It comes as no surprise that so many people are still working from home and sheltering indoors. With COVID-19 arguably still raging in a second wave bigger than before, marketers and companies are pivoting now more than ever in order to survive this never-ending new lifestyle. 

Marketing, if anything, is now more sought in order to have the advantage over competition. Businesses need fresh minds and eyes to take a look at companies who are desperately striving to keep relevant in the consumer eye. The challenge? It’s to be able to do so from a remote standpoint and with limited resources and access to team work that most crave to have with in-person interaction. 

We’ll look together to see what four marketing projects from home are really worth the investment, and we’ll take an even deeper dive to see what’s in store for year two of our current atmosphere. 

Social Media Polls 

Research is vital for any marketing campaign. Why not get a little more personal with viewers  and followers and ask them a few questions? We’re sure they’d be willing to answer now more than ever with a little extra time indoors and their phones/social media always conveniently in reach. 

When a brand creates a social media poll, it’s automatically more of an invitation to get personal with your shoppers. After creating these questions, make sure to allow enough time in between the questions in order to generate quantitative results. There’s nothing worse than invalid data or swayed data when the number of participants is too low. It may also help to ask the same question at different times and on multiple platforms. This guarantees a higher response rate and from all areas of the desired demographic.  

Don’t forget to analyze which target market is providing these answers either! A target market alone is enough to take over the entire idea you may have for a marketing campaign. For example, certain age groups may enjoy one social media over the other whereas different demographics may find more of a need for a product than other locations. 

Local SEO

“Near me” searches are some of the most relevant and highly requested forms of search that one does on a more frequent basis. For instance, if you want to do a quick coffee run, you instantly search for the nearest cafe spot. This same tactic applies for almost all goods and services. With so many more people looking for convenience more than ever before, it’s vital to tap into your local SEO tactics and see how your business can get some of the digital optimization pie. 

The process itself is also simple if you already know the basics of SEO and how to execute the strategy. All you have to do is look into specific locations and have a more direct target market. 

PPC Advertising 

Pay-per-click advertising is a great way to execute marketing tactics in a more budget-friendly manner. In order to do this, the main objective with PPC is to target audiences who use cell phones, laptops and computers more than others. 

The advantage of creating a PPC ad is having more clicks. Not only will there be a higher percentage of exposure, but there will also be a great opportunity for conversions to be made. 

A great platform for PPC advertising happens to be YouTube. Videos create more engagement, and PPC works well when it’s in video form. All a marketer has to do is backlink the website’s link via the advertisement so the people interested can click the link to learn more about products or services.

Speaking of Video… 

Google tends to favor video more than the written word, so it’s super important to invest your time into promoting video marketing into the business. The SEO and PPC portion will work great together in order to get you the exposure that your company needs to thrive. According to CONTRACTOR, there’s evidence that actually indicates that online videos will take up more than 82 percent of all consumer internet traffic on the internet in 2022. 

It’s majorly important to get ahead of the curve and make sure that this method of marketing becomes one of the biggest forms of communications. It will instantly give a more competitive edge over similar companies. 

Not only do search engines favor video, but social media platforms have been thriving off of them in order to have their screen in front of a consumer face. These platforms include YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook will also be integrating more video capabilities in their future features. 

Even video streaming services like Amazon and Hulu will give marketers and advertisers the ability to advertise on these platforms. In fact, video content on these online services are a main source for how they survive.  

Social Media Marketing 

Social media is the major hub to be a part of while you learn to market your business more remotely. In fact, social media is essentially there to subtly remind your followers and shoppers that your business does still exist and that life will be better with it. 

Strategies can vary with so many unique creative abilities and different platforms. This is where timing and demographics will play a big part in the execution process of it all. Make sure to grab your audience in a way that perks up their ears and will want to follow along to the company journey. 

Voices Need to Be Heard More While People Stay Home 

We’re talking about voice search as a matter of fact. This tactic allows shoppers to search by voice in reference to the smartphone, laptop or other special technological devices. The voice itself acts as a smart device or virtual assistant. This has become highly popular for those that are staying at home or who are working from home as it’s a tool to help be more productive. 

What does this mean for marketing? When companies know that there is growth potential in voice search, it means that they need to optimize their online websites to be much more accurate and concise. This is so the website and company will come up as part of the search via voice. It also means that the business and company needs to get a bit more intuitive in finding out how keywords can be slightly different when it comes to typing them versus speaking them. 

What’s Happening This Year and After? 

Marketing and advertising is all about having a voice for shoppers and competitors. In 2020, so many were tested in more ways than one. From a business standpoint, this means being able to successfully operate and stay relevant on the digital level from a remote area. 

In 2021 and beyond, this means being able to hold onto the foundation already built and keep going in a way that is steady and holds the edge over the competition. This will include diverse strategies in methods that are both creative, emotional and witty where appropriate. 2020 was the year where businesses used their voice with a new microphone, and now it’s about amplifying it to get louder with the target markets.