Marketing During the COVID-19 Crisis: Cases, Strategies, Examples

As the crisis continues, all businesses have switched marketing strategies to the quarantine mode. Minor or major, changes have been made to operation hours, customer communication, budget allocation, new product releases, and planning.

Earlier this month, we published an article on the main directions of digital marketing companies worldwide are currently moving in. Today, we want to expand the topic and talk about the most typical coronavirus marketing practices. By far they are

And below, we’ll get detailed on the most important ones which we believe are social campaigns, access to content, online products, and adapted customer communication.

#StayHome Creative Ads and Social Campaigns

From logo updates to YouTube episodes on handwashing, commercial brands and NGOs are declaring their social consciousness and promoting self-isolation and #stayhome mode. For the last month, we saw a lot of creative posters and ads related to COVID-19 and quarantine.

Many of them are the result of collaboration with creative ad agencies, which used the situation to get their names in the public sight. And for the brands themselves, such brand marketing, even social by default, are a great ad and recognition booster.

The above are the most creative examples of the coronavirus marketing that got a wide media coverage, but the list is way bigger. The complex graphics isn’t a must; smart copywriting (Nike, M&C Saatchi, Gold’s Gym) does the job as well. The main thing is to resonate with the current situation, get creative, and avoid practices that have already become cliches. Otherwise, instead of promoting brand recognition, you would only cause annoyance and end up in one of such lists.

Free Access to Paid Content

Giving free access to membership or premium content was one of the first tactics (alongside advanced delivery and switching to online operations) most brands employed at the very beginning of the new pandemic marketing.

A few examples we came across only over the last two weeks:

Apart from actually helping people, such a strategy has a lot of benefits for your digital marketing:

What’s more important, it doesn’t require extra expenditure - you use the already existing product. This is key for brands that can’t donate big sums or start anti-crisis fundraising but still need to respond to the situation. The quarantine will end sooner or later, but your company will be remembered by how you reacted and committed during the hardest times.

Offline Experience as a New Product

Such industries as HoReCa, traveling and tourism, airlines and transportation, sports and entertainment, outdoor activities, events, rental services, insurance, and property market suffer the most during the crisis. Some companies have stopped their marketing at all; some have paused most promotional campaigns and switched to educational and entertainment content in order to keep the conversation alive.

However, there are few companies that are trying to adapt their seemingly offline services to a new reality, and Online Experience is a new big word in the current online marketing. Brands are trying to come up with different experiences relevant to their by far main service, and imagination is their only limit. From conference calls with llamas to dining with celebrities, marketers are testing new formats of interaction to see how monetizable they can be.

The options are numerous, from wine classes with an expert to a day in the life of the Olympic bobsledder:

An online Happy Hour or a virtual tour across the sanctuary are also available.

It’s hard to predict whether such innovations will be effective enough to help companies stay afloat. For giants like Airbnb probably not, or at least not in the short term. Small businesses can definitely benefit more. And if any of such experimental products proves to be successful, it can be left in the company portfolio even after the crisis. It could open a lot of new marketing possibilities as geographical location will stop being a boundary maker for services traditionally considered as offline only providers.

Moreover, Offline Experience as a marketing concept perfectly fits the modern tendency of environmental sustainability. It may be a good answer to the question How to produce less stuff but keep the sales growing? Definitely, that’s a solution not for everyone, but if we’re moving to the eco-friendly economy, all brands need to learn how to sell more experience rather than physical things.

Email Marketing During the COVID-19 Crisis

This isn't final, but from what we see, the COVID-19 email marketing has been going through the following stages:

As for now, we’d recommend you to stick to the following topics in the upcoming several weeks.

Email Marketing to Support Your Business

How to Start

Social Campaigns

Empathy and support are essential for a nowadays marketing plan, including email campaigns. There’s no need to praise your dedication and effort in each message. However, tell your customers what you’re doing to help the community navigate through the crisis. It will serve as a proof of that they’ve made the right choice putting their trust in your brand, plus help spread the word and engage more people willing to participate in whatever you’re running

What to tell:

Good News

While everyone is struggling to fight stress and anxiety, now more than ever is the time to send good vibes and remind people of the good in the world. Staying positive is essential to cope with a crisis so support your customers by helping them smile and build up the energy stores.

What to tell:

Entertainment

An appropriate joke, a fun challenge, or cute photos of your team’s pets can foster a positive mindset as effectively as the previous technique. Help people keep themselves busy and distracted and make it through social distancing without falling into depths of sadness and boredom.

What to tell:

Tone-Smart Promotion

Although the response may decrease, don’t stop talking to your customers and promoting your products during coronavirus. People should know you’re still in business and then can rely on your service when needed. However, make sure your business marketing is relevant to the situation. Focus on the most applicable products and adapt images and text.

For example, the image of the tent with a bunch of happy people hugging around somewhere in the national park would look a bit out of place now. It says “We’re tone-deaf and blind, and live on another planet. But still expect you to buy from us” On the other hand, a tent placed in the backyard of your house says “We can help handle self-isolation and add some adventurous vibes to today’s routine.” One product - different approaches, and for now the second will generate you more response.

This doesn’t mean that you have to change every email, include words quarantine, coronavirus outbreak, and isolations in every sentence and add only images of lonely singles hanging out in the bedroom. Just mind that your promos (especially those you crafted and scheduled long ago) look appropriate and don’t add to the stress and annoyance.

How to tell:

No doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic is a hard time for everyone. And still, there is a place to run business and promotion. People didn't lose interest in consumption, they just feel cautious about spending, as uncertainty is the current characterizing word. Keep on sending your offers, communicate with people, and explain how your service and products can help them make it through the pandemic. The quarantine will end sooner or later, and those customers whom you managed to keep engaged will be twice eager to come back, craving bread and circuses after a long lockdown.

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