It is virtually impossible to keep a business up to date and relevant in this current market without some kind of digital presence. Many small businesses are already staying plugged into digital marketing industry news in a way that they weren’t before, in part because the competition is doing the same.

Whereas once print ads and commercials were the primary means of advertising, now a lot of businesses have turned to creating a presence online. Already, advertising and marketing firms are devoting 51% of their budgets to mobile ads and digital marketing services. For those that have already made the move, this has actually been somewhat fortuitous in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As much of the country has enforced a quarantine that has lasted weeks if not months depending on the region, businesses that are able to work remotely have sustained themselves in a way that businesses without a more digital presence haven’t.

Employees have turned to virtual offices more than they once did, and many companies have adjusted the way in which they conduct business in response. Fortunately, digital marketing industry news resources provide advice to companies that aren’t quite up to date and can offer guidance regarding changes that need to be made in order for companies to become more digitized.

The fact is that many of the changes brought about by the coronavirus pandemic will be permanent, or at least semi-permanent.

Some companies have to restructure in significant ways in response to the pandemic, and are discovering that these changes are actually positive. Of course, it’s also important to consider the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic may last longer than was initially expected.

Some experts have projected that states will need to go in and out of quarantine until a vaccine is available. This means that employees will need to work from home more, and for that matter consumers will end up spending more time online.

The more businesses transition to a more virtual presence, the more competitive intelligence companies will advise their clients to do the same in response. It’s simply a part of a more long-term transition to a digital world. With that being said, let’s look further into how COVID-19 will affect the future of digital marketing.

How Has COVID-19 Already Affected Start-Ups?

The fact is that a lot of small businesses and start-ups were already more based on a digital presence than they were in the past. The best business coaches were already advising their clients to be more available and present online, based on up to date digital marketing industry news. However, the shift within the online business world has had to speed up in response to the pandemic.

This is in part due to the fact that a lot of small businesses, including a lot of digital marketing agencies, are currently relying on federal small business loans in order to stay afloat. These loans come with certain requirements, usually including the employment of the same amount of employees that were on hand prior to the pandemic.

Due to the quarantine, these businesses have largely had to work in virtual office settings in order to keep working at the same level that they were before.

It’s obviously more difficult for newer businesses to maintain themselves in the face of financial hardship, simply because they had few resources available as it was before the pandemic, and less money saved. However, the pandemic has been something of an equalizer.

This means that many businesses that were more established are currently struggling, which, in reality, does open up some areas of opportunity for newer businesses that were already more established online. There are some advantages, for example, to operating a digital marketing agency during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a bit easier for digital marketing agencies to go completely digital than it is for traditional marketing agencies.

Nonetheless, these changes need to be made with flexibility in mind. When watching digital marketing industry news, it’s clear that this is a constantly-evolving situation, and a lot of different factors are informing the changes that these agencies are making.

Many of them are dealing with more limited budgets, though the previously mentioned federal business loans are keeping many of them somewhat level. Communication has also changed. Many businesses, start-ups and established companies alike, have to rely more on email than they did before, which has naturally affected the way in which they interact not only with employees but with consumers as well.

Companies are staying in touch with their staff through the use of audio visual technology, which means that a lot of people have become more technologically equipped than they were before. They’ve also had to become more reliant on a fiber optic network than they once were. If companies are making these shifts, the digital marketing news industry indicates that consumers will in turn.

How Will Companies Target Consumers During And After The Pandemic?

Think about the ways that companies reached out to consumers prior to the pandemic. While digital and social media marketing was important, people were simply more out and about, which means that they were more able to experience advertising in their everyday lives. Print media was more accepted; whereas now, in comparison, many people don’t even want to accept print mail.

Therefore, a lot of businesses will now be forced to target consumers more through email marketing services. But the way in which businesses change their approach to targeting consumers extends beyond just the means in which consumers will be targeted. It also concerns exactly what kind of consumers will be targeted.

Keep in mind that many consumers will no longer be the ideal audience for some marketing campaigns. This is in part due to the economic impact the pandemic has had. For example, a lot of people that were once solidly in the middle class have experienced financial hardships that will likely continue for some time after the initial crisis has ended.

