The world has changed a lot in the last one and a half years. The pandemic was the major driving force behind that change. Even though a lot will be back to normal once the pandemic is reined in (thanks to the vaccination), we won’t go back to the way things were. The post-COVID world will be a blend of what was perceived as normal and the “new normal.” This is true for almost everything, including marketing.
Post-COVID Marketing Trends
The marketing trends in the post-COVID world will focus on the themes of recovery, what the world used to be like before COVID, and the permanent changes businesses and consumer behavior have gone through during the pandemic.
From Virtual To In-Person To Virtual Again
There will be a shift back to in person. It could be a vaccinated win with no social distancing measures. Most likely, it will be a hybrid where social distancing will still have a little foothold on our mids for the next few years. In the post-COVID world, many businesses will refocus on in-person marketing and human interactions. That’s because COVID had many people craving human interaction, and they might welcome physical marketing events and seminars with more enthusiasm than they did before COVID.
But that’s likely to be a temporary phase. After the “recovery” mood wears off, businesses might try and focus on the new normal, i.e., virtual marketing. From virtual events to immersive ads (using AR/VR) that gained a lot of traction during COVID, most virtual marketing technologies and practices are likely to evolve and become more commonplace in the near future.
Re-Evaluation Of Target Marketing
The first step to good marketing is understanding your audience, and all intelligent businesses understand that the audience has changed quite a bit during the pandemic. The target market of some businesses will require them to take particular actions regarding the safety and health standards in their business. Others will have reevaluated their financial choices and might be switching from luxurious to practical. Understanding the post COVID mindset of their target audience will be an important marketing trend.
COVID And Brand Loyalty
The pandemic had a lot of impact on brand loyalty. Several purchase and lifestyle habits of individuals are rooted around their work life. They take their coffee from a joint near the office, eat lunch at a nearby restaurant, and might visit a pub or a different hang out in their office’s vicinity, one or two days a week. But remote work, a trend that’s here to stay in the post-COVID world, tethers people to their homes. So they will find replacements and alternatives.
Businesses should understand this new reality. Marketing should not focus on reclaiming the loyal old customers. Their focus might have shifted during the change. The marketing spend for retaining loyalty should be reevaluated for the new normal. The difference should go towards the marketing efforts for finding new customers in the post-COVID market.
Conclusion
The pandemic was only the catalyst that changed the pace of digital transformation. Digital marketing will only gain more traction in the post-COVID world. Marketing trends are driven by consumer behavior. It is important to know what and how they prefer businesses to market to them. As a result, the most important thing for a business is to understand, is how their consumers’ behavior and expectations have changed.
