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How NOT to Market Your Business During the Coronavirus

Don’t Shoot Yourself in the Foot During the Pandemic


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Renee Rose

3 years ago | 5 min read

Recently, I’ve noticed an influx of articles focused around the “right way” to market your business in the wake of the coronavirus. While I’ve noticed some articles offering great advice, I’ve also noticed several that are pushing for all the wrong marketing practices.

With so many people glued to their smartphones in these uncertain times, it is clear that a need for better marketing practices is there. Still, I believe a greater focus on what NOT to do is needed.

Today, I’ll be highlighting marketing practices that you should avoid at all costs during the coronavirus pandemic. While some of these are obvious, there are still some that I think have flown under the radar of many of even the most seasoned marketing professionals.

In order to truly win at marketing, especially now, it’s all about constant innovation, finding what works, and what doesn’t. When we focus on these factors, we become the great marketers we really want to be.

“Marketing’s job is never done. It’s about perpetual motion. We must continue to innovate every day.” — Beth Comstock, Former CMO & Vice Chair, GE

DON’T Exploit Fear

Due to the amount of news coverage surrounding the current pandemic, many marketers have assumed that the best way to reach their customers is to market topics related to the coronavirus and many are exploiting fear in the process. After all, despite the danger the current pandemic represents, it’s a trending topic and trending topics sell when it comes to the practice of marketing.

There are a number of reasons I advise against marketers exploiting fear in their marketing campaigns, however. For one, your consumers are being constantly bombarded with coronavirus-related content right now. While this is due to the fact that so many marketers are capitalizing on what’s trending, it’s easy to get lost in the saturation and you’re adding to the panic when you market this way.

Rather than exploiting fear in your marketing tactics in an effort to get noticed by your target audience, try to stay positive and market a message of hope. Despite the fact that it can sometimes feel like we’ll never be able to leave our homes again, this situation isn’t going to last forever. We’ll get through it. Use these types of messages in your marketing campaigns to not only do your part to make the world a better place but to associate a positive, reassuring message with your brand.

DON’T Use Memes

All it takes is one look at social media to see that there are a disturbing amount of memes related to jokes about coronavirus. While this isn’t necessarily surprising (there were tons of memes devoted to the Ebola virus years ago), it is important that you don’t use memes such as these in your marketing tactics.

As marketers, I think we have a tendency to get caught up in creating content that speaks to the current human condition. This is great- in fact, this is what good marketing is all about. What good marketing isn’t, however, is exploiting a sensitive matter for the sake of staying relevant. While it may seem like a good idea to keep with the modern trend of using humor to make a bad situation feel better, this can represent your brand as insensitive to a topic that is weighing heavily on the minds of so many right now.

While you shouldn’t market fear in the age of the coronavirus, you also shouldn’t market complete insensitivity to the way it is impacting humans all over the world. Avoid the use of memes by all costs.

DON’T Forget About the Power of PPC Campaigns

With so many people sitting at home in front of their screens, it can’t be argued that now is the time to really get your marketing strategy right. Not only is there a better chance that your content will be viewed but there is a much higher chance of earning customer engagement. For this reason, it is particularly important that you not forget about the power of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns.

Aside from possessing the proven power of higher conversion rates, PPC advertising is also a great way to save money during the current pandemic. With so many small businesses (advertising agencies included) looking for any possible way to save money, PPC advertising is a great way to effectively market your products and services without breaking the bank. In fact, cost-per-clicks have decreased by 6 percent on average across all verticals since last week, according to Thrive senior PPC manager Jacob Wulff.

With the cost-per-click to drop yet again in the coming weeks, this gives marketers a valuable opportunity to capitalize on the lost market share from others pulling back during these uncertain times. If you neglect to use this valuable opportunity to your advantage, you’re doing marketing all wrong in the age of the coronavirus.

DON’T Neglect to Prepare for the Bounce-Back Surge

When normalcy returns, as we can expect it to, so too will your consumer’s spending habits stabilize. As marketers, we use SEO practices every day to boost the reach and coverage of our advertising campaigns.

For this reason, it is important that you are remembering that SEO is a long-term strategy. When the spending habits of your consumer base stabilize when all of this ends, you’ll need to have made the right calls in terms of SEO during this time to stay relevant.

What you do today for your SEO campaign will make all the difference when the inevitable bounce-back surge happens. For this reason, it is crucial that you not let up in terms of focusing on your SEO campaign now. Pausing your SEO campaign now could have drastic effects on your revenue potential even just two months from now once the coronavirus starts to become a more distant memory.

DON’T Fall Victim to Panic

Here’s a hard truth: If you have found yourself among those hoarding toilet paper by the closet-full during this pandemic, it is likely you’re operating all wrong in terms of your current marketing strategies as well.

When implementing your current digital marketing strategy in the wake of the coronavirus, it is essential that you not fall victim to that same panic that made you grab toilet paper by the cart-full a couple of months ago. Never make the panic move. Stay consistent, stay driven, and stay focused.

Always use the tools at your disposal to inform your marketing decisions in this time, the same as any time in the past. These tools are there to help you make smart marketing decisions. Use them. Think before you leap. Knee-jerk reactions rarely end well when it comes to digital marketing practices.

Just because the economy is undergoing a shift right now doesn’t necessarily mean you have to respond in the same way. Think before you act and you’ll market successfully during the coronavirus.

This article was originally published by Renee rose on medium.

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