The way we do marketing is changing. The dynamics of this current pandemics, the changes in consumers’ behaviour and needs as well as new technologies put new challenges in front of companies and their marketing teams.
Companies that have a chance to survive these challenging times have understood that now, more than ever, it’s important to adapt and be close to their consumers and their new, unmet and unprecedented needs. And the only way they can do that is through integrated, more unified approaches, that are still in line with the brand’s mission and values.
Testing and asking for feedback, running integrated campaigns and last but not least, having empathy are also key success ingredients.
Content is still king
Creating relevant, empathetic, helpful content seems to be one of the priority of the digital marketing specialists we talked to in our latest eBook, What has changed in digital marketing for tech and software companies (you can download it for free here in Romanian).
“We adjusted our communication to the current situation. If we used to talk about growth, we are now talking about resilience, about survival. We pay more attention to entrepreneurs’ needs and we have adapted our content strategies: besides industry related articles, we have also created a series of articles on how to move your business online” says Miruna Ursache, Content Manager at SmartBill.
“We communicated the usability of our technology as a relevant solution for the reality and the challenges brought by the lockdown. DRUID is a digital conversation hub. We brought this hub closer to the pandemics’ pain points through messages that transmit support, availability and assistance. From my point of view, this crisis has amplified the number 1 rule in marketing: if you want to be relevant, content is king.” says Daniel Ionescu, DRUID
“Our main strategy is to bring added value to our users, even before they become our clients. We do this through educational content dedicated to professionals and through our product’ business model, which is free until a certain point. The most important decision making element is trust and this is how we try to gain it”. says Bogdan Pol, Moqups
Creating relevant and helpful content seems to be one of the priority for key digital marketing specialists in Romania.
A digital-focused approach
Besides content creation, SEO, SEM, tracking and automation tools continue to play an extremely important role, as well as any other tools that facilitate a better digital interaction with a brand. Specialists from Romanian tech and software companies quoted in our latest eBook say:
“We are focused on qualitative content, thought leadership and account based targeting realised through expansion in the existing accounts and upsell. Digital marketing has become our main focus in our marketing strategy” – Vlad Ionescu, UiPath
“Tapptitude maintains a blog since 2016 and the published articles, technical and content optimization that we’ve been doing in the past years helped us rank in the search results of those who want to build digital products.” – Erika Kramarik, Tapptitude
“For us, a mix of content marketing and SEO has worked well since the beginning. Our audience always looks for new content and appreciates the added value” – Miruna Dragomir, Planable
“The tactics we generally use, most of them digital, are now more efficient. To give you some examples: webinars, LinkedIn Ads, Hubspot workflows and complex automation” – Monica Dumitriu, DocProcess
SEO, SEM and automating their marketing processes play an extremely important role, on top of content creation.
The global perspective
If we are looking towards more global tendencies in digital marketing, things are not extremely different from what our specialists in Romania say.
A global HubSpot study from 2020 shows that:
- The biggest priority for marketers in 2020 is lead generation
- Almost 40% of marketers say that content marketing plays a very important role in their marketing strategy
- 70% of marketers constantly invest in content marketing
- The website is the most used content distribution channel
- Video has become the most used format in content marketing
- 68% of marketing specialists say that paid advertising is an important or a very important element in their marketing strategy
- 64% of them constantly invest in optimizing their website for search engines
- 68% of marketing specialists automate their marketing processes.
Also, according to the Digital Marketing Institute, in 2020 technology transforms marketing and we see specialists being more focused on:
- Chatbots used in customer service – a research made by Tidio in January 2020 showed that “43% of consumers prefer to message an online chatbot rather than to phone customer service centers when communicating with a brand.”
- Interactive content – such as quizzes, polls, 360 videos
- Voice activated devices – useful in marketing, but also an even more relevant approach now, given the safety regulations that suggest us to avoid high-touching points
- Marketing through messaging apps – “63% of online consumers are more likely to return to a company website if it has a live chat option”
- Omnichannel marketing – which refers to marketing across multiple platforms, showing that an integrated approach is necessary even within the marketing department
63% of online consumers are more likely to return to a company website if it has a live chat option.
As many companies have migrated online and customers now tend to shop virtually, Social Commerce seems to be something to pay attention to. According to Social Media Today, brands now sell through “shoppable stories and posts”, “social commerce plugins and apps, ads on social media”.
Also, the pandemics has led to the rise of a new social media channel – TikTok and we see, even in Romania, but also abroad, an increased popularity of this video platform (which also emphasizes the idea that video content gains a lot more power).
Last but not least, influencers and micro-influencers continue to catch the eye of marketers. Having authentic, honest content created by brand advocates can gain the trust of your audience. Accordingly to a research created by emarketer.com, “Turning to trusted brand advocates, giving creators more creative control (to an extent) and focusing on how brands can add value to people’s new realities can help companies succeed with their influencer marketing strategies.”
Influencers and micro-influencers continue to catch the eye of marketers. Having authentic, honest content created by brand advocates can gain the trust of your audience.
Working closely together
Probably what 2020 has forever changed in marketing is the need for a more integrated approach. Being close to your customers in every stage of their buying journey is vital and marketing isn’t the only main character anymore. Sales and customer support have much more responsibility now. All the departments in a company must understand the customer lifecycle, the steps a potential buyer or an already converted customer goes through and be ready to play their part as well as possible. Siloed strategies don’t work anymore.
“Nowadays, more than ever, it is important to offer your customer relevant content for them, to involve them in custom tailored campaigns and to offer them quality services, adapted to the new reality. We are more oriented towards an integrated approach, towards a departments’ alignment so that we can cover the entire customer lifecycle. Standalone digital marketing slowly disappears from our growth strategy, from what we call business as usual” says Ioana Şerban from FintechOS, quoted in our eBook – What has changed in digital marketing for tech and software companies.
