How Marketing Has Changed in a Coronavirus World

With few exceptions, most small-medium businesses and nonprofits have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. We’ve had to take an adapt-or-die approach to operations, and that includes marketing.

In my recent post, “Don’t Stop Marketing: How to Market Through Crisis,” I offered three things you can continue to do to keep your brand alive. But what are others doing? Do you sometimes wonder how they’re faring during this crisis?

Influencer MarketingHub recently conducted a survey of 237 brands to see how they are coping with the crisis. Here are some of the results:

More interesting stats:

• The effects of coronavirus are of equal concern to both small and large companies.
• At least 28% of respondents believe sales are going up.
• 56% of brands say they’re experiencing logistics delays with their supply chain.
• Cost per 1,000 impressions are down and cost per click is flat or down.
• Just 8% think brands should stop advertising. (Kantar)
• 68% expect COVID-19 to result in reduced ad spend into 2021.
• 47% of display ads have been paused, cancelled, or pulled.
• Instagram has seen a 14% drop in engagement by followers.
• Images of human interaction drops 27.4% in social ads.
• Twitter conversations about COVID-19 increased 4x in March.

It appears that the coronavirus will have a major effect on business (and marketing) for some time to come. If you have some suggestions on how to stay afloat until recovery, please share them!

In the meantime, the most important thing is to stay safe and healthy. Hang in there!