I’m sure you are aware of the term Digital Marketing. But do you know what it means? How is it enabling businesses to take their products or services to the right audiences? And how at the time of writing this blog, the world is facing one of the gravest pandemic which has taken away our human side – the physical touch?

Digital Marketing is a fascinating field, it uses a vast array of digital channels for activities such as promotions of products & services, image building of existing and newly launched brands, and even reviving dead brands which people might have forgotten. 

But as Pandemic and panic knocked on our doors, businesses were unsure of how to move ahead and go beyond Traditional Marketing, and though traditional marketing is not on the brink of extinction, the world has seen a shift towards Digital Marketing activities and engagements.

As said by Mr Jo Coomes, COO, Publicis, “COVID has been the catalyst for digital transformation at scale,”.

The Challenges, Reasons and Opportunities

Moving forward let us understand the top reasons and challenges the Pandemic has brought in this turn towards Digital Marketing –

Change in Consumer Behaviour

• As the pandemic hit us, the consumers are being extra aware and cautious and have begun to separate themselves from the traditionally limited ways of in-person marketing such as test sampling, self-help product display kiosks, door-to-door marketing, and etc. 

• The frequent social interactions in public places such as schools and offices were all transferred online via social media and video calling sites/apps like Google Meet and Zoom.

• All of this led to a change in consumer ideology and behavioural patterns.

Change in business ad practices

• As reported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development 2020, young adults spend about 8.8 H of online screen time and 5.2 H among the elderly (>65 years old).  

• Thus businesses are now gradually understanding the momentum and are focusing on  Online Advertisements to reach the target audiences rather than burning away their money in traditional ways and then filtering their set of audiences among the vast market available. 

• They went where their customers were hanging out, Online!

More Targeted & Analytical 

• Digital Marketing works as a booster to target the audience who are interested in the type of your product and services and are already aware of the fact that this is their need and this is how it will be fulfilled. 

• Digital Marketing is amplifying the chance to embark on a personalised campaign based on your specific target audience through SEO practices, retargeting ads, constant interaction on social media.
• Businesses can now calculate how a particular campaign has behaved, what was good and bad of that, how many times the mail was opened to where were the eyeballs focused on the particular creative, everything is data-driven which helps immensely to build on previous mistakes.

• “Data being the new oil”, is the current driving force.

Now the most important of all, without which these three would not have been this impactful is, “The Pandemic”. 

• The enforced lockdown and sudden change to adapt to the new normal led individuals to alter their lifestyle and behaviours, they began to be more cautious and started spending much of their hours online.  

• Some businesses, which were smart enough had already followed the path of their target audience but most of them which were still relying upon traditional mediums of marketing went out of action. Even in the case of large companies. 

Seeing the opportunities, many MNCs and large corporations and startups have jumped with open arms to support the market. From Facebook opening MyShop to Amazon launching Apni Dukaan, from complete online shops like Meesho to small startups being able to utilize the digital space and run their businesses from the far side of the world reaching the other side. 

Digital has truly been the answer to the Pandemic enigma.

As Mr John Rallwagen quotes, “The secret of business, especially these days, is to focus relentlessly on your unfair advantage – the thing you do that others don’t!”. 

Impact of The Go-To Guy:

Digging deeper, to understand how digital marketing is turning the tables for businesses amid and post-pandemic we need to expose ourselves with practical experiences on how some brands were effective in using the digital marketing services  –

The Go-To Guy Success Story from North American Markets –

“The impact and ability of Pandemic to adversely influence GDP growth has reflected in a dramatic drop in major indices. One of the sectors to take a hit was Banking and Finance, to deliver and respond quickly they needed a way out of traditional banking systems.

Our client comes as an aid to this particular problem, to help Banks & other 

Financial Institutions emerge digital-ready. But first, they wanted to set their house right. The challenge for them was to revamp the brand identity to reach out to bigger leagues in the market.

Due to the fast-paced market and the US leading way forward in technological space, the opportunity cost for them was ‘Time’. The more time they indulge in revamping themselves the more time they cut on which could have yielded more business. 

Post the meetings & rigorous workshops to understand their school of thought, our team was able to make quick analyses and develop executable strategies. We started with building a unique Brand Identity & made sure everything was in sync with their expectations as well as what their business was asking them to do. 

The New Brand Identity consisted of Logo – The Hero of The Brand, Brand Messaging – How the world sees their Value Proposition, Website – The First Digital TouchPoint, Social Media – For market interaction & engagement, and other Business Collaterals for sync messaging.

Fast forward to D-day when their CMO gave a nod to our work, our team was elated and we thought within ourselves that if we can pull this off for one of our clients we can do it for everyone else too!

Within a few months of their new launch campaign, the Client was able to take their business and get fortunate opportunities onboard. Their idea and our execution worked to help them piggyback on the current situation.”

One must understand that only having a good idea or knowledge of some tools is not going to help in building a strong digital hold. One must know how much to experiment and execute the idea using effective research and pain points. 

This is where we like to position ourselves as an agency, “The No-Nonsense Executionists”, where The Go-To Guy! focuses on the execution of the plan rather than beating around the bush.

We’re excited to share our Digital Marketing Lessons Learned during the Pandemic. Unfortunately, this event had to happen, but it’s an example of how digital marketing can help you stand out despite the odds and amid the herd. It’s important to remember that the more you focus on the execution, the more are your chances of being heard.

We hope this blog post helps you understand how Digital Marketing helped the businesses amid Pandemic. If you have any questions about this topic or want to book a virtual coffee to discuss Digital Marketing Strategies, please contact us anytime.

About The Go-To Guy!

The Go-To Guy! is a creative branding and marketing agency that builds memorable brand identities, activates online presence, and brings brand engagement to help companies grow online, offline, and across multiple platforms