11 Experts Reveal Content Marketing Strategies For A Post-Covid World

We’re all still reeling from the rampage of Covid19 and even though the end seems closer, things will never be the same. It’s not business as usual. The pandemic has affected us all negatively and there’s only one thing you can do if you want your business to survive in a post-pandemic world. Rethink your...

We’re all still reeling from the rampage of Covid19 and even though the end seems closer, things will never be the same. It’s not business as usual.

The pandemic has affected us all negatively and there’s only one thing you can do if you want your business to survive in a post-pandemic world.

Rethink your marketing strategy.

Why?

Because people no longer care about businesses sneaking in ads everywhere. Consumers have adapted themselves to support businesses that actually care about their audiences.

So, what should you do to show that your business cares?

What strategies should you implement to be inclusive?

Should you completely discard all your marketing plans that you had before covid hit?

The questions are numerous. And here are some experts with answers.

1

Striking the balance between fun and value in content

Post COVID-19, I predict that two kinds of content marketing strategies will work effectively.

First, there’s an increasing desire for content that blends entertainment and education. This used to be called Infotainment. It matters because people are burned out from negativity on social media and the news. Striking the balance between fun and value in content is going to be easy for some brands (e.g. athletic goods) and harder for other brands (e.g. enterprise software).

Second, inspirational content focused on achieving goals will succeed. This kind of inspirational content should also include your customers in the form of customer success stories.

Bruce Harpham
Marketing Consultant

2

Show how the brand will be navigating the
“new normal”

1. Posting content showcasing the business’s recovery post-pandemic will be a great way to communicate with the audience. Show how the brand will be navigating the “new normal”. Doing this highlights that there is hope in spite of these trying times and shows how the business is trying to rebuild itself.
2. Study the shift in consumer demands and relearn their pain points to know how to solve these problems using the brand. COVID-19 has led to a shift in consumer demand, with consumers discovering new brands they will continue to patronize post-COVID-19 and new spending habits, especially with the rise of online shopping.
3. Use an authentic approach and continually tell the brand story. Provide value to the customer – opt to choose effective storytelling over hard selling.

– Bernie Wong
Founder
Social Stand Limited


3

Flowery prose is a thing of the past.

Content Marketing strategies after COVID-19 will continue to rely on people increasingly using the internet to do more of their tasks that used to require human interaction. I believe COVID has just accelerated the online trends that were already becoming apparent. People increasingly turn to online reviews and use social platforms to discover new products and services. We have noticed a huge increase in video popularity as people are now able to watch a quick video whenever they have a question.

Content should be short with links to further research information. Flowery prose is a thing of the past. The key is to be as authentic as possible and research the best platform to showcase your content. What works on Instagram may fall flat on a less visual platform. When you have a concept you want to market, design the content around it to be platform and audience-specific, fact-check everything, keep your brand in mind, make it authentic, and keep it short and focused. When you share it, make sure it is going to the right target audience at the appropriate time and day, and thank people for their engagement.

– Sue McCrossin,
Boomtown Internet Group

You might like: 26 Content Marketing Examples To Learn From


4

Track your customer journey.

Know where your customers are and where they fall out of your sales funnel.

Why? So you’ll know where and when customer needs are not being met. Then create content to address that problem.

For example, you’re selling real estate. And, because of the pandemic, people are less confident in investing. To address this problem, you can create content that’ll help ease their fear. Create blog posts about what they can do with their real estate when things are rough. Or consider offering real estate courses.

So how do you identify opportunities for improvement?
1. Use social listening tools to know what your customers are saying about your brand, products, or services.
2. Secondly, engage with your audience. Aside from understanding where they are on their customer journey, interacting with your customers also boosts their experience.

Remember, content marketing strategies don’t start and end with pushing out content.
It’s all about improving customer experience.

– Jet Saini,
Founder
Drip Digital

5

Content should consider pre-sales questions.

Post covid, the market should expect slightly longer sales cycles. Consumers will take more time to act on purchase decisions because budgets are tight. A content strategy that should be devised is one that speaks to perceptions of risk. Content should consider pre-sales questions and typical objections that a target customer might ask. To do this, marketers should survey their sales team to assess what fears and concerns buyers tend to bring up. In addition to that, do the shopping for your customer and use social proof to strengthen your claims. Use your content to share typical ways of buying your product or service. Do other brands sell this on a subscription basis or is it a one-time fee? Leverage blog and video content to show how your brand measures up to other choices and be a thought leader that details why your choice is the least risky, highest value option. Back this up with actual customer testimonials and case studies from real customers… no one believes marketers these days, so let your customer do the selling for you!

– Adam Rizzieri
Chief Marketing Officer
Agency Partner Interactive


6

Create in-depth comprehensive content with media

With more content being published today, it will be hard for your content to stand out. If you want to get your article noticed, write in-depth and comprehensive content that will surely get consideration. If you want your content to be prominent, seek help with the design.
Focus more on quality over quantity for content. It will be hard to write awesome and epic content on a regular basis as this type takes blood, sweat, and tears from your writers.

Another strategy is to collaborate with experts. When you work with experts on the topics you are planning to write about, they can share their actual experience that will resonate more with your readers.
Lastly, you can repurpose evergreen content. Find posts on your website or blog that may be considered popular. Once you find one, repurpose the said post into new formats including video, audio, slides, infographics, white paper, or case studies. Also, you can repurpose content by dividing your content into smaller pieces. Once you have the smaller bits in place, share them on your social media accounts.
I believe these strategies will work whether pre, during, or post COVID-19 as writing evergreen content is one of the most timeless tactics you can use in any situation.

