What the Heck Should I do About Marketing Right Now?

It is rough to be a business owner right now. It’s rough to be a marketing manager. It’s rough to be a human being.

For many of you, the last thing you care about is marketing right now – either because you have nothing to market (if you can’t manufacture a custom product, then you can’t very well sell it) or because, frankly, there are just too many other competing priorities.

You’re trying to homeschool your kids.

You’re worried about the health of family members.

You’re concerned about your spouse’s job.

If that’s you, I’m so sorry. If there’s anything I can do – please email me. Seriously, even if it’s just a question about homeschooling. I have 20+ years experience, and I’d be more than happy to tell you what has and hasn’t worked for my family.

But for some of you, business is your primary focus at the moment. For business owners right now, I know you’re just trying to figure out how to pay your employees and pay your bills. You’re trying to keep the lights on. You’re probably looking to cut expenses wherever you can. I’m right there with you. I want to keep as much of my cash as humanly possible at this moment.

For marketing professionals, you’re probably trying to figure out how to justify your job right now. How do you show that you shouldn’t be furloughed or let go? It’s highly likely that for many of you, your strategy for this year has been turned upside down, leaving you with nothing but possibly your website or other digital or virtual avenues for marketing.

So, if you’re planning on doing any marketing during the coronavirus pandemic, what should you be doing?

First, let me tell you what I’m hearing.

1. Traffic is up. Like WAY up for many websites right now. Everyone is home. Everyone is on the internet.
2. Conversions for some companies are also way up. Aside from the obvious hand sanitizer and toilet paper, companies selling products that entertain children or help people work or work out at home are seeing sales that exceed Black Friday.
3. Conversions for many companies are way down, even with an increase in traffic. Even if people are on your website, they may not be ready to purchase if what you’re selling isn’t valuable to them right this very minute.

So, what should you be doing?

For those of you who can not currently sell/ship a product

1. Continue creating content that is aimed at educating our prospects. Even if they’re not ready to buy today, you can provide interesting, relevant content. Let them know about your company – no, not about the fact that your team is working from home. Let them really get to know you. And if you can provide content for free that will help them right now today, whether it benefits you, or not, please do so.
2. Add to your mailing list. If you’re providing good, interesting content, maybe they would like to get that content in their inbox. And maybe they would like to know when you are ready to start selling again.
3. Continue working on your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If your website does not load well under the best of conditions, it’s probably DRAGGING right now. Speed it up. Make sure your site is optimized for search. Make sure your new content is optimized for search. If you have any budget to invest, now is probably a decent time to do an audit done and make sure you have analytics. That way, you’re making progress in search rankings and have a good starting point for analytics when the economy is turned back on.

For those of you who CAN sell right now

1. Do all of the above.
2. Consider continuing paid search but monitor your conversion rates closely and don’t be afraid to pause ads, campaigns, or your entire ad spend. Make sure that you’re monitoring conversion rates by platform and not just overall. Social ads may be killing it for you right now, while Google Ads may be in a slump. Or vice versa. Look at what every conversion and really understand it.
3. While we’re talking about conversions… really look at your conversions right now, period. There has never been a more important time to make sure that any marketing efforts are giving you a return. Remember, a conversion doesn’t have to be a sale – but know what conversions are important to your business and optimize, optimize, optimize for those.
4. Make sure that your social game is on point. I’m hearing lots of sales are coming from Facebook and Instagram right now. If you’ve been ignoring those platforms, this might be the time to take another look.

This is normally the point where I’d say something about “let me know if there’s anything we can do for you”. And I’m still going to say that. But please, please if you need help right now, and money is what is going to stop you from getting that help, please email me or call at 832-497-1610. I am committed to helping as many businesses as possible in whatever way I can. We’ll figure the money out, or I’ll at least point you in the direction of other free resources.

Stay safe out there! And let’s work together to keep the lights on.