How To Market Your Business In The Digi-Physical, ‘New Normal’ World

In this guest post, Pin Payments senior marketing manager Yasinta Widjojo (main photo) says COVID has transformed marketing into this digital/physical space. Here’s her top tips to help your brand play successfully in it…

There’s no doubt that marketing and advertising has changed dramatically in the last 10 years, alongside advancements of technology and the internet. However, COVID-19 has taken this transformation one step further by normalising technology, like QR codes, for consumers.

With users facing a barrage of noise online, especially during COVID-19, users are left feeling digitally-numb, leading some back to traditional advertising and marketing. Alternative marketing like guerrilla advertising has seen a rise during COVID-19, as it harnesses both the digital and physical world in an interactive manner, using billboards, posters or graffiti that can be scanned by a smartphone.

This amalgamation of technology alongside the physical world, has led many users to expect more from brands than just traditional marketing. Thus, creating genuine authenticity with your customers is now much harder and marketers must use every tool and creative strategy at their disposal.

So, where does this leave businesses looking to make an impact? Here are a few tips to help you with Digi-Physical Marketing.

Top five Tips For Digi-Physical Marketing

Leverage technology alongside real life

Digital marketing is all about technology, so make sure your brand is using every program at its disposal. If you want to examine customer behaviours on your website, consider using website heat mapping and behavior analytics programs like Hotjar. Likewise, ensure your UX and UI design is straightforward and predictive of your customer’s behaviours. Don’t forget that the most valuable feedback comes from your customers. Customer surveys, sentiments and a chat on the phone can give you valuable insights you’ve never considered when you’re busy. If you sell products, create an interactive component such as tips that takes consumers to your website, app or platform. But be sure to make it engaging, fun and informative.

Don’t abandon physical marketing

While COVID-19 has definitely changed the visibility of physical advertising like billboards and posters, some brands have used this to their advantage by creating

campaigns which are so engaging that users upload them digitally. These campaigns gain traction through user generated content and usually contain humorous or memorable messages that correlate with current restrictions or societal feelings. Likewise, you can create physical and digital campaigns that play off each other. The merging of digital technology and traditional marketing keeps users feeling engaged, as though they’re discovering something new and exciting by interacting with your brand.

Add some humour, fun and lightness to your campaigns

The pandemic has given rise to difficult times for many businesses and individuals, but also creates moments of communal celebrations. Who would have thought that picnics would be trending pre-pandemic? With that in mind, consumers are looking for some playfulness and escapism in their everyday marketing, so now is a great time to add some humor and colour to your campaigns where appropriate. Get creative with your messaging and be personal, to tap into community feelings and emotions. You might find some humour or imaginative angles in the current climate and give your consumers a much-needed lift!

Get your communication timings right

Finding the balance between communicating enough and not oversaturating your audience is a difficult one. Due to the ever growing barrage of noise online from competing brands, consumers now more than ever are looking to ‘switch off’. However, don’t fall prey to under communicating with your customers, as that may also result in your users feeling abandoned or forgotten about, in one of the most difficult times. Try to strike a balance between addressing what’s going on in your customers’ lives (i.e are they currently in lockdown, is your store closed?) and allowing enough space between your communications to prevent any unsubscribes or brand abandonment.

Harness everything at your disposal including PR, marketing, communications, word-of-mouth & guerilla advertising

At this particular point in history, brands need to harness every tool in their kit to compete with the vast competition online. Different demographics respond to different platforms and marketing techniques, so now more than ever, you must be deliberate and smart with your messaging whilst also creating an iron-clad strategy. With that said, don’t be too rigid. Times change rapidly at the moment, which means your brand needs to remain agile in its approach. If a lockdown is suddenly announced or a major news announcement, you need to be able to quickly pivot your strategies and communicate effectively and quickly to your customers. In these unprecedented times, marketers need to be on the pulse with current affairs, technology and business to ensure their brand doesn’t get lost in the noise.

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Pin Payments Yasinta Widjojo