It’s now been two months since Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared a Bio Security Emergency in Australia. The impact on the population has been immense, driven by anxiety, fear and a partial economic shutdown.
Legitimately, the initial reaction of Businesses was to pull back on advertising spend while they took stock of the situation and its potential impact on their operations. Businesses with solid digital frameworks were able to quickly adapt by analysing their data, listening to their consumers and devising solid strategies that worked for the immediate needs and changed consumer consumption being experienced.
Two months down the track we’ve now reached a level of calm and behaviour has stabilised. Now is the time for businesses that were left behind due to not having the right structures, processes, and support in place to create the correct digital ecosystem that allows for agility and sets them up for future success.
What we’ve learnt from the two months is, while consumer journeys have changed, the fundamentals of solid adverting strategy have not, it continues to be;
Right Message
Right Time
Right Channel
Right Audience
The shift in the last two months to digital media consumption is undisputed, consumers are still shopping and eating in increasing numbers and the appetite for content that entertains and makes life easier in the current restraints placed on us is unprecedented. In the last 90 days searches for food delivery services increased by 160%, searches for Coles online increased by the same amount, searches for Zoom Communications and Google Doodle increased by 3400%, and 3100% respectively and searches for Netflix party increased by 2250%*.
We know that consumer attitudes have not changed towards Brands, in fact research indicates that during times of crisis Brands play an important role with consistent Brand communications creating a feeling of security and normality**. The questions Brands should be asking themselves are; Is now the right time for a recovery strategy? And, how do I make my Brand more agile so it can respond to economic and societal changes dynamically and effectively?
The answer, Yes. Now is the time to be planning your Brands recovery. Rules are currently being relaxed, consumer sentiment will soon start to move towards the positive end of the spectrum and a focus on employment and job creation will increase slowly during the latter half of the year. While the short-term outlook is optimistic until we have a COVID-19 vaccine or a miraculous eradication of the virus, there will remain the possibility of future spikes and therefore Brands need to ensure they are best positioned to secure their future no matter what the outlook may be.
Agility should not be a consequence of a global pandemic, it should be the output of structuring a Brands digital eco-system correctly. A correctly structured digital eco-system reaps rewards for Brands and businesses.
The process is simple;
1. Data drives audience insights
2. The insights attained drive the strategies
3. The strategies drive the platform tactics and execution
4. The executions fuels more robust and insightful data
This creates a virtuous cycle which allows Brands to optimise their strategies and execution and new data is pulled in and fuels audience insights.
1. Data Drives Audience Insights
There’s a lot of talk about data, but often not a lot of guidance on how to effectively utilise or execute on that data. Data is crucial because it helps us find your audiences, it helps us understand them and it helps us communicate with them. A good Agency will help you connect your various data sources, including your own, often neglected, CRM data, and mine that data for insights. Those insights will identify behaviours, media consumption patterns, user journey pathways, attitudes and general preferences.
2. Audience Insights Drive Strategies
Once insights are identified essential strategies should be formulated, these strategies will help define communication messaging (How and what should the Brand communicate with their audience), conversion pathways (what is the most efficient media mix/pathway to get the consumer to where they want to be) and platform utilisation (How do you most effectively utilise the platforms to cut through the clutter and resonate with your audience?). Your Agency should work with you to identify the need for investing in digital asset creation and potential sales frameworks that will deliver on the identified strategies and help safeguard you for any future economic downturns.
3. The strategies drive the platform tactics and execution
A strategy is only as strong as the execution, and therefore the execution should be undertaken by knowledgeable experts in their field. Work with your Agency to develop the right media and project plans that deliver on the agreed campaign objectives, whether they be the creation of an Amazon e-store, a content strategy for effective audience communication or a media schedule to drive your audience through a conversion funnel. With the right technical framework, every element, executed well, will capture new data that your Agency should be reviewing and optimising on weekly.
4. The executions fuels more robust and insightful data
As mentioned earlier, this is a virtuous cycle of learning and optimisation. As online behaviours change, the data collation will inform your Agency optimisation team and the tactics should change accordingly. This could mean ensuring fluid budgets exists so quick buying strategy changes can be made from ongoing insights. In the event of major shifts in consumer behaviour, as we’ve recently experienced, the behavioural changes will be captured when the framework is set up correctly, and therefore the final piece of the puzzle is ensuring your technical framework for data collation is set up by an expert and tested regularly to ensure no data collation points have dropped off.
A final Note
Now is the time for businesses to be reviewing their business plans and planning for recovery with agile frameworks and fluid budgets. While we have reached relative calm, 2020 has shown, like never before, how rapidly changing market conditions can be. Learn from the success stories of direct to consumer and ecommerce brands and plan for a secure future that reaps rewards regardless of what that future may hold.
*Google Trends **IPSOS Consumer Polling data