5 Marketing Mistakes Practices Have Made Over COVID-19

As we start to see restrictions ease and more and more venues, stores and practices reopen their doors, we’re reviewing the five most common mistakes we’ve seen over COVID-19.

Reducing Ad Spend might reduce expenditure but it also reduces revenue channels and closes opportunities before they’ve even been found. We are not saying that all ad spends result in increased revenue because let’s be honest, ad spends do not produce revenue outcomes. Strategy does. Change of strategy has been a challenge even for Google. Shown in a recent Google Analytics Insight – has been difficult during a transition and transformation of unforeseen changes in consumer behaviour. Understanding the consumer first and the strategy, second, is the key to a successful Google Ad strategy.

We’ve been very fortunate to have our clients work with us to deliver exceptional out-of-the-box strategies that boost profit margins with limited (not withdrawn) Ad Spends.

This, an extension of the above… Could anyone have imagined three months of ‘hibernation’ and suddenly the restrictions lift nearly two weeks ahead of the expected date? That is exactly what happened in Queensland.

Among our client base, we’ve seen some amazingly quick responses to the eased restrictions – even in industries hit the hardest by COVID-19. The beauty of digital marketing is its real-time data that can inform clever marketing and client communication strategies. We’ve found that withdrawing ad spend in the short-term limits the agility and responsiveness in the long-term. In the words of Steve Jobs:

“If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.”

― Steve Jobs

An example of long-term success is SEO and Google Business Listings making your business the absolute top result when your services are searched for. SEO cannot happen overnight but once your listing gets the boosted rank position – it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

What percentage of your database knew that you were still open? Or that your team underwent COVID-19 hygiene and operations training? If you had to wait for your clients to call to find out, then you might have had more than your fair share of cancelled or no-show appointments. During COVID-19, social media channels have redefined their purpose for businesses as platforms that can be updated quickly as circumstances change quickly.

Not only could you have missed out on a way to connect that serves your community and client network – you’ve also missed out on the increased engagement across all networks and channels. As Sprout Social shows 7.3x increase in engagements per post in April 2020 versus March 2020:

You might not automatically think of e-Commerce when you think of GPs or Healthcare services. You’d be surprised what a difference it made to patients knowing they could pay online or how much they can assist telehealth appointments when the service exceeded Medicare Cover.

As everything went online, if your e-Commerce store took too long to load, you probably lost that customer or client to another platform. There are so many ways to ensure the digital experience is optimal for the customer that an instant, easy user experience has come to be an expectation. Just some of the services we offer our web development clients include tweaks that reduce the load time, integrate information updates, make landing pages more navigable and use site link extensions to maximise the chance of click-through and conversion.

What is modern living if not claiming to be too busy, too short on time and in too much a transition to really stop to look at something? Well COVID-19 has turned that on its head as the world stood still, hibernating in the socially-distanced living situations. For the first time in a very long time, McKinsey (2020) note attention span to advertising material actually lengthened. To break the rule of the rule-breaker, himself, David Ogilvy, for once we had the chance to advertise to a so-called standing army.

To Quote David Ogilvy:

“You aren’t advertising to a standing army; you are advertising to a moving parade.”

A changing landscape means opportunities to trial new formats. On the Paper Planes COVID-19 Crisis or Opportunity podcast, Lachlan McPherson explains how some physicians were experiencing the social media engagement of “Influencers” simply by recording their responses to FAQ’s.

Hungry for information, with more time on their hands, consumers have been really tuning in. If social media hasn’t been your priority, you might have lost some an opportune lead to another firm..

Who knows if the pandemic was a one-off or if some COVID-19 adaptations are here to stay?
What we do know is that research is our friend.

Here at Practice Results, we are keeping the proverbial finger-on-the-pulse to make sure we’re up to date. If you would like more information about some of the industry trends we’re keeping a close eye on, please get in touch.