2020 was a lot of things. Some of those things aren’t appropriate for a blog, and some we can just agree to never speak of again. With 2021 more than halfway over, what will 2022 look like? Do we stay in sweatpants forever, or are we preparing to dust off that suit coat again? Regardless of the landscape, what is the role of marketing in the post-pandemic era?
With the pandemic showing signs of tailing off in parts of the world, employers throughout the world are preparing to get more staff back to their desks in a bid to preserve their culture or boost collaboration frayed by months (and months) of Zoom calls.
That process will be complicated, and depend largely on factors outside employers’ control: vaccination and the spread of variants are critical, but also important are the availability of transport and schools being open. The workplace has proven itself capable of working from home for the last year and a half…but is it sustainable?
While the picture differs widely between cities and companies, one thing is clear: A return to life as it was before the pandemic is still a long way off—and any renewed outbreaks could derail even the most elaborate of plans. 2020 provided an opportunity to improvise, and many nonprofit organizations moved their essential fundraising galas to a virtual platform. To their surprise, this platform offered a way to engage their supporters without the additional expense of a venue, a caterer, the cost of a dress and a babysitter…and supporters responded. Many of these virtual events saw increased revenue, which lent to sustainable services within their organization of choice. In one solution, we may have inadvertently created another problem: how to (re)capture supporters in an in-person setting.
As a company or business, this post-pandemic climate is a perfect time to reassess your marketing strategy. The pandemic experience has changed us as people. Our values have shifted. Priorities were identified. Changes became constant. As a business seeking new customers, you should start by considering who your post-pandemic target market is because your old ideas about this were most likely made obsolete by the pandemic. Demographic data such as age and gender, are no longer the most important factors when determining your target market. Now, messages need to be more aligned with people’s situations and values.
If you spent most of 2020 struggling to get your operation online as quickly as possible, you probably realized that some sacrifices had possibly been made during this great migration. Now is the time to pick up some of those pieces that had been sacrificed. Your “because I need it now” website might not be your forever website.
Marketing in the post-pandemic world means accepting that your old strategy is no longer viable, and investing time in crafting a new marketing plan that takes into account the new behaviors, needs, and wants that your customers are already demanding.
Does this speak to you? Madcap is listening. We are here for you. Drop us a line and we will set you up for success. The approach to business was “survival” in 2020, so now let’s take that to “sustainable”.