Leading the e-way

Amid the lockdown, everyone has turned to social media to pass their time. In the first week of lockdown, Social Media Consumption went high, and Indians spent more than four hours every day on social media. Due to the global pandemic, consumers are locked inside, and for the first time, we have a situation in front of us where the necessities collar bound consumerism. And, all the brands and marketers are operating with this situation in hand. Keeping the aforementioned in mind, a significant advantage that digital marketing and brand gets is a substantial change in the internet behaviour of consumers globally. The impact of COVID-19 is perceptible all across- from lifestyle choices to purchase decisions that we are making during this period. Moreover, the way we utilise our time during the lockdown has changed significantly. Don’t believe us? McKinsey reported a 33% growth for social media usage and over 40% for digital content consumption. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for brands, they should leverage soft data in the lockdown and optimise their marketing approach.  When you completely optimise your digital channels to tap both old and new customers, have an enhanced ORM system that can handle volumes larger than usual if you are thinking about adopting a new face for the customer.

Win the web(site)

• Display top-selling products on the landing page to create an impression & give a starting point for customers’ shopping spree.

People tend to neglect but landing pages play a crucial role; it is a key initial impression and touchpoint for new shoppers. And even for the old consumers, eCommerce landing pages hold paramount importance in terms of motivating traffic to continue engaging with your brand and then convincing them to finally make a purchase.

• Optimise your e-commerce website with an accurate CMS to manage all the website content in one place.

When you think about eCommerce content, it is not in any way similar to its counterparts in B2B. It has its characteristics, and brands are rapidly realizing that visual, rich, content experiences hold great value. If you have a CMS or content management system, intact, it will help you to publish, manage, and edit your website content. Some of the must-have features that your CMS should offer are SEO, User experience, Marketing and sales, Testing, and analytics

• Use a filtering system by keeping categories broad enough to fit all of the products, but specific enough to be helpful to customers.

Too much information can be overwhelming and cause problems, no matter if it is an eCommerce site, news site, social media, or a big corporations’ website. To help your customers navigate through these many options, use a filter system. A filter category can be divided into colour, brand, price.

• Incorporate a live chat option that allows users to engage directly with customer service executives in case of any question. 

Live chat as an option has been around for more than a decade, but fairly recently, companies started taking it seriously and its profound effect on website conversion rates. A recent survey shows that 52% of customers are more likely to repurchase from a company that offers live chat support.  In case you are wondering why does live chat make such a gigantic difference? It has been suggested that live chat is the only thing that provides real human interaction when you are trying to make a purchase. In simpler terms, customers need a sense of reassurance, and their questions answered that can only be provided with the help of a live chat.

Accelerate with SEO

• Focus on search volume, product fit, commercial intent & competition, to boost eCommerce keyword research through SEO.

If you practice eCommerce SEO marketing, your brand will get more visibility, which will lead to more customers and sales. We all know that online research is embedded in modern shopping behaviour, most of us start our shopping journey with the help of a search engine to discover new products, ideas, or services. And 74% of shoppers use a search engine for consideration and purchasing (research, comparison, transaction). Never forget about product fit; it might seem obvious at first; however, you need to pick keywords that match your products.

• The golden rule for site architecture & user engagement is to keep every website page three or fewer clicks from the homepage. 

Having a robust site architecture is very vital as it represents how your eCommerce site is organized into pages and categories. It is not only crucial for your visitors but search engines as well.

Publish High-Quality Content

SEO has changed with time, and it is no longer the same. The ability of Google bots and search engine algorithms to grasp human intent and the relevance and quality of content has improved. As a basis of these attributes, Google provides customers with the most relevant information for their queries. As a result, keyword stuffing is no longer effective, and quality material now takes precedence. Hence, publish well-researched and useful material on your blog to improve its social media and SEO performance. Capitalize on ‘how-to videos’ as it helps customers to understand why they need the product & how it will improve their lives. Many kinds of research have shown that videos are top in performance. This content format has an average click-through rate of almost 2%, which is the highest among all online ads. You can even make a product-related video on your website or even on channels like Youtube. They have over a billion active users, and chances are your target audience is somewhere in there. 

• Interact on e-commerce websites by hosting contests, raffles, polls, surveys, ratings, etc., to attract & engage users.

With an array of brands now using video content to increase brand awareness, hosting an online video contest, survey, ratings, raffles, makes a lot of sense. Video contests are a great way of gathering user-generated content (UGC), growing your social media followers, and driving traffic to your website.