They might not have as much expendable income as they once did. For that matter, the current digital marketing industry news indicates that consumers that once were bolder and more able to make quick decisions are now going to become more cautious. At the same time, these consumers are more of a captive audience than they once were.

For example, a lot of consumers are watching more online video content than they were prior to the pandemic, and for that matter listening to more podcasts. Digital marketing industry news research has also revealed that many of them are creating new habits, which will likely continue after the pandemic has passed.

It’s up to digital marketing agencies to guide their clients as they explore the new digital landscape. A lot of companies will not necessarily be able to envision exactly how to maximize their spaces in the digital world on their own.

They need that kind of guidance to sustain themselves in the coming months, and moving forward, to expand their companies as well. It’s important to remember that in order to be successful beyond the pandemic crisis, businesses must move beyond the focus of remaining stable and truly expand and progress. Working with marketing agencies that can provide digital marketing industry news trends, data center service, social media marketing, and more will enable us to do so.

How Can Companies Offer New Experiences In A Post-Pandemic World?

The ways in which consumers experience media will change, and if companies want to stay relevant they’ll have to follow these changes. For example, whereas once people experienced concerts and live shows in person, now they’ll turn to streams.

In the same manner, movies that were once experienced at the theater will now be experienced through on-demand video. It’s not that there is a lack of hunger for entertainment and media; it’s that people just can’t gather to experience them in the way they once did. Recent digital marketing industry news indicates that marketing agencies will need to brainstorm in order to offer alternatives to what consumers are used to.

But the positive side of this is that a lot of companies will actually be able to new experiences that may actually be better and more personal than what a lot of consumers were used to. One of the main ways that this can be accomplished is through social media.

Digital marketing industry news indicates that in a lot of ways, social media will become even more relevant throughout the pandemic, and create a new sphere through which people can interact not only with each other but individuals that they don’t even know personally.

The great thing about social media is that it makes it easy for consumers to make a more personal connection with brands, and even with celebrities. Think of the way in which a lot of fans feel as if they really know their favorite singers or actors by following them on social media. In a lot of ways, this can be reflected in new digital marketing trends.

While a lot of sports teams may not be able to play right now, they can still interact with fans through videos and social media. This is going to be crucial in terms of maintaining the interest of those fans for the long term, and making sure that they’re ready to spend money and engage when the current crisis subsides.

This type of personal touch was already being used by large companies prior to the pandemic; many restaurants had a major presence online and on social media, creating personalities through brand management that made them seem less corporate to consumers, and therefore more approachable and likable.

Likability goes a long way when consumers are deciding how to spend their money, and as their dollars become more precious in this economy, small businesses are going to have to emphasize not only what they can offer to consumers, but why they should receive those dollars over the competition.

In turn, digital marketing agencies will need to offer new ideas when it comes to brand management through social media. It will crucial for these marketing agencies to analyze data to determine what their clients’ target audiences are looking for in brands, and shape the content they produce in turn.

For that matter, digital marketing agencies will need to emphasize to clients how important it is that they are constantly available to consumers online. It will be a long time before the majority of people feel comfortable walking into a brick and mortar store to go shopping or ask questions of employees. Until then, things like live chats and perhaps even video conferencing will be relied upon.

Companies that can offer this kind of online access to consumers will have an advantage over those that don’t. Of course, much of this accessibility is also going to be dependent on how available digital marketing agencies can make a company appear as well. It’s not enough to offer these types of services to consumers; those consumers need to be aware of them as well.

The average consumer is not going to be paying attention to digital marketing industry news, after all. Therefore, outreach needs to be made to make this new side of the business clear coherent to consumers, through email and online marketing campaigns.

When looking into the digital marketing industry news, it’s far from doom and gloom. In fact, digital marketing industry news trends indicate that there are new opportunities for digital marketing to become more relevant than it ever was before.

However, it’s understandable if a lot of small businesses, especially start-ups, are initially concerned about how they will move forward in the digital world, especially if their digital presence is small now.

Therefore, these marketing companies need to emphasize their own outreach as well. By sharing new techniques and ideas with clients, digital marketing agencies will allow themselves to not only survive, but grow within a post-pandemic world. In the relatively near future, it may very well be impossible to market a company without digital marketing.