Pivoting Marketing in 2020 Amidst a Global Pandemic
As the majority of the professional world entered the fourth month of working remotely in June 2020, it was no secret that employers and employees were continuing to ask the same question – how do I continue to pivot during a time of so much uncertainty? As marketers, a constant challenge is trying to ensure that we are tailoring our messaging, products and solutions to meet the needs of clients and customers during this trying time – all while facing hiring freezes, budget cuts, and potential revenue drop offs.
During the TMA roundtable webinar on June 30th, we asked leaders in the marketing technology space to share actionable insights that will help others meet and overcome these challenges. By engaging in candid conversations about marketing budgets, web traffic, virtual events, account-based marketing and go-to-market strategies, our panelists discussed similar trends and shared best practices for others to use to navigate this time period.
Engagement Levels Trend Upward
Marketers have noticed higher engagement levels in areas like web traffic, email marketing, and digital event registrations. The transition to work from home has eliminated the time of commuting and lunch breaks which for many can provide a few more hours in the day to surf the web, digitally network or attend online webinars. The spike in willingness to learn is giving marketers the hope that despite not being in-person, their reach can still continue to grow.
The first step to ensuring that your team is making your new audience’s time worthwhile is training your marketing team to now become a digital marketing team. As in-person events, trade shows, conferences and learning opportunities turn virtual, marketers need to learn how to make a lasting impression through the computer screen. Our panelists concluded that free content sharing is the most effective way to do so.
With the work from home workforce having more time to learn than ever, the time is now to optimize the opportunity to engage potential customers with free workshops, webinars, free trials for subscriptions and learning opportunities that serve as a mutually beneficial way to form a connection. These enticing interactions have the potential to pave the way to bringing long-term, happy customers and clients to the doorstep.
Lessons Learned
The biggest takeaway that all of our panelists agreed on was that digital transformation will continue to be the future of the professional world. COVID-19 has rushed us into a world where we appear to be settling into a “new normal”. A reality where in-person conferences have turned virtual and the office is now Zoom. The reality of this is that we are not changing because of COVID-19, but we are actually just accelerating a change that was inevitably coming our way.
By asking our audience polling questions, we came to the consensus that marketers in technology are all facing similar challenges.
With marketing budgets tending to account for spending on live events, marketers are left with funds that have nowhere to go. Since in-person marketing opportunities are not an option for the foreseeable future, those funds need to be reallocated to have the same effect of bringing new eyes and customers to your business. Panelist, Holly Dowden, suggests that “SEO is one of the most cost effective ways to bring people to your website.” At her company, Ntiva, web traffic nearly doubled in the months of March and April this year and she credits their marketing team’s focus in SEO as the reason.
POLL RESULTS
- 63% of respondents selected that their marketing budget decreased by 1-10% due to the effects of COVID-19.
- A majority of respondents selected that their hiring “increased by 10%”
- A majority of respondents selected that their revenue is projected to stay the same.
- Based on the existing product set, respondents were split 50/50 on being well positioned for this new normal and pivoting product offerings.