Sell through Social

• Leverage Instagram’s ‘shopping feature’ to tag products & add information that helps customers navigate easily.

Rather than directing your customers to Instagram from your website or vice versa, you can fully utilise the Instagram shopping feature and let your customers buy products quickly from the app. With more than 1 billion monthly users, it is safe to assume that your customers are already on Instagram. Now make it easier for them to discover and shop your brand with Instagram shoppable posts.

• Utilize Pinterest’s, ‘Complete the Look’ feature, a visual search that recommends products based on past customer engagement.

Pinterest, for a very long time, has been focusing on its eCommerce capabilities, and this new search tool is a massive step in that direction. They have launched a new “complete the look”, which is a visual search tool that will recommend you with relevant products in the fashion and home decor category. An excellent time for all the brands out there to take advantage of this feature.

• Use personal CTA features like drop-down, shop now, sign up, etc., on Facebook to actively drive customers to click & boost potential sales.

Facebook is an excellent platform for ads, as it is the largest social media network. If you target the advertisements correctly on Facebook, it can yield great results for your eCommerce store. Moreover, you can also use their shop feature on Facebook to customize the look of your virtual storefront with personalized fonts & colours.  Brands should not sleep on this opportunity, in case you are, then you are missing out on good opportunities to cash in if you are not running Facebook ads for your store. 

Ways Social Media Supports Organic Search Marketing

1) Create Link Opportunities

This method is passive, and the challenge lies with the recipient rather than the implementation. It is reliant on a third party acting without your direct involvement. Opportunities are created by developing a standard operating procedure to ensure that each new piece of content passes through the sharing plan or developing a social media marketing strategy to promote your material.

2) Increase Brand Awareness and Positive Mentions

According to google's search quality guideline, human raters do consider brand references when evaluating a website's credibility. Seo and Social media have a big impact on how people see your brand. Brands that have a strong social media presence and interact with their customers directly find a significant improvement in overall growth and help in engagement.

3) Social Can Help You Improve SEO Ranking Signals

Social media for SEO is believed to aid SEO by assisting in improving indicators that impact rankings. More traffic to your search-optimised sites is driven by the impact of social media on SEO social media, which improves social media exposure and engagement.

4) Social Media Helps You Identify the Audience for Your SEO Content

Social listening is one of the aspects that brands consider for improvement, which is willing to read through customers' online conversations. Reading these debates can help you focus on specific topics that consumers are talking about, highlighting what a specific type of audience wants from a product. When you increase your social listening, specific details will be revealed.

5)  Establish Authority

You establish yourself as an industry expert over time if you consistently produce high-quality content which is one of the most significant benefits of content marketing. People start to believe in the information you supply, and that belief spreads to the entire brand. Google's evaluation of your website authority also makes a significant impact on search ranking performance and SEO social media marketing

6) Social Media Boost Content Lifespan and Engagement

Making sure your content is interesting is one of the most important steps. Following that, your social media SEO plan must start in assist getting that content in front of your target audience. With the correct content and a solid social media marketing approach, you can substantially increase your material's reach and lifespan.

Transforming e-commerce

Thirty years ago, if someone said they are opening a business, it was natural to assume that they will either purchase or rent a space, set up phone service, rent some computers, and work on attracting customers. The internet changed all that, though, and now one doesn't even have to leave their couch to start a business. Also, if one has an office space, an online presence is much essential nowadays as that makes it easy for customers to get information about the business or place orders.  However, just having an e-commerce platform isn't enough anymore. Nowadays, it is imperative for companies to double-down on digital transformation & focus on new customer experiences. Talking about e-commerce in India, the country has the second-largest Internet base, with the number of Internet users exceeding 450 million. Of these, around 70 million people are estimated to have online experience currently, which makes them comfortable with engaging in e-commerce. As more people join the Internet economy, the E-commerce market size is predicted to surpass 200 billion USD by 2022. Digital transformation is changing the way a business interacts with its customers and how they provide their customers with a consistent experience whenever and wherever they need it. Let's look at some of the e-commerce trends: E-Trends Alert

• As consumers are digitally engaging with brands more and more, this will bring a different set of expectations & opportunities to build trust and relevance.
• AI tools such as recommendation engines & hyper-personalisation to visual search will be used to generate leads on e-commerce sites. 
• Consumers will turn to marketplaces for purchases as they offer an attractive assortment, competitive & ease of purchasing through a trusted facilitator.

