Impact Of Corona Virus On Digital Marketing:
The digital marketing ecosystem has been dominated by the discussion and conjecture about the Novel COVID-19 or Coronavirus. The new decade 2020 was started with an effective growth of online marketing which navigated the Digital marketing presence around the world, but the surprise hit of Coronavirus pulled the successful growth of digital marketing for small business a bit down- 2017, 2018, and 2019 had been the great year for the companies after which the local businesses with digital marketing were expecting a big boom in 2020. But now, it is difficult to assume that their expectations will be successful this year or not.
However, the COVID-19 or Coronavirus is now officially a pandemic as per the World Health Organization (WHO) and the pandemic’s disruptive impact is being felt on the global economy. Nonetheless, the companies in the US market are trying to operate their business under challenging conditions as no one knows how long exactly the outbreak will last.
Moreover, as per the online publishers and US market, the COVID-19 started its impact on ad revenues. The entire market is lockdown and there is no more strong discussion apart from Coronavirus. Even the US market is being impacted with the outbreak since January 2020, but the acceptance gets highlighted in the recent few days as per the resources.
Note: “Sources information shows that NewYork Times in a filing said that the ad revenue would be down about 10% to 12% this quarter. The major reason behind this drop is credited to the uncertainty and anxiety of the virus.”
Moving forward, the outbreak impact could be more disruptive on the digital marketing companies that are managing paid media as the reports are showing the Facebook’s ad business would get a hit in the near-days, with which Instagram’s ads would get impacted automatically- it would be the same case for Google Adwords too.
Though there is no exact clue or fact figures for the ad revenues as digital marketing will revolve around the quick downfall for a good period. Not quitting here, there are several ways the COVID-19 effect is being stroked throughout the digital ecosystem. Here are the following list;
- A huge count of employees is working remotely.
- Trade market and conferences are canceled- with an increase in online events.
- E-commerce and online sales are stopped.
- Low availability of products produced in China.
- Health care and health topics impact search volume
- The huge decline in ad revenues related to travel and other affected industries
- Shifting of media budgets to 2H 2020
- Uncertain possibility of a recession.
Facts Managing The Uncertainty Of The Outbreak For Online Platforms:
If we look for the biggest technology companies, the majority have navigated their employees to work from home. Here you have a huge example of Google, yes! Google recommended to all its North American employees to work remotely until April 10. Working from home culture has been getting acceptance at more companies but the adhesive nature of the virus could lead the corporate world to follow the idea for long.
On the other hand, trade is completely off- working remotely enable flexibility and huge efficiency, though it can also result in loss of creativity as few things cannot replace the face to face meetings for better results.
As a concern, marketers and other sales professionals are turning their way towards online platforms- big names like Mircrosoft, Cisco Google, Clack, and others are seeing in demand for their webinar and videoconferencing software- few of the companies are offering their SaaS tools to the public-and here the last result of the sales will change the impact of the outbreak on Digital marketing companies.
Search Engines, E-commerce & Digital Marketing Budgets:
With the entire analysis and reports, assuming the effect of the pandemic COVID-19 on search engine and digital marketing is now a challenging phase. Many arguments are going around in the industry that the search activities of the audience will be persistent as it is the daily convenience of the audience.
However, if the consumer and B2B collaboration gets disputed in some categories, then there will be a few searches for services such as; hotels, sports, travel, housekeeping services and more. This will purely impact SEO and SMO Digital Marketing Companies’ Budgets.
Note: If the sales will get impacted, then it could be possible that the marketers will redirect the budget.
Apart from travel, hospitality and some retail categories, there are few categories where search volumes are growing immensely. The market and analytical data reports show that the search engine is getting a huge hit with searches related to the pharmacy/drugstore category which could include a huge bump of keywords like hand sanitizer and so on.
- Quick Fact:
Countries like Europe, North America, and Africa starting in mid-February, there was an effective growth in search volume related to the outbreak and its precautionary equipment.
Moreover, most of the users have increased their shopping on e-commerce websites as the store visit has been off for a period. As per the data, the retailers with online stored have achieved a good increase in revenue which is 52% weekly growth.
-The online revenue has popped up around 9% high than they were a year ago
But still, it is challenging to assume that the outbreak of COVID-19 will push more sales towards online business. The impact of the virus has boost sales for grocery shopping, but how long the sales will last with the profit is unassured.
Accepting The Challenge of The Uncertainty & Outbreak:
Though there is a huge possibility of a recession, it might not give a negative impact on online and digital marketing companies as expected. It could be more challenging for the physical stores as compared to the companies holding digital marketing categories like ads, paid media and more. The outbreak of COVID-19 could lead to the recession which could push retails shops towards bankruptcies and closures.
On the other hand, the market fledged with digital marketing solutions could survive like a pro if people out there keep themselves in virtual purchasing and marketing. However, this is the tough time the US market is facing- they have two challenges to pass, one is to survive in the outbreak of the virus, and the second to settle down the economy for a better future and to avoid recession.
