The Impact of COVID-19 on Digital Marketing Sector

29 September 2020
SEO
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The COVID-19 pandemic has created chaos across the world. The deadly Corona virus has infected millions of people across the world with almost a million deaths. The rapid spread of the virus led to lockdowns being imposed all over the world, including India. Due to the lockdown, many people could not go to work. While some industries managed with Work from Home, many small businesses shutdown due to lack of income. Thousands of people from all job sectors have been affected. The world of digital marketing has also been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Digital marketing involves marketing activities carried out using digital media. Businesses use digital marketing to promote their products. With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting revenues of businesses, it is natural that some businesses ran out of money to spend on digital marketing. This has affected digital marketing companies. However, there have been many other businesses that started spending money for digital marketing even during these pandemic times. This has happened due to new business opportunities that came up during this time.

Changing Customer Habits

seo service mumbai

“Source Neil Patel ”
Marketing, whether digital or online is strongly influenced by customer habits. The habits of customers depend on how they spend money for purchasing products/services. Due to the pandemic lockdown, most people were confined to their homes for many months. They would go out only to shop essentials like groceries, milk, vegetables, and medicines. Purchase of essentials also started happening online. This has benefitted online shopping websites.
Some of the changed customer habits during this period include:
  • Extensive use of digital media while time was spent at home.
  • Use of social media networks increased to interact with people.
  • Increased viewing of streaming online shows and movies.
  • More people started playing online games.
  • E-commerce took off in a big way, with a huge increase in purchase of essentials, though purchase of non-essentials dropped.
  • Use of videoconferencing apps such as Zoom increased due to the growth of work from home.
  • Most offline businesses like electronics, restaurants, retail outlets like supermarkets, and stores located in malls saw a huge drop in customer demand.
  • Tourism and hospitality sector took a big blow with very few customers being ready to go on a trip.
  • Local commuting through public commuting and taxis dropped.
  • Events like exhibitions, fairs, conferences, and trade shows were cancelled.
  • While entertainment on online platforms increased, theatres remain closed.
  • Sports activities came to a standstill.

All these trends had an impact on digital marketing. SEO companies Mumbai were able to benefit from the changing trends as businesses that offered their services online started implementing digital marketing strategies to attract more visitors to their website. Many a Web design company in Mumbai was also able to gain business since small businesses that could not open their stores started offering their products for sale online. This led to many websites being created to help them carry out digital marketing.

New opportunities

A study showed that most businesses had decided to reduce their marketing expenses due to the COVID-19 situation. This is likely to continue for some time until the economy recovers. The study also revealed that nearly 63% of marketers felt that they need to change their strategy to achieve results. This is a significant finding as it suggests that conventional marketing methods may not be effective in producing results. All companies need to look at digital media now. The COVID-19 has opened up new opportunities for companies offering SMO services in Mumbai. These companies can look forward to acquiring new clients and helping succeed in the digital marketing space.

Small Business and Digital Marketing

One of the major opportunities is expansion of digital marketing for small businesses. Many small businesses in India do not even have a website. Today with offline business being disrupted, these businesses are facing closure and loss of livelihood for thousands of their employees. Digital marketing is a huge opportunity for small businesses to expand their scope. These companies can establish an online presence by creating a website, using social media, and promoting its brand and products in the digital space.
Some of the areas where a small business can use digital marketing are:

1. SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is a key factor for small businesses to succeed in the online space. SEO companies Mumbai can help a business to optimize its website so that a search engine like Google will give it a higher rank. This allows the website to gain visibility and attract more visitors. The higher the traffic to a website, the greater is the chance of gaining customers and making sales.

2. SMM

SMM stands for Social Media Marketing. Today social media is very popular with millions of people visiting social media portals like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Establishing a presence on social media is important for businesses. Social media marketing can help reach out to potential customers online, which can be helpful in promoting the business. Various strategies can be used for this.

3. Paid ad

Paid ads are a good way to attract customers. If an ad is attractive, then there is a high chance that the website visitor may view the ad and click on it to redirect to the website of the business. There are different types of ads that can be placed using Google’s unique system. This ensures that ads are placed on a website depending on the search history of a person. PPC or Pay per click allows a business to only pay for an ad if someone clicks on it. Availing Best PPC services from an agency can help place PPC ads.

4. Mobile apps

Mobile apps are very effective in reaching out to mobile users. The services of a company offering Mobile application development Mumbai can help a business to create an app. The app can be used to reach out to customers, engage with them, and promote the products/services through the mobile phone.
COVID-19 has created new opportunities in the world of digital marketing. Companies can use these opportunities to enhance their business prospects.