Beyond technology, digital transformation revolves around the customers; how a brand reaches them, speaks to them and finally, how a brand makes customers lives more manageable as one thing is quite clear that customers are in the driver seat. Let's see how a brand can transform itself to take the customer experience to a whole another level: Experience-led transformation  Boost Visualisation With digital transformation, consumers have come to expect access to just about any kind of information at any time. Not only that, but they've become very visual. Using exceptional product visualisation allows brands to quickly and effortlessly show off their products so consumers can look at the details without necessarily having to read about them. Brands should leverage tools that allow people to zoom in, spin the product for a 360° view in order to boost customer experience. Automate with Chatbots Chatbots may be the first point of contact that can make or break the customer experience. These friendly little bots make it easy to communicate with customers in a very human manner and, in turn, offer a personalised experience that can significantly influence purchases. Brands can use chatbots to provide a customised experience that can substantially influence purchase while providing instant up-selling options.  Elevate the experience with Mobile-friendly applications Google found out that 73% of consumers will leave an unfriendly mobile site to use a site designed for mobile use. Brands should design mobile-friendly applications so that customers can easily scroll, read, and purchase via website.  Optimising e-efforts  User-Generated Content Nothing sells a product better than a satisfied customer. User-generated content provides hands-on experience from past customers who are living in and using the brand’s products. Brands should promote user-generated content that showcases hands-on experience in the form of testimonials & reviews. Leverage Re-targeting Retargeting is crucial to the success of any e-commerce site. It allows brands to follow customers while they are online and keep them aware of the brand's products and services. Once they visit a brand's site, the ads can show them what they are missing with a quick link back to where they can purchase the items. Recover Cart Abandonment Cart abandonment is most likely to occur when a customer gets to check out and finds the delivery options do not suit their needs. One of the most effective ways to address cart abandonment is to introduce an email recovery strategy. When someone abandons a cart, brands can send a series of emails encouraging customers to complete their transactions.  Keeping up with the pace of technological advancement is a challenge for companies to be it of any size. Although technology creates a plethora of business opportunities, it also creates skills gaps. So how can employers combat this skills gap while retaining their current workforce? Let's look at it: Bridging the skill gap with upskilling or reskilling  

• One of the critical cornerstones of the upskilling and reskilling process is to keep up with the pace of digital transformation and stay ahead of the curve.
• Converting 'panic into productive & proactive'. For instance, we at #ARM Worldwide took the opportunity of lockdown to adapt to the normal by upskilling with over 400 certifications across modules.
• Brands should prepare themselves and their employees for the future by providing innovation-driven solutions through learnings from Amazon AMS, IBM Design Thinking, Google AdWords & Analytics certifications. 
• Redesign the brand's thinking & strategies at a user-centric level to match the changing consumer behaviour. Keep in mind that learning and self-improvement is a continuous process and must be followed on a daily basis.

Lastly remember, clarity of purpose is essential. Before diving into a digital e-commerce transformation, analyse the business and take into account priorities and vision for the future. Only by having a deep understanding of the business's needs, one can successfully implement their goals within a reasonable timeframe and budget. Read More Download the PDF version

AI revolution in digital space

The age of AI 

• By 2023, 40% of infrastructure & operation teams will use AI-augmented automation, resulting in higher productivity with greater agility & scalability.
• Usage of the chatbot to grow at a CAGR of 29.7% probing bots as the future of customer support. 
• In the past two years, there has been an 186% increase in AI adoption as there is a shift to source & document customer data through AI.

Leaping forward with AI 

• Microsoft with FedEx, to apply the power of Azure in building new commerce experiences that will transform logistics for customers.
• Airtel to leverage AI, speech-to-text and voice applied sciences to gather real-time analytics and transform the customer experience.
• To expedite SMEs growth, Facebook launched a ‘virtual shopping mall’ powered by AI, to embellish distinct customer experiences.

When AI meets social 

• Facebook leverages AI to judge search patterns, buying patterns & complete online presence.
• Instagram introduced 'DeepText AI' a smart algorithm that removes spam or anything against the community guidelines.
• ‘'PinSage', a deep learning algorithm is based on neural networking in which every image on Pinterest is attached based on a theme.

AI in the digital race

• AI is enabling marketers to get a closer look at audience preferences and target the ads and content in a better way. 
• AI tools help track and analyze the move of users in the digital landscape by tracking user engagement.
• AI technology can use complex algorithms to help craft personalized emails to subscribers. 

Your experience, enhanced Three ways how marketers can leverage AI to enhance customer experience. 

• AI-powered tools help in ensuring personalization for customers, which will make them keep coming back for more.
• With brilliant speed, AI-enabled tools can analyze content performance and drive traffic to ensure maximum conversion.
• AI tools can help optimise and conclude the channels of communication for brands to increase engagement with customers. 

