What started in December of 2019 in the Wuhan state of China has now been declared a Pandemic. Our whole world is affected by the on-going Novel COVID - 19 Coronavirus. With more than 210 countries affected by this virus, their governments have taken serious decisions.
From banned international and domestic flights to a complete lockdown of movement within the country, this has affected the world economy. With no import and export activity, most businesses are affected directly. The offices are not operating, cab services are not available, hotels are shut, in short, the whole economy has stopped.
While most companies are asking their employees to work online and work from home, not many are able to do so but are finding a way to digitize the work. Digital marketing, on the other hand, can be done from any place. The only thing you need is a laptop and internet connection.
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Here are a few of the positive as well as negative points that Digital Marketing will face due to COVID- 19.
Positive points
Consumption of social media
When more than 50% of the global population is stuck at home, the consumption of social media is bound to increase. Anyone who creates online content will see a surge in viewership, likes, and sharing.
Only people who fall under the age group of 18-55 who are able to work from home shall be busy throughout the day. Rest demographics, which are 5-17 and 56-80, anyone who falls under this number won't have any work to do since schools and colleges are closed, and they are the ones who consume more social media content.
If a company wants to create awareness about its brand and products, then this is the time. Although there won’t be many sales if you want to grab the viewer's attention, you could find potential customers.
Online transaction
It is said that the COVID-19 can survive on surfaces for as long as 9 hours. In fear of that, people have started avoiding using currency notes as they get traded between n number of people. Since then, online transactions have increased, apps like Paytm and Google Pay are now widely accepted for payment transactions as safer options.
Another thing is that major e-commerce sites are now only taking pre-paid orders. This is a safer option since there is no transaction of a currency note. The parcels are generally kept outside the door so that you don’t have to get in touch with the delivery person.
Visibility of ads
In the countries where lockdown has been announced, the consumption of media and television has increased. News channels are always on since everyone wants to be updated on the current situation. Ads shown during this time will have higher visibility as compared to before.
For e.g., the Indian government decided to re telecast old Ramayan on DD channel. Old Ramayan already has a huge fan base, and so almost every household started watching Ramayan. Amul saw this as a great opportunity and started showing all its ads, even the old ones. This created a nostalgic feeling among the views.
Search Pattern
There has been a huge change in the search patterns. All major social media platforms are making sure that no negative or false information is passed around during this time of panic. Even Google took a few steps. Whenever you search anything about coronavirus, google will only provide you with official government sites and WHO sites so that the readers get the right information.
People are only searching for essential items and not luxury items as they know having food is more important than buying expensive shoes. Even when it comes to entertainment, people are now searching ‘ Best shows to watch in quarantine’, ‘ Movies to binge-watch during quarantine’.
Negative points
Purchase Priority
When the whole world is fighting against a pandemic, you can not expect customers to make impulse purchases right now. People are saving rather than spending. Countries like India where the government has ordered only the sale of essential goods allowed, citizens will obviously only buy essential items like food and baby products.
Change in Strategies
Many companies that otherwise sell luxury goods have now started to manufacture hand sanitizers, face masks, and even medical equipment. Such companies would have already planned a great marketing strategy planned which is now of no use.
Conclusion
Pandemic might have created a panic, but we all are trying best to overcome it as fast as we can. People are now leaning more towards the digital world to get their things done. Schools and college institutes are having online video or audio call sessions so that the students don’t have to waste their time.
Companies are encouraging work from home attitude to keep the business going. Even when the pandemic ends and we will have a cure for it, we will still have a long way to go to make things back to normal. In today’s situation, digital marketing is a boom to industries as well as common consumers.
Also Read: Top Software Paid & Free That Can Help in Digital Marketing