Reimagining Digital Marketing Through the Lens of a Post-Pandemic World

   Joel Brown

A New Age Is Apon Us 

Business owners know firsthand how the pandemic has reshaped buying behavior. But every cloud has a silver lining. The world was forced to adapt to new styles of purchases when the lockdowns started. And as it turns out, a lot of us — millions — grew to like these options. Surveys show that customers much prefer the speed, flexibility, and convenience of a blended online and brick-and-mortar shopping experience. Below are some of the new marketing acronyms used to describe what people are doing as they shop:

BOPIS — Buy on-line, pick-up in-store

BORIS — Buy on-line, return in-store

ROPIS — Reserve on-line, pick-up in-store

ROPO — Research on-line, purchase off-line

Not only that, but consumers and business buyers have become more reliant on — and more comfortable with — virtual meetings, video presentations of products, equipment, services, and other Internet-based purchasing and communication options. Making for a more streamlined, and efficient way of organizing teams across the world. 

Numbers Don’t Lie

They say to trust your gut, but cold hard facts always help when making decisions. 

• According to Adobe, COVID-19 has already boosted retail e-commerce an extra $183 billion — a 20% YOY increase that is expected to continue.
• eMarketer forecasts, not surprisingly, a 25.5% increase in U.S. digital ad spending.

• Turning to B2B, McKinsey reports that most buyers now prefer cross-channel selling, 80% of sellers are convinced that omnichannel marketing is superior to traditional methods, and 60% of sellers plan to increase digital marketing budgets.

How Does This Help My Business?

The changing tides call for a new direction. Here are some of the ways you can align your marketing with what customers feel comfortable with. 

B2C

• Create onsite content and site functionality to support BOPIS, BORIS, ROPIS and ROPO. 
• Make sure your site is fully optimized for local SEO — Most new customers start their journey on Google.
• Expand paid search social media platforms.
• Upgrade your website’s functionality and improve user experience, especially for e-commerce and businesses (such as restaurants) that use the BOPIS model.

B2B

• Shift a portion of the trade show, live event, and travel budgets to online marketing.
• Create and market persuasive and informative product/equipment videos.
• Develop paid search campaigns with online webinars as a primary or secondary offer.
• For SEO, optimize video and images for desktop and (very important) mobile viewing.

Still Need Help?

If you’re not sure where to start, see our contact information below. We’ll make sure to get you up to speed in these turbulent times!