That’s so social! Social media is an ever-changing medium. Whether it’s keeping track of new developments and improvements on various social media platforms or adopting new social media strategies and evolving statistics and data, digital marketers and business owners need to keep themselves well-updated and educated at all times. Here is a list of the top social media updates for the month of May:

1. Facebook launches the most human-like chatbot Facebook creates its own chatbot called Blender, which blends a diverse set of human conversational skills like empathy, knowledge and personality together in one system. It has been brought to the market using a new chatbot recipe of improved decoding techniques and novel blending of skills.
2. Instagram works on “Shops from Facebook” update Instagram is processing “Shops from Facebook” feature which will suggest products to its users according to their previous search across various online websites. They will use the data available across Facebook products, including Instagram, to make personalized recommendations to its users.
3. TikTok unveils new in-app reporting feature TikTok users can report misinformation with this new in-app feature - Misleading Information, which will enable users to distinguish between facts and false content. TikTok has given a sub-category within the feature named “COVID-19 information” where any information related to COVID-19 can be reported.
4. Facebook adds gift cards and donation tools Facebook has expanded its Community Help feature to make it easier for people to support local businesses and nonprofit organizations. Users will be able to find gift cards and vouchers to support local businesses, donate to local nonprofit fundraisers, sign up to become a blood donor and find local job opportunities.
5. LinkedIn releases new tools for Virtual Interviews LinkedIn is introducing 2 new features - a video introduction tool and AI-powered feedback tool, which will help people in preparing for some of the most common questions that are asked in the screening process, with access to quality videos and tips by experts and hiring managers on how to answer the most common interview questions.
6. Bringing back Live With on Facebook With more people turning to live video to connect with their community during COVID-19, Facebook brought back its ‘Live With” feature that lets hosts choose a guest to go Live With during their mobile live broadcasts – either from their Page or profile. With this feature, one can bring on a guest speaker, interview an expert, or perform with a fellow artist, among other cases.
7. Twitter rolls out changes to threaded conversations Twitter introduces a new layout for replies that will use lines and indentations to make it easier for the users to understand who they’re replying to and how the conversation is flowing. It will also test putting engagement actions - likes, retweets and reply icons, behind an extra tap to make replies to conversations easier to follow.
8. Facebook reveals its Board members for content Facebook announced the first members of oversight board who will be empowered to make binding decisions about what content must be allowed or removed on both Facebook and Instagram. They will also take cognizance of the disputes about posts, pages, profiles, groups and even ads on Facebook.

Get in touch with us for business queries: [email protected]

Beating All Odds Through Digital

The COVID-19 has left all brands confused and worried regarding marketing activities with the lockdown in place. Going digital is a great way to stay connected with your audience at this time, not only to market your offerings and drive online traffic but also to engage with your audience on a human level by offering them quirky, lighthearted, and emotionally engaging content. Let’s have a look at some of the unique trends of the week we observed revolving around digital - Digital ‘Mauke Pe Chauka’

• The film industry is undoubtedly one of the severely impacted entertainment industries amid the pandemic. Cinemas have been shut and will continue to be so for an indefinite period of time, which just spells bad news. However, with the growing relevance of OTT streaming platforms, digital may just be the way to go for the film industry. Direct to home releases could be the norm going forward with the OTT platforms serving as the new giants of entertainment.
• SEO - Search Engine Optimization - is a critical component of any digital marketing strategy. In a period where target audiences are spending more and more time on their devices, their usage of search engines is bound to increase as well. Brands must strive to adopt new-age SEO practices in order to ensure visibility. You could start with updating your schema & add monitoring of search demand & social media mentions while planning for SEO.

Learning On LinkedIn  With extra time to reskill and upskill one’s capabilities, the popularity of online certifications and courses has shot up amid the lockdown. One of the popular learning platforms facilitating this process is LinkedIn Learning. Here are some key points and trends observed recently - 

• Upskilling activities have been adopted across different verticals and departments of organizations, with course material available for nearly every subject or domain. It is estimated that sales, purchase, operations, health-care services, and administrative employees had the most significant interest in these LinkedIn Learning courses.
• What’s intriguing is that the inclination towards online learning is not limited to the corporate world. It was observed that government employees, as well as students pursuing their higher education, witnessed sharp increases of 85% and 67% respectively.
• With new working norms in place, courses like ‘Time Management: WFH’ were among the most popular learning modules on a global scale. This shows that individuals are keen to adapt to the ‘new normal’ and are looking at ways to strike the ideal work-life balance.