– Patrick Garde
Co-Founder & Technical Director
ExaWeb

7

Change your keyword research strategies.

The pandemic has taught us a lot. Especially in terms of sustainability, only the ones who adapt to the “new” will sustain. It is certain that if you stick to the “Pre-COVID” content marketing strategies, you won’t succeed. Why? Things have changed, people think differently. So here’s what you need to know.

(1) Understand the importance of transparency and authenticity
The research shows that Post-COVID, people are more inclined towards content that is transparent and authentic. Users are afraid and worry about their safety. So for example, if you are writing content for a resort, write about the safety measures first. Rather than you talking about the natural beauty around the resort, content like sanitized rooms, temperature check, etc will make more sense..
For example, Uber shared “Thank You For not Riding”. Now, this is a great content strategy. You are telling people that you care for them more than your profits. Once this COVID gets over, people are going to love riding on Uber because of this! So be transparent and share the maximum information practically.

(2) Change your keyword research strategies
Yes, you will have to consider COVID in your keyword research strategy. A user would love to visit “a max. safety restaurant” and not just “a restaurant”. Similarly, for commercial businesses, users would love to know your COVID opening and closing hours. If you do some keyword research for google with a keyword research tool, a lot of people type “COVID hours for Costco”, “COVID hours for Walmart”, etc.

(3) Be interactive, share stories and connect
People have a lot of information about precautions, Coronavirus, etc. So rather than sharing the same information, it would make sense to interact with your readers, employees, colleagues, etc, and let them share their stories. For example, if you are content marketing for an e-commerce store, include testimonials from the clients. Include content like the safety measures followed, contactless delivery, etc.

– Adam Rowles,
CEO
Inbound Marketing Agency


8

Be transparent and truly listen to your customers.

The first rule for content marketing in a post-COVID 19 world is to be transparent. Consumers are going to be in somewhat of a vulnerable state and it’s important that brands are understanding, forthright, and most of all authentic in their content marketing strategy. You need to regain the trust of the consumer and remaining transparent is the most moralistic way to do so.

The next rule for effective post-pandemic content marketing is to truly listen to your consumers, gain a deep understanding of their wants and needs, and determine how to deliver your message based on that understanding. Pay attention to what has changed. Reassure them that you are here for them in this trying time and you are in full support of their needs.
We live in a very different world than we did a year ago and it’s not likely to go back any time soon. It is still possible to be a successful marketer in these unprecedented times if you remain transparent and authentic. If you listen to your consumers, understand their needs, and prioritize them, you will remain relevant and not get left behind in the “old way” of marketing.

– Kayleigh Duggan
Senior Marketing Client Manager
ThoughtLab

9

Video will become more important in a post-covid world.

I predict that video will become even more important in post-COVID content marketing. We’re focusing so much on blogs for SEO reasons, but we’re not giving customers a reason to stay. Video is so much more engaging than written text and, while written text is important, we need to invest more in multimedia. You can say more in less time and boost user engagement at the same time.

– Kenzi Wood
Kenzi Writes LLC

Read: 134 Awesome Content Marketing Statistics for 2021


10

Opportunistic cold e-mail campaigns will not work.

As tech B2B marketers it’s easy for us to feel like we’re running out of options at the moment.
Here’s one content marketing strategy that really does NOT work in this day and age: opportunistic cold e-mail campaigns. Across the board, success is limited. A former client I know who sent out an e-mail blast had a rude shock. “One of my target respondents sent a rude two-word response to my cold e-mail,” she recalled, grimacing. Another marketer said he had had a zero percent response rate to one outbound marketing campaign.

Adapt your messaging and strategy to provide support and value:
This is the time to go out of one’s way to offer value. We must all manage and adapt our marketing investments and resources to deliver valuable content in context and at scale. Do we need to pivot to address a different audience? Offer free technical counselling that’s genuine and not a gimmick? Do we really need a purchase-oriented call to action? Can we offer pricing deferrals or new value-added services as part of our offer? Every piece of content we put out there needs to be examined several times through a filter of ‘Is this truly valuable? Is it telling my audiences things they don’t know but would find useful?’

– Anu Ramani
Isoline Communications

11

Data-driven content is much more compelling than opinion or promotional content

It sounds harsh, but the content marketing industry benefited from COVID-19 more than it suffered. Unlike the advertising industry, for example, content marketing has seen a significant rise in attention from B2B industries in particular.
Having said that, there are types of content that are difficult to produce in socially-distanced situations and there are those that can thrive in the current moment.

It’s difficult to shoot live-action footage, and it would be disingenuous to show unmasked people, and another normality that’s out of sync with the audience’s lived experience. But animated videos, such as simple explainer videos, animated infographics, and so on, will do very well because they’re stimulating without being overwhelming or awkward.
Data-driven content is much more compelling than opinion content, or promotional content, and when the data you provide is topically adjacent to your brand message, you can more easily connect the dots between demand generation and lead generation.

People are eager for content that helps them adapt to their new circumstances, especially content for leaders learning to manage teams remotely for the first time.

The role of content isn’t just evolving, it’s growing in size and scope as well. And even if we can go back to work in the future, the habits we’re forming now are going to stay with us for a long time. Content that informs, inspires, educates, and entertains -quickly and cleverly- is what we should all be focused on now.

– Nathan Binford
VP of Marketing
MarketChorus

Get insights for any keyword or website. Try now!


Boost your content marketing in 14 days!




Sowndarya Kishore is a Content Marketer at Social Animal. A marketer by day and a reader by night, she loves to discuss herself in the third person. Follow her on Twitter.