Do or Die; 5 crucial marketing answers to beat the corona pandemic

Pandemic marketing is what we may call it in 2021. The basic principles of a good marketing strategy may not have changed, but the execution principles have been dramatically turned upside down. Physical marketing will lose at least another six months and an immense battle will be waged on the digital channels. 

For many organizations, this is a huge challenge. Although digital marketing had been developed to the most important side issue, it did not yet have the status to compete fiercely on the digital battlefield. Digitally pioneers such as Amazon, Google and Spotify found themselves in an unexpected Valhalla as a result of the corona crisis. They were already driving the best Porsche but now it suddenly turns out to be equipped with a dual engine. They can indulge in a system of extreme personalization and continuously pump the highest quality data around to seduce their audience in the most ultimate form. Without really doing much, Corona lifts all mature digital players to the status of magicians. The 'winners takes it all' principle, already present in the digital world, thus only becomes more dominant. 

So today there is little choice left for the large group of average players when it comes to professionalizing their digital strategy. The pandemic changes will be somewhat flattened once the extreme lockdown is over, but research shows that the vast majority of our new digital behavior is permanent. So, as a company you need to adapt the change and you have to act now. Even if what you've been doing up till now wasn't bad at all, it is no longer enough to participate successfully in the post-2020 digital society. 

The behavior of many people has become intensely digitized in the past 10 months. On the consumer side, this had been going on for 10 years, but the current acceleration of millions of people is staggering. It's visible just from the 30-50% sales increases that e-commerce companies are experiencing. But just as striking is the digital acceleration on the b2b side. With fewer physical contacts in sales channels, this is forcing organizations to take their lead management processes to the next level. And this sharpening of the sales funnel can only take place by generating better data and making it actionable. The real-time dashboard is from now on the instrument to make sales and marketing decisions.  

There is really no other answer than to get serious about your digital strategy, raising the digital knowledge level and changing your entire marketing approach in 2021. And above all let go of the idea that digital marketing is a nice 'on top of' activity that provides some extra attention in the digital space. Those who continue on the existing path of average are playing a losing game. To turn this into a winning game, every entrepreneur or top manager will have to take the developments into their own hands. What are these development and which strategy should you follow? 

1.  Start the initiative for a digital strategy at the top

Digital marketing has remained an expert area for many leaders. Or a subject that was only relevnt for the younger generation. As a result, it has been insufficiently connected to the policy and strategy of organizations. A director or top manager does not have to know anything about it. He or she only has to facilitate the knowledge and support the connection with the  business goals. That means bringing good people from outside and inside together for a while. Digital marketing today is not really 'marketing', it has become hardcore transactional business. And that has always been a top priority at the highest management level. In three months, such a strategy can be thoroughly put together. Consisting of a roadmap at strategic level that connects different departments and individuals within the organization. All the individual pieces of digitization are simply put into the larger digital roadmap. This can normally be done without losing previous digital investments. Because of the pandemic it's basically "a now or never moment”. 

2. Data is no longer an ‘expert game’

Data is the competitive engine for every organization in the next five years. We no longer compete on our product, but on the timing and intelligence to bring this product to the attention of the right person at the right time. We can only distinguish ourselves if we have a system that allows us to build lasting contact with customers. 

Whether we like it or not, such a situation is driven by data. Every captured digital or physical interaction is the foundation for every subsequent action. But don't make data an abstract or mythological subject. It's all much simpler. Simply organizing existing data sources can already boost an organization's performance. Actively developing new competitive data is then the next step. And for organizations pursuing the truly killer interventions, there is still a world to be won using data science techniques. Do realize that the strategy is not about the data itself, but about making all the marketing & sales processes and their interrelationships more intelligent. Business managers must therefore be involved as soon as possible in understanding the data phenomenon. Then they will also be leading in the question of what exactly the organization needs. Data specialists can then give substance to this. 

3. Create attention for marketing entertainment 

Many digital platforms were developed at a time when functionality was the number one. There had to be a good-looking website with the right information, there had to be a campaign around the product benefits, one or more social media channels had to be set up, and so on. We were so busy setting up and designing all our digital channels that the unique experience became secondary to the technology. But it is precisely the story (storytelling) that creates interaction, playfulness and fun. After all, content that challenges really works. Marketing is still a bit like sex. As long as the excitement stays in it, it's much more fun to spend more time on it. And marketers are primarily competing for the "time spend" of our beloved target audience. This requires organizations to make content that is more interactive and much more appealing in gamification form. So, the sense of 'marketing entertainment' has to go up in 2021 at every company. Standstill in this large digital competitive field is quickly a considerable decline. The business results at organizations that have already tested these new content approaches like gamification are spectacular. So just make it more fun and hire talent to make it happen. 

4. Think from e-commerce to e-conversion 

Taking up e-commerce in full focus feels like a huge step for many organizations. Understandable, because this world feels a bit like you're in-or-out. But the pandemic has changed this and brought the predictions for 2024 to 2021. This calls for a change in how we view e-commerce. Traditionally, we think quickly in terms of buying a product through a digital channel. That is for now a bridge too far for many organizations. But realize e-commerce can be actually about any kind of conversion that you can achieve using digital contact. The key question that a manager must ask is where conversions in customer contact can take place and what type of conversion this could be. This varies from a purchase transaction to digitally registering an intended visit to a store. Or from registering for a trial to using a digital tool to calculate your mortgage. This is not e-commerce - but an e-conversion strategy. So, the advice is: don't think in the imposed structures around e-commerce but think about e-conversion transitions in your organization. In addition, the question can be asked whether a hardcore e-commerce strategy could benefit your organization. Those opportunities are often closer than many organizations think. The low-cost entry into e-commerce technology and the open marketplaces of Amazon and others have already eliminated the main risks behind an e-commerce investment.  

5. Experiment with ideas, not with technology

Whoever enters the new digital world initially finds himself in a maze of all shiny marketing software solutions. Shiny, but not always outstanding. They all look alike, promising a lot and positioning themselves as total solutions. The latter is often not the case and therefore the right expertise must be present when choices are made. A wrongly chosen solution can put an organization two or three years behind. Making mistakes in technology choices is absolutely unnecessary in today's market. The best players in the market are known at different service levels and the proven business cases are available. Investing in the right marketing technology solutions means a huge performance leap for every organization. So, experiment with ideas in the digital world, but definitely not with technology. With this approach you can ensure a steady and cohesive technology environment that can be built through a modular approach. From there a powerful interplay is created between different applications that make up the ecosystem. This total stack of solutions ultimately drives speed and effectiveness in sales & marketing. 

Those who know how to tackle these five developments will make themselves pandemic-proof and ensure that during and after this corona crisis the organization can continue to play a winning game. 

Peter Sprenger - CEO Techonomy