Ready, Strategize, Go

• Strategize - The post-COVID-19 scenario is going to lead to changed consumer behaviour, different spending habits, and new laws of demand & supply. Redesigning thinking and strategies at user-centric level keeping the new normal in mind will be critical. The pandemic has brought about the need for brands to connect with their audiences on a more human and personal level. Helping individuals identify with brands with stellar storytelling and humanising content is a great way to engage them positively.

• Reach The At-Home Audience - With a strict lockdown in place - people have more time on their hands to browse digital platforms. Social media platforms are obvious beneficiaries, however, even OTT & gaming platforms have seen huge spikes in activity.

• Campaigns - Now is the perfect time to run engaging and fun campaigns to keep your target audience in the loop. Business activity may be declining across a plethora of industries but now is the time to build and maintain relationships way beyond commercial transactions through social media campaigns.

• Adapt Where Needed - There are new technological innovations springing up nearly every day which can be used to drive your marketing strategies or campaigns. For example, interaction with consumers through Whatsapp Business API accounts or even website/application chatbots are a great way to curb worries and questions of your users.

Lets Talk Tik-Tok

• Platforms like Instagram and Youtube have been the popular domains encouraging influencer marketing, however, until very recently, there was a new player in the market - Tiktok. The rise and popularity of Tik-Tok as a content creation, as well as a content consumption platform in India, has been well-documented. India is the biggest driver of TikTok installs, generating a staggering 611 million downloads - a massive 30.3% of the total downloads across the globe.
• With such a large audience, brands must look at it as opportunity to interact with users on the platform through influencers or even create their own unique content to grab attention.
• Collaborating with specialists in the field is a great way to kickstart a brand journey on TikTok as this guarantees stellar co-created content which can be cross-shared on both the creator’s account as well as the brand’s account.

TikTok Insider Here are some more key figures and facts highlighting the role played by TikTok as an entertainment platform nowadays - 

• 38 minutes - the average time a user spends on TikTok on mobile
• 350 Billion average monthly video views
• Nearly 44% of the users are in the age group of 18-24 year
• Around 11% of the users are in the age group of 35-44 year
• Almost 10% of the users are in the age group of 25-34 year
• 1 of every 3 users is likely to participate in a #Hashtag challenge

ARM Worldwide Co-Founder, Honey Singh, also threw some light on the popularity of TikTok here Digital platforms are so widespread and popular now, it is imperative to stay up-to-date with new developments and innovations elevating their uses and see how you reach business goals and objectives. Now is the time to embrace digital as the essential cog of your marketing activities, if you hadn’t already!

Rule The Digital Realm

Companies across the globe are slowly coming to terms with the volatile business environment that we are surrounded with due to COVID-19 pandemic. Some companies have temporarily frozen their operations, and some have decided to implement a digital-driven working system, and how you approach it should be a primary focus in these worrying times ahead- in case it is not already.

We do not know for how long this shall last, but you need to understand that the internet is the only place that is not quarantined for quarantined customers, and sooner the brands realise this the better, you also need to explore the realms of it. If you are in a business that requires you to go out and meet potential customers face-to-face, adapting may mean exploring web or social media platforms.

Now that we are talking about digital transformation, there is an upside to COVID-19, which is the consumer behaviour change. People from the age bracket of 35 to 44, increased their internet consumption by 11% whereas for millennials it went by 5-7% and some of the prominent platforms being Facebook (+18%), Instagram (+20%), and Whatsapp (+17%) have all witnessed rises in the number of sessions per week per user as per the research done by Nielsen Report on COVID-19’s impact on the changing landscape in media.

Keeping the aforementioned in mind the brands should really start targeting these platforms and being said that, and they should also make sure that you spend your budget wisely in order to attain the positive ROI and take advantage of the lower acquisition costs due to less competition. And, the content that you plan on posting make sure that it is ‘infotaining’- contextually informative, relevant and entertaining. Last but not least, don’t forget to target outranking shares, it is a portfolio bid strategy which will help your ads outrank ads from other domains.

Evolving trends for emails

• Witness a lift of 5-10% in the open rate by disseminating messages on Mondays.

To a lot of people, the general consensus is that you should avoid sending emails on Mondays. Why? That is because people are bummed out about the end of the weekend, and they march into work flooded with emails that they have collected over the past few days. And what is the first thing they do? Delete those messages. And, that is your time to shine. Hence, you witness the lift of 5-10% in the open rate.

