The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted everyday life, as millions of people worldwide are practicing physical and social distancing.
Adapting to this new way of life means embracing teaching, learning, exercising, shopping, and working from home through online platforms.
Spending more time indoors, and alone for some, means people are welcoming new ways to keep their minds active and healthy. This presents the perfect opportunity for savvy brand professionals.
As the new normal sets in, people are spending less money on non-essential items like makeup and outdoor activities, and more time and money on consuming online media.
It is important for marketers to understand this shift in consumer behaviour, and to adapt quickly. By understanding and analysing at-home consumer behaviour, brands can meet consumer marketing demands. Here are three insights to consider.
So much time
For millions of people, the first few days of lockdown were structured with established routines and schedules, however as the days turned into weeks and months, time started to blur and schedules became a thing of the past.
Consumers started craving routine amid heightened anxiety and uncertainty about the future.
Smart brands should be using this time to build deep relationships with customers. By engaging with consumers about their interests and helping them with their challenges, brands can remain top of mind.
Whether sharing a secret recipe or helping consumers with their at-home exercise routines, brands that create structure, fill the void and add value via useful and relevant content, will get share of mind and build loyalty.
Working from home
The President requested that organisations able to work from home, should. This presents a challenge for business owners and team leaders who need to keep their teams motivated and productive.
It also presents an incredible opportunity to use digital solutions like never before, from digital team-building exercises, skills development, and new online learning solutions, such as continuous learning, and advocacy programmes.
Understanding consumer’s online behaviour, advocacy programmes are strategically designed to offer content in bite-sized chunks, at the right time and place.
This microlearning methodology provides highly interactive content, presented in multiple and effective ways, assisting audiences in retaining their newly acquired skills.
Consuming more content
Consumers digital habits are also changing, as they spend more time consuming content all hours of the day.
This can include downloading audiobooks, streaming series, movies and motivational talks, or engaging with tutorials on self-improvement. This, again, is creating new opportunities for brands and businesses to connect and engage directly with their customers or their advocates.
Marketing professionals that offer useful information about your brand, product, and services through innovative digital learning platforms, that offer interesting content in rich-media formats, will inspire and shape behaviour.
This shift in consumer behaviour creates new opportunities for brands. Consumers are embracing new channels to fulfil their needs, whether learning new things or staying connected with colleagues and family, while at home.
By adapting to this new consumer behaviour, brands and business can elevate themselves, showing they’re ready to meet their consumers in a new world.
This is an opinion piece by Michael Gullan, Managing Director and founder of G&G Digital.
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