When the first news of COVID-19 broke in Wuhan China in December, 2019, most people could not have projected its larger effect in 2020. In many cases the virus had been referred to as the “Chinese virus’. We all felt it would be contained in no time and it was of less concern to the larger world how the virus was going to be curbed.
Adversely today, the so-called “Chinese virus” has affected the global economy and systems. Just last week, the United Kingdom officially announced their first recession in a decade with the economy shrinking 20.4% compared to the beginning of the year, BBC reported. In the same vein in the United State, more than 33 million people have filed for unemployment benefits as a result of the effect of the pandemic. Focusing on Nigeria, Inflation has risen to 12.4% in the recent report released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the first quarter even as many businesses are still struggling to come back to normalcy.
Businesses in various sectors are watching out for what could be the next focal point as the pandemic effects are gradually declining, the digital world is not left behind as it has integrated its value chain into every sector of the economy.
One important question in the mind of small business owners and entrepreneurs is : “What are the digital strategies to adopt in the second half of the year to market products and services, as well increase sales”.
Let’s look at various digital strategies that can be beneficial to small businesses and entrepreneurs as we gradually recover from the pandemic
Social media is gaining its popularity and relevance in the heart of the larger population. Facebook still remains the winning platform in Nigeria as it gains 64.66% increase in usage, followed by Twitter with 16.62% in the last quarter reports from startcounter. With over 27 million social media users, one cannot ignore its importance to businesses in marketing their products or services to their customers online. In this case, meeting the customers on their preferable social platform will be a wise decision for small business owners in the second half of the year 2020.
Video remains relevant in every platform for small businesses to take advantage. In fact, 88% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive return on investment (ROI), Hubspot reported. YouTube and Facebook are the most widely used platforms among video marketers — used by 85% and 79%, respectively. In the same vain, the consumption of video is increasing daily. It is estimated that the average person will spend 100 minutes daily, watching online videos in 2021. Therefore, in the last half of the year, video marketing is a way to get your marketing goal accomplished. Videos such as animation, products display, testimonials, behind the scene, product analysis among others can be a budget friendly projects small businesses can embark to reach their set goal.
Email marketing is top-notch for marketers and small businesses to take advantage in the remaining few months of 2020, especially for B2B industries. Email continues to be the marketers’ top choice for connecting and relating with their customers and prospects to gain their interests and trust as well as converting them to sales. With over 4200% ROI, engine mailer believes it is highly appealing and impossible to ignore the email marketing strategy in growing businesses during and after the pandemic. Hence, entrepreneurs and marketers should utilize this powerful platform to make more sales with creative and compelling contents that are audience oriented and customers’ focused.
Online Seminar and Video Conferencing are here to stay for good. 2020 is the year of online conferencing, facilitated by the effect of the global lockdown initiated to curb the spreading of Coronavirus in most countries of the world. It was reported that the video conferencing platform Zoom has seen 200 million daily meeting participants on average at the beginning of 2020, expanding its market share by 40.49% while GoToSeminar follows suit with 19.82% market share in the competitive industry, skill scouter reported. Further information revealed that 78% of corporate businesses use video conferencing to facilitate team meetings while more than 73% of video conferencing meetings are smaller, involving just two to four people. Apart from using the online conferencing platforms for meetings, entrepreneurs should also utilize the platforms for seminars, training purposes, sales presentation, product launch among others in the second half of the year to improve the business and make more sales.
Take Home
Businesses have suffered a lot in the first half of the year, the second half should be effectively utilized to recover and stay in business for the coming years. However, small businesses should adopt the digital strategies that best fit their interest and need to increase sales in the remaining months of the year.
David Alonge is a certified digital marketing expert and strategist who build blueprints for businesses and SMEs through content, social media, digital ads; and branding. He consults for organizations and helps them to build and develop strategic frameworks and programs for maximum productivity in business through the application of digital tools and techniques.He is currently the Chief Operating Officer and Strategist at Harlong Digitech