• Emails with up to 300 words get a CTR of 2.5% now, so plan the message accordingly.

To begin with, the open rate is the percentage of people who open your email, and the click-through rate is the percentage of people who click the link that is present in your email. And, out of the two, the click-through rate is the most important metric for lead generation. Hence, to make it a success, it should have up to 300 words, and you can even include audio, video, image. 

• Subtle urgency words like free, WFH jobs/career, now perform better and increase the open rate for B2B (28%) and B2C (32%) messages.

Pre-pandemic words like urgent, alert, hurry, serious and other buzzwords worked well. However, post-pandemic, words like WFH, jobs/career, and you/your are the go-to words to create a stir for B2B, whereas for B2C, the top subtle urgency words are free, mom, % off, you/your, delivery, WFH, and just for – in that order.

Tricks for clicks

• Research for new keywords is essential now as Google released a new core algorithm update.

This has become such a trend due to the uncertainty that has been caused after the rollout of each update. Google is known for rolling out hundreds of core algorithms each passing year followed by search engines announcing a few that have a far-reaching impact on the SERP.

• Encourage clicks with relevant value propositions but don’t use anxiety or fear around the pandemic to sell.

Content is king, and it will continue to be in the future as well. Publish content that is catered to your target audience and is also relevant. But refrain from using the feeling of anxiety or fear to sell your product/idea/service. People are already feeling cynical about things; brands making them realise the same sentiment is unnecessary.

• Judge the negative keywords right. You may set COVID-19 related terms as negative, but 78% of people don’t mind general ads near coronavirus content.

The advertising industry is no stranger to the concept of disruption and turmoil. They have successfully overcome economic pressures, political tensions and even natural disasters, but most of these episodes are short-lived. Coronavirus is another battle that the industry is currently facing, and keeping the stats in mind brands should play around it a bit and see where it takes them.

The show must go on

• Eva Longoria recently shot a L’Oreal ad herself at home on her iPhone, making it more relatable to the audience than ever.

Since the onset of the pandemic along with self-isolation, demand for at-home hair colour has also peaked, heavily driven by an expansion of eCommerce transactions bringing back the users into the at-home hair colour category. 

L’oreal Paris saw the opportunity and grabbed it. They unveiled their debut commercial which was created at home, directed and starring by L’Oréal Paris spokesperson Eva Longoria, with support from McCann Paris and New York. The message behind the ad was to prove that staying at home is no barrier to bring out the best in your hair.

• Honda releases the first car commercial that is written, directed, edited and to be watched at home.

An array of companies have been promoting awareness regarding social distancing, work from home or just simply staying at home. Some carmakers have even changed their logos temporarily to support this. However, Honda took it to the other level by coming up with a commercial in which they are trying to emphasise on the significance of staying at home during this pandemic. The Honda UAE hired an advertising agency and shot the commercial with a scale model of the Honda Civic sedan. The commercial was shot entirely indoors.

• Porta takes a hilarious turn on the increase in birth rates during global emergencies with its #StayAtHomeBabies campaign.

One thing that we all have learnt from the past curfews is that when couples are forced to stay at home for longer periods of time, the number of births peak roughly nine months later. Keeping that in mind, German furniture retailer, Porta, used this statistic and created a cheeky film with an equally cheeky offer: Buy a bed now, and with the #StayAtHomeBabies campaign, you can get a free crib nine months later.

Lead through the crisis

by Ritesh Singh, Co-Founder & MD, #ARM Worldwide

• Observe the effect of the crisis on the economy & analyse the new-age macro norms
• Orientation of organisational activities to minimise the impact of the current changes.
• Decisions should be tested and their flaws, if any, identified.
• Act upon your decisions to see the output and feasibility of your planning.
• The Loop will help you evaluate your observation, orientation, decisions and actions.

Download the PDF version

Unifying Digitally The Social Factor

• Entertain your audience with gaming formats as Twitter reports 89% spike in conversations around games on the platform.
• Convert your video-chats into podcasts with Spotify’s Anchor. Use this for interviews, conversations with co-hosts and for creating branded podcasts.
• To make trade easier for the grocery stores and MSMEs, Facebook partnered with JIO to launch Whatsapp shop.

Go With Google

• In an attempt to make the source URL more noticeable, Google is testing showing the URL, in black, under the clickable title of the snippet.
• Google has improved the edit pane, added shared budgets and optimisation scores in Ads Editor enabling brands to enhance effectiveness of ad performance.
• Businesses can now add their phone numbers now in Google Ads via new ‘call ad’ snippet & engage with potential customers & generate more leads.

