A global pandemic creates a number of supply chain, healthcare, and economic issues that can make even the most confident business owner reevaluate their current marketing plan. COVID-19 has certainly provided a theater for this conversation, with new business sectors affected every day.
However, B2B businesses are better positioned to thrive than other companies, despite global and national concerns.
As a business, we obviously understand the economic concerns surrounding the COVID-19 virus and are accounting for these changes in our business as well.
As we've been communicating with our clients, we came to an obvious realization:
More than ever, people are online.
In a time when most people are working remotely and increasing the time they spend online, companies are in a fantastic spot to get in front of their audience digitally. We need to take precautions on the health front; but from a business perspective, now is not the time to panic.
We need to be thinking about another reality: we will recover. Whatever the initial economic hit, there is light on the other side. There is another part of this story: how your business will recover.
We already established one important principle—people are increasingly online.
As you know (or if you don’t, now you do), inbound marketing (specifically SEO) is about the long game. You’ve spent a lot of time developing a brand and a message; it would make more sense to lean into that than away from it.
With more people online, content is more important than ever.
Think for a moment about real-time reactions: People are going to pause or slow their marketing activities. What does that mean? Well, their content creation and publishing schedules are going to slow down, their audience is going to look somewhere else for quality content, and all their hard work up until that point is lost.
If you lean into increasing your content production, then you’re gaining traction where other companies are losing it.
Prioritizing content creation should be at the top of your list. Whether you’re updating previous content, creating new content based on common customer questions, or targeting topic clusters that are trending, producing content where there is an audience for it is a quick win.
You should also keep in mind that content is more than just blogs and eBooks.
Video creation for a population largely confined to their homes just makes too much sense. These assets can explain important company workflows or highlight organizational principles that would be interesting to your audience.
When’s the last time you refreshed your website content? Even if new content isn’t something you want to tackle, updating the SEO, internal and external links, CTAs, and design can pay huge dividends.
For B2B companies, webinars are an untapped asset that could increase customer interaction. A webinar offers a unique opportunity to teach people about your company.
Depending on your business, reaching out to your customers can help solidify relationships in a time when people are feeling increasingly isolated. Outreach does need to be a BOGO or an ad campaign; an email drip campaign with a human touch could serve as a shelter in rough waters.
In the end, marketing is about connecting with others.
If done right, inbound marketing can help you be a leader in turbulent times.
Together, we can overcome anything.