The coronavirus pandemic is nothing less than a global crisis. Apart from being a danger to our health, COVID-19 has also endangered our economy.
Many businesses are fighting to survive, and marketing will be the main channel of their recovery. Due to COVID-19, it is becoming tough to maintain a steady source of cash flow with the recession looming.
To overcome the cash flow challenges & penetrate better in the market, some companies have come up with amazing strategies for their customers.
We hope you find these strategies useful:
Table of Content:
1. Reduce the Price of Your Product
In such a critical situation, nobody will find it worth buying any new product unless it is an absolute necessity.
Here, what you can do is reduce the price of your product for a limited time.
Doing this, you can add excitement among customers and allure them to buy your product instantly.
Customers are always searching for some great offers at cost-effective prices.
This is the time when you can capture the attention of your audience by being innovative with your pricing structure.
After getting the offer, if you are thinking of promoting that offer on social media platforms then in such a crisis time, it is a good option.
People are staying at home and spending their time browsing through social media networks.
Andrei Vasilescu says Facebook has reported an increase in their viewing time by more than 50% during this lockdown period. Announce special discounts on the signups which will be done during this current month only.
People are purchasing their required things in larger quantities fearing the possible unavailability in the near future. If you provide larger discounts for larger quantities, your audience will not be able to ignore your offer.
SocialPilot has come up with a reduced pricing plan in which they are offering $1/month for the next 2 months after you subscribe to this plan.
2. Extend Free Trial
Today, due to the novel coronavirus fear, almost everyone has stopped investing in anything.
If you are already running some free trial offer for your valuable customers, then this is the best time to extend its period.
By extending your generosity to customers, you can gain their trust to use your services even after the free trial period is over.
This can add some profits to your business and can save it from the economical downgrade as every single industry is getting affected because of the Covid-19 Outbreak.
Buffer being the top social media marketing tool provider company has announced that it will be extending its free trial period from 30 days to 90 days.
3. Increase Referral Percentage
Simonas Steponaitis says referrals are always an important part of any marketing strategy because they leverage the power of trust. Most SAAS companies rely on this marketing technique, as referred customers have a 16% higher lifetime value.
Generally, the referral percentage is around 10% off the product price. To keep referrals going even in the present market scenario, businesses can benefit from increasing this percentage to 30 to 40%.
A higher incentive is more likely to encourage users to promote a product. Even though this may seem like a dent in already dwindling profit margins, the practice can have long-term benefits.
The customers who come in through high percentage referral programs will stay for the long haul and become recurring users of your service or product at least for the next few months.
In that time, you can not only cover your cost of increased referral spending but also raise enough capital to survive this Corona crisis.
4. Extend Payment Cycle
Since SaaS customers are generally on subscription and recommend companies first think about keeping the customers they have. Many small businesses are looking to cut costs right now and your service might be on the chopping block.
Donovan Gow says one successful strategy seen from Ahrefs was an offer to extend their next monthly payment by a month if the customer needs it.
By doing this, you can move your service down the list of potential cut-backs since customers will have an extra month to think about it. This also builds goodwill with customers that will serve you well down the road in terms of loyalty and future use.
5. Target Newer Locations
David Stevens adds that COVID-19 is a global pandemic, but that’s not to mean it is affecting countries in equal measure. For example, South Korea has had an easier time controlling the spread of the virus as compared to other countries.
The same applies to most South American countries. Countries like Italy and the United States have had it rough as new cases explode every day in greater proportion. For this reason, you can start diversifying the regions you are targeting.
You can do this through international SEO, whereby you gain more traffic from countries that are less hit by COVID-19. This way, you will not have to produce more content; you just need to translate your content to suit the audience from other regions.
6. Offer Lifetime Deals
Alluring customers with lifetime offers can add value to your business. It will encourage your customers to stay with you for a long time.
You can come up with some extraordinary and attractive lifetime deals for your all customers.
Coronavirus Outbreak has shattered the world economy tremendously and nobody knows when it will end.
In such a situation, you must focus on your business and what you can do additional to get more profits.
Example – DepositPhotos have a $9.99/month plan but currently, they are offering lifetime account access at just $39.
7. Build Relationships with Influencers
In such a tough scenario because of Covid-19 disease, you must focus to keep your business competitive and stable in the market.
What you can do is build relations with the top influencers and request them to promote your business on their platform.
By doing so, your business will appeal to millions of people as different influencers will share your business on diverse platforms.
In such a hard time of crisis, you must focus on keeping your business active and visible to your targeted range of customers.
8. Focus on Customer Retention
Coronavirus has affected every industry and this is creating a situation of frustration and panic among business owners.
But this doesn’t mean that we can not do anything until we overcome this situation.
Among all the other ideas, customer retention is one such trick that forces your existing customer to stay with you for a longer time.
Instead, you can come up with some really good offers and discounts, especially for your current customers.
- Communicate with your customers proactively
- Time to promote some gift cards
- Opt for streaming live chat with your customers
- Hold an online event for your customers
- Come up with some best discounts
Doing this, you will not only win your customers’ hearts but will be able to increase the revenue and profits of your company.
Example –
e.l.f. is offering double-sided referrals. e.l.f. is maximizing the standard referral bonuses for their valuable customers. It will encourage their existing customers to earn more and improve sales as well.
9. Leverage Google Ads & Facebook Ads for Brand Awareness
Advertisement is the best way to do marketing of your products.
But in such a situation, where everything is getting affected due to the Covid-19 outbreak, you must think about your current advertisement plans.
You can change your current plans with some cost-effective ad plan where you can spend a minimum to show your product.
In such a crucial time, it is essential to spend money wisely and hence you must create awareness of your brand in which no more money is required.
Due to the Covid-19 Outbreak, the economy is facing a downfall and hence the cost of advertisement is also down.
In such time, you might be in the need to reach your targeted and potential customers at a low cost.
During the Covid-19 Outbreak, Google has taken an initiative and come up with an offer for all small businesses. They are offering $340 million in free ads as a helping hand to all small businesses.
If you want to check if you are eligible for free Google Ads credit, visit this URL
10. Launch Remarketing Campaigns
Remarketing campaigns opt for showing ads to such people who have recently visited your website or your mobile app.
Launching remarketing campaigns is indeed a cost-effective medium to increase your conversions.
You can gain success in this, as these are the people who have already shown interest in your services.
In such a hard time, it is important to stay in the eyes of your customers if you really want to keep your business alive, active, and profitable.
Bebe store got a 98% increase in its conversion rate by implementing a remarketing strategy.
As the name suggests, the Bebe store includes baby products like Toys, Strollers, Diapers, and more. In this remarketing, they display such products that are related to those products which visitors have checked out.
Conclusion
Even though COVID-19 has rendered the world’s economy unreliable, companies can find innovative ways to reach out to their customers.
Many product marketing owners are searching for useful ideas to survive the COVID-19 outbreak. With the above-mentioned product marketing ideas, you may get huge profits and can increase the revenue of your business.
