shift their campaign towards targeting them.

Address the surge in desktop searches

Before the pandemic, digital marketing campaigns considered mobile phones and tablets as their crucial target devices and gave lesser importance to searches that resulted from desktops, computers, and laptops. However, since people can’t perform everyday activities like going to the office, gym, movies, restaurants, and other places, they rely on desktops to work from home, for entertainment, and to interact with friends and family. While most screen time goes along with being in a seated position, people have found larger screens to be comfortable and convenient to work and spend more significant time. Although this might be a temporary change, and Google mobile indexing is still going on in full swing, search marketers need to monitor the metrics such as click-through rates and cost per click at this point. The best strategy would be to invest additional dollars into advertising over desktops or computers while not cutting budgets allocated to mobile campaign advertising. Obviously, in the post-pandemic world, people will increase their mobile usage, and one shouldn’t be surprised to see them ultimately return and cross the past metrics.

Engage followers on social media in a personal and meaningful way

Studies have shown that people during the pandemic have become more sensitive and centered towards their family and friends. So it is no time to send flashy and aggressive push ads that scream about the latest and best-discounted offers. Instead, use graphics and images that comfort and relax viewers. The tone of the message in your social media posts should be as such you care for your customers personally.

Look where you stand in the Industry-wise Search Landscape and adopt

Some industries have been hit harder than others. And a few lucky ones have emerged out of the woodwork and grown exponentially- COVID was a godsend.  Here are different industries that see a significant increase or decrease in performance or volume during COVID 19.

Travel

Travel is the most challenging industry during this global pandemic. Search volumes for international and domestic travel have dropped dramatically due to stay at home guidelines and need to self-quarantine for 14 days due to contact tracing. If your business relies on global travel, some examples would be in Tours and Travel, Care hire, Travel management, Hotels, etc., then obviously, the promise of growth is limited even with the change in the way you do digital marketing. However, if your business operates in the local travel industry, you can still find customers by basing your campaign to target nearby customers. Advertise locally to reach people who remain shelter in place and only travel to nearby areas.

Retail

If your small business operates in retail, you might have already experienced a spike in your business operations. But if you haven’t made changes to the digital marketing strategy deployed before the pandemic, your business might have missed opportunities and not reaped its full growth potential. In-home personal care, hair care, DIY grooming, gifting, hobbies, camping, arts and crafts, genealogy, model building, gardening, cooking, and other related categories have seen a significant percentage increase. For instance, metrics show an increase in clicks demanding home grooming equipment by more than 100%. Again as pointed out earlier, since people have been closer to family and friends, the gifting subcategory has seen a spike during Birthdays, Father’s Day, and Mother’s Day. Consider these changes and focus your digital marketing strategy to exploit them with a good SEO service like SEO Charleston.

Automotive

Although people have hesitated to buy new vehicles, the intent to buy an automobile in the future has continued. While traditionally, people would visit their nearest dealerships to examine cars themselves before purchasing them, people now search online for the same. Also, some consumers are trying to know what dealerships are open and what is closed due to pandemic. For example, keywords such as “Ford Dealership near me,” “Ford car service near me,” and others show up with a high interest in search engine analytics. Similar patterns have emerged in sub-sectors of the automotive industry, including parts and supplies, materials, electronics, safety systems, etc. So if your business deals in the automotive industry, make sure you track these changes.

Health and Nutrition

During the pandemic, searches are up for terms related to health, wellness, and nutrition. People search about symptoms, vaccines, treatments, supplements, pre-existing health conditions, telemedicine, and others. Also, there was an increase in searches for protective items such as sanitizers, masks, and disinfectants. A small business in the health industry must consider these things to change and structure their digital marketing strategy.

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