The Corona Virus pandemic has broken up the habits of men everywhere and more so the marketing industry. How can the marketing industry put the pieces together during the Corona virus outbreak?
The big question is how long will all of this go on for and how will it affect the marketing sector? Here, we are taking a deep dive into how corona virus might affect marketing in the next few weeks if not months.
Traditional marketing forms take a hit
With the cessation of movement enforced in Kenya’s major cities including Nairobi the capital city by his excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta, the advice to stay inside and limit all unnecessary outings is likely to lead to a notable decrease in out of home ad spend, with brands opting to focus on online, digital ads instead.
TV has also been affected, with many businesses cutting TV ad spend as a precautionary measure. This is so much so that despite media personalities being providers of essential service as allow in the presidential curfew order, most media houses have so far placed their employees on salary pay cut, it is estimated media houses will see a 30% decrease in revenue due to corona virus.
This is also on top of the fact that large sporting events and tournaments have already been cancelled, and sponsorship deals have been cut, resulting in a TV ad market that is naturally in a decline.
Online marketing may increase
Dodwell Solutions is predicting a huge increase in digital ad spend over the next few months as consumers will naturally be spending more time online, especially choosing to shop online versus leaving the house. These predictions are supported by research from Dentsu Aegis Network, who found that of 155 clients and client leaders surveyed, 14% said they were moving budget online, from offline media.
Additionally, as people travel less and work from home more, we also expect to see mobile and social opportunities increase. Research by Global Web Index found that we are seeing a huge increase in people checking social media across all age demographics; 27% among Gen Z, 30% among Millennial, 29% among Gen X and 15% among Boomers. This may be not least because people will be checking for news more frequently!
Social media ad spend is set to increase
Due to increased use of social media, spend across the social platforms is likely to increase.
With more people on their phones, looking for engaging content to keep them busy as they try to tackle the emotional burden of self-isolation, social media will become a daily routine that people need to keep them grounded, give them a sense of community and regular updates on the global crises.
It’s therefore thought that social media spending will rise by 22.2% as a result of corona virus, as consumer-led brands harness the power of social media to engage their audience. We have already seen a huge jump in digital marketing engagement, with a recent study finding a 76% increase in daily accumulated likes on Instagram #ad posts over the past two weeks.
What is your competitive advantage plan as a marketer? Engage has to put your brand and products and services live in the eyes of your customers. We do this by producing and promoting content that creates engagement between brands and their audiences. And we use hard-core analysis to measure the engagement that our content and platforms facilitate
