Top 3 Lessons the COVID-19 Pandemic Taught the Marketing Industry
The challenges brought on by 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic have made all of us reconsider how we conduct our business, so here are some things we are keeping in mind for 2021 and beyond.
As advertisers, we know that pivoting is imperative in surviving in the business of marketing and selling. The ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has upended our everyday lives challenges that notion and tests how truly prepared for change the marketing industry is.
Lesson #1: Contingency is the only certainty.
From scrapping an entire creative concept or campaign direction, because the client changed their mind, reconfiguring our media strategy because ads aren’t performing to reallocating budgets or creative hours, contingency has always been part of our plan because change is the only constant in the marketing industry.
During this unprecedented election year, we’ve had to revise entire advertising and marketing campaigns, messaging and strategies for most of our clients. Businesses are more inclined than ever to take sides and publicly announce their stance on political issues
Facebook and Google banned mentioning the phases “coronavirus” or “COVID-19” in any ads across its platforms, as a precautionary measure to keep misinformation about the pandemic from spreading.
Lesson #2: Even businesses have to “save for a rainy day”
With COVID-19 making huge financial impact across industries, budgets were one of the first things to be cut, with the advertising industry taking a huge hit due to companies’ decreased spending on marketing.
This sudden shift is jarring to say the least, as the trend has been upwards for digital and social marketing. But as the saying goes, “save for a rainy day,” also applies to businesses and brands, because while we don’t know when the “rainy day” might come, we can certainly prepare for it.
Lesson #3 : It’s all about perspective.
The way we see it, there’s no such thing as starting over - we’re simply changing directions. Just like the best ideas, sometimes all it takes is a shift in perspective to bring more clarity, solutions, or a better alternative. Although the pandemic brought upon lots of negatives for many, there is a lot positive things to come out of it too (ie. No commutes, less pollution, change of pace, etc.) Many things are changing about our daily lives because of the pandemic, and it’s also changing the way we do our business, and like anything else, we learn to adapt.
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