The Brand Connect

• ‘Neki Nahi Rukegi’ Ad by Surf Excel pays tribute to frontline coronavirus warriors, highlighting the fact that nothing can stop a person from doing good deeds.
• Adidas looks forward to the world’s return to exercising outdoors with its ‘Ready For Sport’ campaign.
• Durex showed people that only love would get you to see through the lockdown via a content series.

Fighting Together

• Serving 15000 doctors & 200 Hospital, Amazfit & #WorkForDoctors campaign from #ARM Worldwide garnered over 6M views.
• We launched two digital films requesting people to ‘not just work from home but work for doctors’ backed by 24*7 support team.
• The campaign moved beyond social media and received support from IndiaPost making the supplies easily accessible to the doctors.

Humanize Customer Engagement

• Embrace a life cycle mindset. Learn when customers are likely to engage, what experiences appeal to them and approach them accordingly.
• Set clear expectations with your customers. Utilise modern messaging to communicate what to expect and where things stand in the moment.
• Don't stress on your campaigns in terms of channel alone, instead foreground what you’re trying to communicate. Download the PDF version

Ace The Digital Space Living Through The Pandemic 

• To adapt our marketing during COVID-19, the way we do business and marketing is changing including the digital space which is now evolving faster with new updates.
• 41% marketers intend to make use of the momentum to maintain or increase their presence in the media.
• Stay updated with the digital universe. 

Simply Social

• Facebook pulls back on the Campaign Budget Optimization mandate, giving relief to the advertisers on their spends.
• Twitter published a list of 20 tweet prompts to help brands come up with new content ideas and leverage on the growing conversations.
• WhatsApp partnered with the WHO to create 21 ‘Together at Home’ stickers helping brands integrate the new stay-at-home lifestyle in their communication.

Generous Google

• Google has waived off its Ad Manager fees for the next five months for publishers, making publishing the content more feasible.
• Google's Shopping tool opens up to free product listings helping retailers showcase their products to millions of people.
• Google launches Beyond Corp Remote Access to enable users to securely access their company’s internal web apps remotely, without the use of a VPN.

Crack The Communication For COVID-19

• Reckitt Benckiser launched the 'Disinfect to Protect' campaign to educate people on the need for keeping surfaces clean and disinfected.
• ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund is urging people to do digital investments under the ‘Kuch Smart Karo SIP Start Karo’ campaign.
• Snapdeal partnered with Hungama Play to offer a video streaming service with a diverse library of short videos, TV shows and movies in multiple languages.

Strike conversations; get closer

• Your audience is more available than ever to interact with you. Get closer, add value, don’t get out of sight. 
• Be sensitive, empathize, talk more but don’t sell. 
• The launch of various updates and features have made marketing in the digital space easier. It’s time to leverage it.  Download the PDF version

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought along a substantial amount of restructuring and rethinking of marketing strategies. Let us evaluate how the form of digital media has taken new shapes in the post-covid world and how brands can leverage digital media platforms to fulfil marketing objectives and goals -   Media Trends

• Google Ad Scripts are a great way to control all your Google Ads data using javascript. Scripts can be used to automate common procedures as well as interact with external data. Scripts can even be used to create charts that plot click and conversion percentages in relation to the type of device, days, and hours of the day. This form of analytics is particularly useful keeping in mind the boost in organic search on search engines.
• Just like Google, even Amazon ads can even be utilized smartly to drive sales activities on online platforms. For example, the e-commerce platform recently announced the availability of product targeting via Sellar Central on Sponsored Display with greater capabilities to reach shoppers browsing similar or complementary product types or categories
• A report curated by KPMG goes on to estimate that traditional ad-spend pressures will persist, even if investment in marketing reduces as a result of the pandemic. However, this investment will be fruitful as a result of the evolved habits which has lead to a prominent role of digital media in the post-covid world. While most parts of the world are quarantined, we must not forget that the internet and all the digital channels we can use to access it are thriving in these times.

Where’s All The Traffic?

• SEO is an integral part of any digital marketing strategy and that definitely holds true even now in the evolved state of digital platforms. Adopting proactive rather than reactive SEO practices is a smart move. Doing this will help you understand evolved consumer behaviour and habits which will, in turn, allow you to churn out relevant and engaging content. Relatable and engaging content is the backbone behind any digital marketing strategy - pandemic or no pandemic.
• Google has brought in a fresh wave of helpful features which are aimed to augment the value of search engines amid the pandemic. These features include a ‘Help and Information Box’, a COVID-19 alert sidebar, along with an informative statistics panel. In a stressing period like this, it is imperative that information is available to help keep everyone safe.
• As Google has transitioned to a new search console, the search engine has thrown light on relevant data that could be helpful in forming SEO strategies. If users refer to the performance report found in the Search Console dashboard, one can zero in on an array of different insights such as query’s click, impression, and average search ranking data.

