One of the biggest impacts a global health scare has is in the economic sector. Stock markets are declining, events are being cancelled and everywhere possible people are choosing to rather perform their everyday duties digitally. Whether it’s working remotely, using online deliveries or just simply keeping in contact with friends and family, there is a massive surge of digital-life happening all around us. So, what does this mean for digital marketing and ecommerce?

The first thing most businesses cut when they discover that the economy is going into recession is their marketing budget. While it does seem like the easiest place to cut expenses, in a self-quarantine situation such as what’s currently happening in Italy, digital advertising and marketing should be the first place to invest if you plan on keeping your business afloat in the long-term. Consumer behaviour is constantly shifting in times like these, and as a result of panic-buying the usual channels consumers use for their everyday goods and services are becoming over-priced and harder to find. Disruptions in supply chains are also causing bigger name brands to pull back on advertising due to large backorders and limited supply.

But it’s not only inventory and product-based companies that will be suffering. Industries like events, entertainment and tourism will also experience a severe decline due to their offline nature. As a matter of fact, any business that is currently offline is predicted to be affected the most by changes in consumer trends. Smaller businesses that struggled in the past due to having big, corporate competition can start to shine, as long as they have online platforms. All consumers, even those who wouldn’t usually find themselves buying online are now being forced to turn to ecommerce as a last resort. While these behavioural trends are likely to be short-term, their economic impact will have a definite long-term effect.

Regardless of how these trends will affect your business, many sources such as digitalposition.com recommend keeping your marketing reach and advertising budget as normal. Simply putting out posts or notices online stating that you ‘will be back soon’, ‘limited stock available’ or ‘Currently out of stock, supply will come in soon’ can put your customers mind at ease that you haven’t abandoned them in crisis and also keeps you and your brand in their minds throughout this ordeal. So, even if they are unable to get to you now, they may do so once the global climate takes a turn for the better.

We live in unsure times but the one certainty this pandemic offers is the unavoidable decrease of physically engaging with marketing strategies, is it time your business takes a digital approach to stay afloat? At Polkadot Digital we’re here to help you, as the virus makes it’s way through our country we must rely on the solidarity and unity of our people. Contact us today and see what we can do to help your business succeed through the threat of Coronavirus.

Photo by Dimitri Karastelev on Unsplash