We are living in unprecedented times. Many businesses all over the world have taken a hit due to the global pandemic of COVID-19. An unfortunate fact is that no one knows how long is this pandemic going to last. With a volatile stock market and millions of people being furloughed, seems like the entire global economy is currently in a state of pause. However, despite these difficulties and challenges, business owner and entrepreneurs can still generate leads.
According to a recent stat, nearly 83% of the businesses have seen a dramatic decrease in leads since April 2020. All kinds of events and social gatherings have been put to hold and sadly, this has become the new normal.
In a 2019 business marketing report, more than a thousand senior marketers highlighted the significance of live events on their businesses. The report showed that according to 41% of the respondents, live events are one of the most critical channels of marketing for them to achieve desired business outcomes. 30% of marketers organize events to increase their sales acceleration and lead generation.
It is clearly seen that events play a key role for marketers and sales teams in achieving their business goals and sales targets. For the majority of the businesses, February, March, April and May are peak seasons. However, the situation is no longer the same when it comes to 2020. Based on the current situation due to COVID-19, none of the big events scheduled this year will take place, not soon at least.
In a recent online poll by John Doherty, an expert marketer and entrepreneur, 56% of the respondents said that they had observed a major decline in their leads. While others may consider this pandemic completely unfortunate, we at Targeto consider this as an opportunity. It’s time to exploit the perks of online marketing to its fullest. Before the whole pandemic of COVID-19 took over the world, most people were already accustomed to making purchases online.
People like conveniences that online shopping brought within itself and now it’s their only choice. On average, a potential customer has to interact with you on call, through email or an ad-campaign before making a purchase. None of the aforementioned steps requires any physical contact or interaction.
Rather than laying off personnel and thinking about putting your business in a state of rest, use your employees in generating leads online. Smart business owners are already hiring marketing agencies and consultants to aid them in meeting their business objectives because they of all people know that this is not the end.
While all this prevails, businesses can still manage to get back up, dust themselves and work on generating leads. Running a business is all about adaptability. When times are uncertain, you start working on your strengths, and currently, online business is our only hope. Here is a list of recommendations that can help you adapt to the current situation, and within a few days, you will see your business improving.
It’s time for you to get back to your marketing segments. However, you need to remember that people are no longer thinking the way they used to. Nowadays, people have a different approach, their needs have changed, and therefore, they will not make any investments unless the solution is directly associated with them.
If you have already built an audience on your online channels, this is the right time for reminding them of your existence. Creating targeted communication focusing on the current situation and the benefits provided from your solution, will stimulate their action.
Live events and social gatherings are no longer happening. Now, businesses can focus all their time and investments on online lead generation and digital marketing. We might as well consider that majority of your prospects are always working from home, spending most of their time in front of a screen, right? So, that means you can have a better response rate.
It’s time you rethink your strategies and allocate more budget to utilize virtual substitutes and digital frontiers to generate demand. So how do you do that? Engaging the audience on digital platforms requires businesses to create and deliver rich content, host virtual events, setting up an online marketplace and increase customer interactions through video calls.
There are plenty of services out there that can help you in such a transformation.
Nowadays, people are more price-sensitive than they have ever been in history. So, whenever they see a cost-effective option, they opt for it before someone else does. Not only is this a great opportunity to sell things in bundles but also putting discount at any time serves as a lead magnet. A key element of smart marketing is targeting emotions.
COVID-19 has, without a doubt, disrupted the business world and the global economy and in times like these, businesses need leaders who can make smart decisions rather than create more panic. At Targeto, we are committed toward helping businesses attract leads online during these hard times. We are supporting entrepreneurs every single day creating a steady flow of leads coming from their online channels. If you are not generating leads online right now, you might want to invest some resources into your online acquisition system.