Stay Home, Stay Trending  In order to keep users engaged and intrigued on social media, many brands have come up with quirky campaigns and contests to run on social media. Some of these include - 

• Stay Home of The Whopper - It goes without saying that dine-in food joints were among those hit the worst when the virus broke out. In the initial phases, most individuals were even apprehensive in terms of getting food delivered to their homes. In a bid to curb these worries, but still, promote safety, fast food giants Burger King launched the Stay Home of The Whopper campaign in order to encourage individuals to stay safe at home and order food instead of stepping out.

• #HDFCBankSafetyGrid - This was a campaign devised by HDFC bank to reinforce the role of social distancing in curbing the effects of the virus. The bank did this by utilizing the outer grid of HDFC Bank’s logo that stands for ‘Trust’. The bank made physical markers on the ground to ensure that individuals follow the prescribed “social” distance by WHO while queuing up at a store.

• #HumSabHomeMakers - The lockdown has been a stressful time for many without the support of domestic staff and help, with many of us being accustomed to their services. Godrej’s campaign film encourages people to help at home and divide the load of maintaining a home. It also features its employees and captures a beautiful change via multiple slice of life shots to depict ‘life during lockdown’. Touching, emotional, and emphatic communication leaves a lasting impact on audiences particularly with the widespread sense of anxiety and grief around us.

Download the PDF version

What’s new in social

• Snapchat’s AR Donation lenses: In partnership with the United Nations (UN) Foundation’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund, Snapchat has launched new AR lenses on the app that are directing Snapchatters to the donation page for the Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund by WHO.
• Facebook’s new app for couples: TUNED, Facebook’s new iOS-only app encourages couples to create an intimate social network between just each other. Through the app, couples can share their mood, exchange music, and create a digital scrapbook.
• YouTube is reportedly working on TikTok competitor called Shorts: Shorts will allow people to upload brief videos into a feed inside the mobile app, much like TikTok, and take advantage of licensed music that YouTube Music has in its catalogue.

  Ads: new changes that make a difference

• Facebook has rolled out a new Experiments section in the Ads Manager that combines results of multiple types of ad campaign tests and allows marketers to A/B test campaigns and measure conversion and brand lift in one place.
• Twitter has removed a privacy feature that allowed all users to stop sharing some private information with advertisers. For most users, that information will now be shared by default and can’t be turned off.
• Google’s updated Inappropriate Content policy disallows content that “…potentially capitalizes on or lacks reasonable sensitivity towards a natural disaster, conflict, death, public health emergency, or other tragic event.”

  Significant digital campaigns

• Sending out a strong message on social distancing, Pizza Hut has altered its logo to Pizza Home, urging people to take social distancing seriously. The new logo is released across the brand’s social media handles.
• To strengthen the fight against COVID-19, Mumbai Police’s campaign #MainBhiMumbaiPolice is asking Mumbaikars to consider themselves an extension of the force by taking on the task of self-policing, thus ensuring that their family members stay inside their homes.
• Under its consumer outreach campaign, itel has launched its new campaign #TogetherWeHelp. The campaign focuses on engaging the audience through games, challenges, interactive activities while they are at home during the lockdown period.

  Agency pitches are evolving

• As remote working becomes the new norm, agencies are adjusting the way they pitch, relying on building human connections from the comfort of home via the computer screen.
• Agencies are finding new opportunities to help clients during the crisis: Marketers are pivoting business toward consulting for some clients instead of just creating marketing campaigns.
• Many are simplifying their pitch decks: To make pitch decks less complicated, agencies are making more concise decks and getting rid of the fluff to get to the point.

  Free courses by brands for upskilling

• To help people deal with the COVID-19 lockdowns, brands are going out of their way to enable their customers during these trying times.
• LinkedIn is now offering six free online courses that can provide mental health and mindfulness guidance for those working to adjust to their new work/life balance. How about starting with the course on Balancing Work & Life?
• Nikon India Pvt. Ltd will be introducing free online photography classes until the end of April. Each class will be conducted by a professional photographer to offer in-depth photography knowledge to help users capture stunning photos and videos.

Download the PDF version