The ongoing coronavirus pandemic that is raging through most of the countries in the world has hit businesses very hard due to multiple factors. These include the lack of demand in most categories due to job losses and pay cuts, inability to sustain business operations due to employees not being able to attend their workplaces, disruption in logistics, and above all a scare in customers regarding their very existence. In a time of general economic depression, an individual company might not be able to stage a comeback, however, it is quite possible for it to sustain brand awareness till the pandemic passes and things are again normal using a variety of SEO tactics. Learn more about how to use SEO to sustain your business.
Be Sure To Have A Mobile-First Design.
Alter Your Content To Show Empathy
When things are good, it is normal for businesses to keep on assuring their customers that they are valued and that the business cares for them in every way possible by delivering the best of products and services. However, this stance becomes critical in the face of a pandemic that scares most customers and leaves them confused about what to do. It is these times of stress that you can tone down your aggressive product marketing and behave like a friend who appreciates and understands their concerns.
Accordingly, you can shape your content to reflect the human side of your business and support them with words of comfort and positivity. This is a good opportunity to create content with empathetic undertones that discusses the main concerns of the target audience and how they can still try to lead as normal a life as possible. If your business is engaging with the community in pandemic-relief social work, this is a good time to highlight your participation and offer help to customers in need.
Maintain Your Brand Visibility
Since the best use of SEO is to advance brand awareness, you should stick to your guns even if the situation does not permit customers to buy your products or if they have don’t want to purchase products or services in your industry category during this time. Remember, your customers may just be too busy trying to deal with job losses and their mortgage payments while trying to maintain good health.
Just because your customers may be in quarantine, it does not mean that they are not browsing the web. In fact, it is because they cannot step out of their homes that their consumption of web content increases significantly. During these uncertain times, not only will they be looking to get updated on the progress of the coronavirus infection and the discovery of effective treatment methods but also searching online for products and services that can make their life easier, according to digital marketing online impact 360, a leading SEO and content marketing agency. There will also be a renewed focus on accessing the essentials like grocery, toilet paper, DTH services, mobile telephony, health and hygiene products, etc.
Even if your business may not have to do with any of these, you should try and think creatively how you can create content that people will want to read and derive value from that can act as platforms for brand mentions. Typically, content on how to keep the family safe during the pandemic, how to build immunity, how to sanitize your home; what to eat and drink to keep healthy, etc. are firm favorites with consumers. Keeping children, seniors, and pets safe also rank very high in their list of priorities.
You can also offer content regarding skill acquisition, DIY jobs as well as maintaining control over stress and anxiety that have your brand name infused in a natural way. This will ensure that consumers will still keep on encountering your brand name as they consume content that is more valuable at this point in time. Be very careful about using humor in your content as people may not take too kindly to any lightheartedness in an environment that is serious. According to https://www.forbes.com, even as more people are working from home, businesses must use the opportunity to create streamlined digital experiences and boost their digital marketing campaigns.
Strengthen Your Domain Authority And Expertise
When people are forced to stay at home for extended periods; the consumption of content increases dramatically. People spend more time reading newspapers and magazines, watching TV for news as well as entertainment, books and most importantly, the web that offers them everything they want and more. When you know that people are increasingly browsing the net to learn more about subjects in your industry sector, it can be a very effective tactic to try and increase your domain authority and project yourself as an expert on the subject.
The best way of doing this is to first establish what people are looking out for the most in your industry using one of the many online search analysis tools. Using the results of the research, you can create in-depth, informative, and engaging content on areas of your expertise that will over time establish you as an expert on the subject. The best time to create an impact on the minds of your consumers is when they themselves are hungry for valuable content. The impact you can make when most of your customers are not distracted is far greater than when you have to fight hard to cut through the clutter and attain visibility. The pandemic, as difficult a time as it for most consumers, is the perfect time for establishing your hold on the customers as a domain expert.
Conclusion
When the prevailing conditions are as bad as they are due to the pandemic, there is every chance that many competitive players will tend to let up pressure thinking that there is no point in pushing their products and services when there is little demand. However, smart marketers should use this very opportunity to increase their SEO activities so that the brand remains relevant in their minds to allow a faster bounce-back when things start becoming normal. If you operate in a niche, the advantage of sustaining your SEO activities may be even greater if your competition that was thin in normal circumstances has dropped out due to the pandemic. So, now is the time to start or continue to use SEO to sustain your business