2020 has been a year like no other. With the global Coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe locking countries down, causing economies to plummet and businesses face uncertain times.

During these unprecedented times, we have seen resilience, people coming together, businesses pivoting, and even things that were once old seem new again.

One trend seems to be a reluctance from businesses to continue marketing and selling during this time.

Why are businesses being reluctant to continue marketing and selling:

  • Concerns of the consumer sentiment and the messaging around this.
  • A feeling of overwhelm and not knowing what to do or where to start.
  • The Return on Investment during a downturn in the business where cash flow and margins are tight.

However, what may happen though if you don’t market and sell during COVID19?

  • People will forget about you when business returns to normal (or the new normal)
  • If you are not doing something and your competitor is – who is getting the sale/market share?
  • You may have the opposite effect and by doing nothing, being seen as not caring.

Let’s look at another trend that may seem like a challenge but presents businesses with an opportunity and going back to traditional effective marketing and sales methods.

That trend is our online usage, which has exponentially increased in 2020 with FORBES saying use is up by 70%, streaming up by 12%, and internet providers stating a 30-50% surge across their networks.

This poses an interesting case for businesses using these channels to market in the current environment.

Let’s look at 3:

  1. Digital Advertising is becoming more expensive. For example, to get seen on GOOGLE ads for a Melbourne Restaurant could be up to 700+ a week spend for the conversion of 4 people. Case and point Facebook first-quarter revenues in 2020 were $17,737 BILLION up $2,660 billion from the first quarter of 2019.
  2. People have digital fatigue making it harder to cut through and grab user’s attention. Therefore, as above with point 1, you are spending this marketing and sales budgets, and people are not even seeing it or engaging with it.
  3. Increased streaming means no ads, so with people spending more time on streaming services, they are not exposed to any messaging.

With the knowledge, we need to continue reaching out and being seen by customers in our markets. Also, that the digital landscape is bringing with it a set of unique challenges in 2020 that may see many small to medium businesses simply not being able to effectively get the much needed ROI on the spend.

What can be done?

It is going back to how it has been done for a long time now, the traditional print and promotional medium.

Using things like:

This post, we have even put together some creative ideas for using print and promotional mediums with the bonus; some could be joint campaigns with complementary businesses helping you both share the costs!

  • A personalized coffee cup sent to their home office or regular office. One way to be remembered and have your part of their daily life. Build on this by including a coffee voucher for a chain or, if localized, a local coffee shop.
  • A stubby holder with your logo and a voucher for a local pub/bottle-shop/craft beer producer etc.
  • Perhaps you are a local coffee shop, flip your loyalty card around and get new ones made that give you your first coffee free instead of your tenth. Then when used up, you go back to the ten then free. But doing this is a little different and gets people to try you the first time. These can be delivered the traditional way via physical drop off.
  • Also, using the card method, get several shops to come together all branded on the front of the card, and the back is where they collect stamps. Once filled, they can receive some type of gift; you may want to all run a monthly draw prize for completed cards OR do it in a set time frame and get everyone to come together for a significant prize (example, the promotion runs across six weeks) to visit, purchase and get a card stamped at each shop to be in the running. This last suggestion will help build quick turnover and ROI. You could even include branded clothing in part of the pack to have people be a walking billboard advocate for your businesses.
  • Do a book of vouchers for your business and deliver them locally or use as a thank you to customers you already have had purchase.
  • Menus and vouchers through the post still have high traction, so if you are a service provider like that, this is still a relevant way to be seen.
  • When close to the end of the year (and especially 2020 that everyone wants to end!), a calendar/planner is always appreciated.
  • The key to continued success with such promotions is no different from the digital world; you want not only the sale now (bonus) but also being able to collect data to build your database for future marketing and sales. So, try and tie any new promotions suggested here onto getting contact details.

Remember though, through all marketing and sales efforts plus overall in your business, the key is to be selfless, be empathetic, and be aware. This will all help you come out in front to continue supporting and serving your customers now and into the future.

If you need help in developing these ideas, working with a team to build campaigns and design for you, or have ideas of your own and