Brand marketers are understandably anxious about the way forward. After an initial freeze in ad spending to evaluate how to handle the current crisis, many want to again reach out to customers and prospects. The question is, how?
Obviously, simply returning to the strategies that worked weeks ago won’t fly. The new reality dictates a new approach, a sensitivity to what consumers — and many brands — are going through. Some sectors have been massively affected and won’t quickly return to normalcy.
Others are seeing huge spikes in demand. Media budgets and the approaches to spending them are, likewise, fluctuating. “Even the [companies] who are not changing marketing spend are changing their marketing mix a lot,” notes technology and media investor Fred Wilson.
As malls close and office workers stay at home, traffic on mobile and social channels is up as much as 30%, says marketing data firm App Annie, and out-of-home advertising budgets are moving to those channels. People sheltering at home are hungry for information and entertainment. Traffic to content-driven websites is seeing a big surge, Axios says. Ars Technica reports that Netflix and YouTube reduced streaming quality to reduce stress on residential broadband networks and that Comcast and AT&T have temporarily suspended data-cap enforcement.
For anyone creating content, it can be a great time to reach an audience at home. Clients I work with are asking whether and how to do that with influencers. I’ve been sharing some pointers, which I’ll share here, as well.