In the midst of crises, marketing is not what it usually is. Objectives, methods, and strategies change. Well, even the principles of “marketing during crises” do not seem practical enough to meet the current challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic.

That’s why we reached out to our Digital Marketing Head at Deep Agency, Mr. Hayyan Aldela (who handled the marketing strategies for different companies during the ongoing war crisis in the middle east) seeking some expert advice on how to keep effective marketing during COVID-19 time.

Show Humanity & Social Responsibility

As a marketer, you need to understand the changing needs of consumers. During a crisis, the consumer’s emotional state of mind is totally different. Actually, it’s not the right time to practice what you learned about the marketing funnel, consumer behavior, buying journey, or even the basic marketing concepts. Man is a human before he is a customer! Therefore, whatever your business niche is, you may help the community and show the social responsibility side of your brand by sharing some precautions and tips, but as a rule of thumb, never do without referring to a reliable source. Such as the World Health Organization, Ministry of Health, or the Red Cross.

It is worth saying that unless you are in the medical sector, don’t go bananas with sharing COVID-19 news and updates. You are not a news agency, thus tread lightly on the content you put out in terms of amount and quality.

Adjust Your Strategy

Marketing strategies are meant to be long term plans, and for huge corporations, they always have plan B for sudden or unexpected situations. But let us be honest, none of us as millennial marketers have dealt with an emergency plan for a pandemic crisis such as COVID-19. However it’s still a crisis, and our strategies need to adjust as we can’t keep marketing with our head in the sand. Think of how your product/service can be a help for people and meet their new needs as they are working from home or spending more time with their families. People are developing new consuming habits, thus your product should fit somewhere in between in a new way.

Offer some discount, safe delivery service, installment, or even a cheaper pricing plan. But no matter how much your product or service is related to the crisis, never increase your prices seeking extra profit. It’s the time of goodwill and big brands emphasize their values during such times.

People will remember how you handled your offerings, and this will help you generate a wider customer base in the long term. Well, your bottom line of the funnel will get newcomers as they can automatically learn about your brand positively and you will need to focus on the consideration and conversion level as the crises pass. Obvious, no?

Coronavirus Pandemic is NOT a Trend!

A global health crisis isn’t a marketing opportunity you can hijack to get more exposure for your brand. If you start any (initiative, offer, discount, or even service), be honest and transparent with your audience. So make your message clear and on the point without playing any cheap marketing ploy.



Remember, people are extra sensitive during such times.

More Customer Support Spices in Your Marketing Plate

If you’re in an industry, where the crisis has a direct negative impact on you and your clients, (Say it’s tourism, event management, travel, etc.) then get prepared for a higher volume of people contacting your brand for refunds or cancellation policies.

Get ready to serve these requests through your customer support team, more importantly, you need to show this keenness on the different marketing channels.

While in panic people are impatient, calm them down and show that you are by their side, prepare special campaigns with supportive messages.

Continue Running Your Paid Ads

While it’s not the time to run scheduled social media or PPC campaigns, you can continue running your ads but more carefully. Rework on your creatives and ad copies to be less provocative or salesy. Let us not forget that the majority of media buyers have already abandoned spending and decreased their budgets, thus expect less cost per result out of your new campaigns.



Think long-term

If there’s one thing we all agree as marketers, it’s the fact that our TO-DO list of tasks is always longer than the DONE one. Time!

As we have time on a silver platter, let us think of brand-building rather than just performance marketing now. Moreover, the marketing tasks which usually put on and pays off in the long term such as:

Review your website’s SEO: fix the technical issues, update your old content, do in-depth keyword research, conduct competitor SEO analysis, rewrite your about us, FAQ and policy pages to meet the latest Google algorithm updates.





Create more resources: actually those are the marketing magnets that you use to attract new clients and nourish your current leads; ebooks, PDFs, infographics, explanatory videos, email cycles, landing pages, etc.





Podcasts; we’ve been aware that voice search and podcasts are the future of digital marketing but few of us had the time to initiate a step forward among the hustle of the daily immediate tasks. if you’re waiting for a sign to start, here it is!

Still confused and need some marketing support?

As a part of our social responsibility strategy, we offer you a free consultation session with our specialists to help your business go through these uncertain days and turn them into your favor in the most decent way.

Book your session!