As the global Covid-19 pandemic starts to ease off in higher economically developed nations around the globe, governments and finance firms will be looking into the catastrophic effects on the economy. Despite the negative impacts, some businesses simply changed the way they operate to fight back and even increase their sales – they didn’t bow to the pressure and instead responded to it – effectively they rose the occasion.
Some of the tactics used were:
· Increased advertising
· Larger marketing budgets
· Adding more content
· Better communications
The Negative Financial Impact On Most Businesses
In most industry sectors a huge downturn in reported revenues was reported at the end of Q2 2020. Even the stimulus packages from governments did not help. While the financial ease from these packages will soon come to end and GDP for many countries will start to slide. Also, when the stimulus packages end this will further affect GDP.
It is a gloomy future as more businesses are set to fold due to the financial pressure the pandemic has caused – for example, the tourism sector will take a huge hit. There is also absolutely no doubt that the financial industry is going to be negatively affected as well as the large majority of businesses operating in the secondary sector industries that are no suffering from reduced exports.
Which Industries Are Showing Some Positivity?
The good news is that it is not all doom and gloom. There are a large number of companies we can all learn from due to their ability to rise to the occasion. In some industry sectors such as ‘digital marketing’ and ‘software’ - companies are unexpectedly reporting an increase in profits.
There are not many companies out there that have the luxury of increased sales, but it is interesting to see which firms were able to stay afloat despite the huge number of businesses that cut marketing budgets or simply closed operations due to the current crisis.
It seems that during the pandemic firms with large economies of scale saw an opportunity to target the masses of people stranded at home due to lockdown. Many of these firms drew out a battle plan that would see them inject ‘more cash’ into their online marketing budget and thus increase their online revenue streams. In the meantime, competitors decided to reduce their marketing budgets.
Of course, there were also those marketing companies that were fortunate enough to have clients on their rosters that thrive on the internet.
Here are just a few examples:
· Health Insurance
· Software Companies (Skype/VPNs)
· Online Gaming Firms
· Online Casinos (Not sports)
· Online Magazines that sell advertising space
Health insurance companies were quick to employ the services of marketing firms that specialize in digital media advertising while some companies that sell home comfort goods such as pillows, cooking equipment, and electronics also doubled their online marketing efforts.
Other firms that jumped on the ‘lockdown advertising’ advertising bandwagon include those that sell medical supplies, home food delivery, home exercise and fitness equipment, and of course electronics. Then, of course, eComm sites that sold items such as useful home gadgets were perfect for those that would be bored at home and needed something to solve a particular problem.
Software companies also cashed in with numerous Facebook ads being pumped out, an increase in SEO, and of course paid ads being circulated on search engines and on websites that found a mass of site visitors suddenly visiting their content.
Not only did these companies spend more on their online advertising campaigns during the lockdown, but they also offered promotional deals to encourage people to buy, offer finance deals on their products, and all this came with free delivery for tangible goods being ordered.
Of course, those that benefitted from the most were online marketing firms already set up to run their companies by providing their employees with the means to work from home.
Communications Played a Huge Part in These Firm’s Success
It was also the perfect opportunity for those meaning to build a website or add additional tools to their company websites to use the spare time at home due to lockdown to invest in their business’s online presence.
For example, one firm that uses live chats, as well as offer channels such as Twitter, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and even Skype, helped to increase sales revenue. The introduction of multiple communication channels meant potential customers that find one or the other comms method quick, easy, and convenient are more likely to drop the company a message.
Many businesses introduce a live chat option for people to be able to contact the support staff in real-time and get immediate answers to their questions. It seems that time-sensitive real-time communications made a huge difference.
In the end, it seems the global pandemic was not bad for all industries. In the online marketing sector, many businesses have broken even or increase their profits despite losing several contracts from firms that had no choice but to slash their digital marketing budgets. These marketing firms have made up for lost revenue as the portion of existing customers that saw lockdown as an opportunity to get their product and brand name out there increased their marketing budgets.