December 31st, 2019, Wuhan, China. Just one city and one day. Today, we know that it was the trigger for the pandemic that thoroughly changed the way we live. Thousands of companies struggle to stay in business, streets are empty, restaurants and shopping centers are closed. The significance of this “involuntary revolution” can’t be overrated. And if your company doesn’t adapt quickly, you’re in dire straits. Thankfully, you aren’t in an impossible situation.

Granted, for many businesses the situation looks pretty bleak. Almost all the restaurants, bars, clubs, brick-and-mortar retailers, clothing stores, bookstores, car dealerships, interior design showrooms, electronics stores, perfumeries and other service outlets are experiencing a massive sales decrease. Unfortunately, many of them will shut down altogether.

The global sales and marketing decline

The figures being reported from all over the world are relentless:

• According to Dentsu Aegis Network, it is now predicted that the Chinese ad spend growth forecast will reach just a 3.9% increase year-on-year, falling from a much larger previous estimate of 6.9%[1].
• 78% of marketers from large UK companies expect that customers will delay their spending decisions, while 55% expect delays in product/service launches.
• Over 90% of marketers said that their customers are ‘reluctant to schedule in-person meetings’.
• Almost half of the surveyed marketing community (48%) anticipates a reduction in marketing spending.

These stats are hardly surprising since people all around the world are strongly encouraged to stay indoors. However, although a pandemic is always a terrible calamity, there are some niches that experience sky-high growth.

Are there any winners?

It’s hard to think of an industry that wasn’t affected by the coronavirus disease in some way. However, it would be a groundless simplification to state that this virus only causes businesses to shut down. There are some businesses, which are now flourishing!  Here are a couple of examples:

• NETFLIX: The Piper Sandler consulting company predicts that Netflix’s year-on-year subscription growth for the US and Canadian markets will reach more than double previous predictions of 1.6%[2].
• STEAM: It’s the global PC gaming platform. It attracted over 20 million simultaneous users on March 15th, 2020 – it was an indisputable record for the number of users online at any one time in Steam’s 16-year history.

INSTACART: It’s a same-day grocery delivery app. In March 2020, this company experienced a 218% increase when compared to download activity in February. Walmart noted a similar increase in their app (Walmart Grocery) downloads over the same period – a whopping 160% growth[3].

What do these three examples have in common?

All of them operate online!

The best solution for your company

According to Ipsos MORI, 50% of Chinese and 31% of Italian consumers say they’re shopping online ‘more frequently’. Other countries such as Vietnam, India, and Russia are also turning to eCommerce – in these countries, an increase in online shopping was measured at 57%, 55%, and 27% accordingly. The same trend applies to a multitude of other countries.  

So, the main conclusion we can draw from this crisis is that your business has to go online. It’s a necessity if you want to survive.

Online activity is by far your best bet when it comes to adapting to this new marketing and sales scenery. First of all, you should turn to online advertising and implement marketing tactics and tools that drive online sales. For instance, you could start promoting at-home and delivery-based services. Most likely, you will even have to come up with the ideas for new business models or new digital products or services.

Get ready!

Think of this crisis as a challenge. Ultimately, it will pass, and your company will recover. You have all of our support!

One thing has not changed. You have to consider your company a long-term endeavour. Most likely, in the second half of the year, the situation will slowly normalize. That’s why it’s so important to maintain at least 7%[4] of your gross revenue on sales and marketing.

But what if the virus has negatively impacted your company? For now, you can leave out the short-term marketing tactics, such as Google or Facebook Ads. But we recommend you keep your SEO and inbound marketing strategy in place. Take advantage of the fact that it’s slightly easier to promote your company online right now. Take care of your content strategy and website. Publish some new blog posts. Implement all these changes you’ve been thinking of for months. Rethink your strategy. Now is the best time to take stock of your company!

And remember that you can always use our help! We are eager to guide you through this crisis into the amazing digital universe, where there are no boundaries. Drop us a line, and let’s talk about the opportunities that await you!

[1] https://econsultancy.com/stats-roundup-coronavirus-impact-on-marketing-ecommerce-advertising/
[2] https://econsultancy.com/stats-roundup-coronavirus-impact-on-marketing-ecommerce-advertising/
[3] https://blog.apptopia.com/instacart-and-grocery-delivery-apps-set-consecutive-days-of-record-downloads
[4] https://nuphoriq.com/create-a-marketing-budget/