Danny Star, CEO and Founder of Website Depot Digital Marketing Agency, has helped hundreds of small businesses grow and expand.
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“How can I adjust to what my customers want right now?” “The pandemic has changed everything, and I’m not sure how to make my marketing fit my customers.”
We’ve heard so many variations on those over the last few months.
It makes sense. What customers want from, well, just about every kind of industry has changed dramatically since March.
Asking yourself, What do my customers want right now? is a good way to start, but it might only get you a bit of the way there. After all, you might not be in the market for exactly what your customers are in the market for. Here’s one way of thinking about it:
When’s the last time you went to see standup comedy live? The question isn’t “When did you last watch a taped performance?” but rather a live show. The comedian comes prepared with material — jokes that are almost invariably proven to be effective.
But if something happens during the set, they’ll “riff.” Should a server drop many drinks or someone passes out in the crowd, or perhaps someone laughs too loudly, or there are many men (or women) sitting in one area, the comedian might acknowledge each of these.
Sure, it isn’t what they prepared but they know that they have to do it. If they don’t, they’ll break the connection they’ve made with the audience. The audience will realize that they’re not being a part of something, but rather are just watching something rehearsed.
There’s a powerful analogy here for how it fits your marketing.
Respond to what’s part of your customers’ lives.
Like the comedian, if there’s something going on in your customers’ lives or the industry in general that you don’t respond to, it’s highly likely that your customers won’t respond to you.
To use a broad example, if a business doesn’t respond to the pandemic, then they’re the same as a comedian watching a server trip and drop several meals without commenting. By keeping up with what matters to your customers, you can make your marketing that much more agile, that much more adaptable.
This, in turn, will allow you to be able to better target exactly what it is that your customers are looking for. You won’t have to worry and ask “Am I responding to their needs?” because, instead, you’re responding to them.
Don’t be afraid to think just a step outside of your industry.
Often, we’ve found that when one company or another wants to respond to factors in the world, they feel that they have to tie it into exactly what it is that they do. If you can do this easily, then that’s fine, but don’t feel like you have to.
For example, out here in Southern California, when the pandemic initially hit (with its toilet paper shortages), many restaurants that offered takeout and delivery were also giving out toilet paper with each meal.
It made sense, as the toilet paper that was at the physical restaurant location wouldn’t be used by customers (as they were closed down) and it also helped to give customers something that they needed. This wasn’t particularly “on brand,” but it did speak to customers’ needs.
Change on a dime.
Marketing campaigns should be designed in such a way that they can accommodate riffing. Even the best-designed marketing campaign can become obsolete at a moment’s notice.
If you’re like so many of us, you’ve read stories about companies that spent millions on ad campaigns that had to be scrapped as soon as the pandemic began.
Now, when designing your plans, ask yourself: What happens if things go wrong? That’s not to say that you have to create defensively, with the idea that something bad is going to happen. But it’s certainly worth a conversation, if not a meeting or more, to have some sort of backup plan, some sort of pivot, in case something like March happens again.
The better your marketing is at pivoting, the more responsive it will be. The best-designed marketing, really, is that which can always meet your customers where they are.
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Author: Danny Star, Forbes Councils Member
