Marketing budgets are transferred to online marketing following Coronavirus outbreakGiven that commercial companies allocate the largest piece of their budgets for commercial exhibitions, even a moderate change in preferences can translate into greater investments in web marketing.
Figures released by data information company PredictHQ indicate that in February alone, concerns about coronavirus led to a 500% increase in cancellations and delays in significant events.
Assuming that many marketers will have extra free time, especially those who will have to go into isolation at home, are recommended to use it to review their online marketing strategy and redefine their marketing messages.
Strengthening your focus on web marketing will allow you to maintain normality these crazy days and give you a competitive advantage over slow-acting competitors.
Recently, I met with a potential client, who expressed great disappointment for the last-minute cancellation of a major deal in 2020 due to the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). It would have been the biggest deal in the world for his field of activity, it would have been the major industry event his company planned to attend. Months of preparation and tens of thousands of euros were lost because the panic of the virus led to the last-minute cancellation decision. The frustrated marketing director said his company had already been notified that another large-scale show, in which they intended to shine, has been postponed for now.
Not 2008
I still remember what happened during the financial crisis of 2008, in which most B2B (business-to-business) companies decided to play it safely and reduce their marketing budgets.
Therefore, I was happy to learn that the company has already adopted a new strategy to move the funds allocated to participation in exhibitions to double the investment in online marketing.
If we reflect a little, such a move makes perfect sense.
Added to this is the fact that a growing number of organizations nowadays minimize all face-to-face meetings with the inevitable result that they have to change their digital strategy and turn it into their key source of lead generation.
Large organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have already announced that they are dropping all face-to-face meetings and private sector companies are to follow.
Given that commercial companies allocate the largest piece of their budgets for commercial exhibitions, even a moderate change in preferences can translate into greater investments in web marketing.
Billions of dollars lost
Figures released by data information company PredictHQ indicate that in February alone, concerns about coronavirus led to a 500% increase in cancellations and delays in significant events.
The company said more than 225 high-impact events were cancelled last month, and the number of events cancelled in March is expected to be significantly higher. The total cost of cancellations is estimated at billions of dollars.
Research conducted in 2018 by the Exhibition Industry Research Center indicated that B2B marketers participating in industry events allocated nearly 40 percent of their budgets to industry exhibitions and shows, almost five times more than 8 per cent spent on online marketing.
Even if only a small fraction of the event budgets are transferred to online marketing, this would translate into a massive increase in web marketing.
Online marketing
The major advantage of digital marketing, besides the fact that it does not require face-to-face interactions, is that it can be measurable. Marketers can quite easily get a good picture of the profitability of their investment expenses (ROI) and whose activities generate the highest number of quality clients and with what expenses.
Assuming that many marketers will have extra free time, especially those who will have to go into isolation at home, are recommended to use it to review their online marketing strategy and redefine their marketing messages.
Review your marketing strategy
Marketing executives often complain that they don't have time to update their websites because of their work overload. Well, this is exactly the time to review the corporate website and make sure that your company is not a company. is well presented.
This is also the time to reset goals for your campaigns. and analyze in depth the performance of past efforts. A close look will definitely indicate that there is a real need to refresh a large part of the marketing materials produced in the past.
This is an excellent opportunity to adjust the following features of your company's visibility and promotion strategy:
Website Content - Ensure that it contains correct marketing messages with the appropriate call-to-action call.
SEO - Checking the organic search rankings of your site and optimizing them for search engines to improve the quality and quantity of your traffic. Web
Content Marketing - Using this opportunity to generate ideas for new blog posts and start writing the following newsletter for your clients
Press releases and articles - By thinking about topics, you can inform the media and your clients. and writing professional articles
Marketing Materials - Preparation of presentations, brochures and other marketing materials
Social media involvement - Strategy on how you can improve engagement in social media and writing new case studies, White Papers (a guide that addresses various problems of your industry and presents a way of solving them) and professional articles. Increase in the number of sustained webinars.
Video - Storyline for the next video
Strengthening your focus on web marketing will allow you to maintain normality these crazy days and give you a competitive advantage over slow-acting competitors.
We hope that the whole crisis will end soon, but no matter how long it takes, strengthen your efforts. online marketing will reduce the risk and improve your overall position.
