Category: Marketing Strategies

Recently, the Governor of Florida declared that the mask mandate will soon be dropped statewide. This is just the latest news in a year of people desperately trying to return to “normal.” However, the long-term alteration of consumer behavior and attitudes is very likely to have an ongoing impact on digital marketing strategies, and Planned Growth has been paying close attention to help our clients navigate this new world.

What follows are the five most prominent shifts in consumer behavior post pandemic:

1. Work at Home, Play at Home, Stay at Home

In a recent interview with CNBC’s Closing Bell, Hershey CEO Michele Buck observed that “stay-at-home trends are outlasting the pandemic.” And she is not alone. Forbes has even gone on record to say that almost three-in-four consumers are hesitant to resume regular activities outside the home.

The fact is, after spending the better part of a year at home for both work and virtually all activities, usage of popular online entertainment platforms has skyrocketed and consumers remain hesitant to reengage with normalcy by going into the office, using public transportation, or traveling, let along going to a hair salon, restaurant, the movies, or the gym. It is very possible consumer behavior never returns to “normal,” even after the coronavirus is a thing of the past. Everyone’s marketing plans should be geared to accommodate such a possibility.

2. Localized Marketing is Becoming Key

For the first time in recent memory, more consumers are moving out of urban areas, preferring the suburbs and rural regions to living in crowded cities. And 2/3rds of consumers are now shopping primarily in neighborhood stores or buying more locally sourced products. If these trends continue (and they appear to be), localized marketing is bound to become more prominent. Personalizing your content will be critical in strengthening the connection to your audience, and localization drives marketing automation and data mining as you look to improve ROI.

3. Digital Shopping Is Not Going Anywhere

E-commerce and omnichannel services were on the rise before the pandemic, but social distancing and stay-at-home recommendations have forced entire consumer demographics to shop differently. Post-outbreak, data suggests an increase in e-commerce purchases by as much as 169% (mostly from new or low-frequency users). Most consumers who have already increased their use of services such as home delivery, curbside pickup, or purchasing from social media platform links, project to maintain these habits well into the future.

4. Decreasing Global Footprints and Direct Customer Interactions

While some decry the loss of interconnectivity, many consumers intend to continue such contactless activities as self-checkouts and curbside pickups. That said, single-use packaging continues to be popular, at the expense of reusable packaging, which makes maintaining sustainability a tricky goal. Yet, surprisingly, most consumers *want* corporations to continue to stay committed to long-term decarbonization. When you need help trying to reach customers who want to avoid crowds but are concerned about the long-term health of the planet, call Planned Growth. We have some ideas.

5. Brand Loyalty Is Not What It Used to Be

Brand loyalty may be one of the more surprising casualties of Covid-19. Nearly half of all consumers are now willing to try new brands, while a third are including new private-label brands into their weekly shopping lists. Bottom line: Shoppers are migrating between brands, and the recovery cycle will favor the brands that increase promotional activity and reinforce relationships with their consumers. Trends point to an increase in loyalty and retention marketing expenses with a reduction in product or performance-based marketing, for what appear to be excellent reasons.

Such transformative changes require all of us to reconsider what we know about consumer changes and the best ways to reach and engage them. All businesses are now consumed with how to accommodate the changes to how people live, work, and shop, and Planned Growth is ready to ensure your brand is agile, innovative, and ready to experiment is what is now a constantly evolving marketing landscape. Give us a call at 800-625-GROW or get in touch here and a marketing engagement expert will reach back out to you ASAP!

One of the most important ways you can convey your message to your audience is by telling a story. No matter what you are marketing – whether it’s a product, service or your business itself – it is critical to remember that there is a human being on the other side of your marketing message. And human beings respond to good storytelling every day.

So how can you tell the right story for your marketing needs? Here are some tips:

1. First you need to make sure your audience knows who you are. Start with sharing the history of your company, including how it started and the steps that were performed to help make it is what it is today.

2. Share information not just about you, the owner, but about your entire team. People love to read about other people, and they tend to buy or do business with people they like or can relate to.

3. If you want your company to be known for a specific product, make sure to talk about the history of that product. Include where the idea originated and how it can help the people to whom you are marketing.

4. Your story can include testimonials from your customers. Ask your customers to share their stories of how your product helped them and what valuable it brings to them. Your audience will find your marketing story more credible if they believe your business or product is beneficial to others too.

Most of all, remember that telling a story is something all of us do naturally every day. Don’t overthink it. Subtlety will go farther than being over-the-top when sharing your company’s story.

To make things easier, you may want to first create an outline of what you want to include in your story. This way you will be sure not to forget anything you want to include in your finalized product. Once you have that outline done, feel free to storytell away!