While the coronavirus crisis tests us all, marketers need to keep building their brands, protecting employees and consumers, and staying true to their values.

Nobody knows how long this restrictive period will last, but the mere uncertainty of the pandemic’s duration will force companies to develop long-term coping strategies. Planned campaigns will need to be delayed or adjusted, and crisis communications will become the new norm. But despite this global pandemic and pending recession, the economy needs marketing.

Why? The simple answer is that marketing drives commerce. Even when we are bunkered up and hunkered down, marketers give consumers a reason to spend on products, experiences, and services.

In this article, we’ll cover the major impacts creative industries are seeing and provide some tips for marketers to stay afloat.

How will COVID-19 impact creative industries?

As long as the coronavirus remains in the media cycle, it will have major implications for companies in the media, public relations, and advertising industries.

Here are some common themes we will see as creatives and marketers adjust their strategies.

Pulling campaigns that aren’t time-appropriate

Marketers have been forced to pull campaigns and adjust messaging to ensure it fits with the times — and at a lightening-quick pace. In less than 72 hours, Toyota replaced an offer-driven spot with a national ad campaign aimed at reassuring its customers as the coronavirus spreads across the U.S. 

As this Toyota example illustrates, one of the biggest challenges is for brands to keep up with the impacts of the pandemic and adjust their messaging accordingly.

Ad spend is shifting to different mediums

Brands are hard-pressed to quickly shift advertising dollars from OOH, experiential, and event marketing to digital and social forms of marketing. The word “print” is even being spoken of again as some companies embrace direct mail marketing.

While ad spend is rapidly decreasing — which we will touch on below — some companies are actually increasing their social media spend during the coronavirus pandemic. Those in industries like cleaning, TV streaming, food delivery services, and virtual video conferencing — including Dial, Amazon Prime Video, and Instacart —  have seen an uptick in sales. 

Media consumption is increasing, but ad sales are decreasing

People are spending much more time on social media networks, news sites, and TV platforms. But this spike in traffic isn’t doing anything for ad businesses, which are now in free fall.

In a government filing, The New York Times said it expects global advertising revenue to be down by about 10% this quarter — a prediction they attribute to “uncertainty and anxiety about the virus.” RBC analyst Mike Mahaney pointed out another shocking discovery. When you type “Las Vegas Hotels” into the Google search bar, there are zero paid ads — something basically unheard of.

While digital media giants like Twitter, Facebook, and Google will likely be able to bounce back from this shortage in ad spending, traditional media companies — which were already losing money to digital ad platforms — may struggle to cope. As the pandemic drags on, we will see more reasons for advertisers not to spend money, like the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics.

Influencers are shifting content and revenue streams

With sponsorship deals being shut down and live events being cancelled, digital creators are rapidly adjusting their strategies to continue to earn a living.

The impacts aren’t all negative though, especially with the rise in traffic on social media platforms where influencers dominate. But just like brands, influencers will have to change their messaging to reflect the climate created by the coronavirus. Mommy bloggers are creating content focused on at-home activities with kids, and fashion influencers are shifting their focus to online shopping.

Agencies are taking a hit

During the global recession of 2007, agencies absorbed the impacts of their clients cutting their marketing budgets. The trend is looking quite the same now. 

Tied to their clients, agencies are grappling with the cancellations, delays, and changes their clients are imposing in response to the coronavirus. However, there are several ways agencies can mitigate the impact this has on their business — because as we mentioned, there is value in advertising during a period of economic downturn.

Agencies should double down on account management to ensure they retain their best clients. They can provide a crisis audit, plans for work outages, and internal and public communications templates — anything that can help companies better cope with these harsh business conditions.

Tips For Responding To COVID-19

First and foremost, brands should focus on keeping people safe — whether that be employees, consumers, clients, or prospects.

Here are some other tips for appropriately responding to and coping with the impacts of the coronavirus:

• Make Necessary Businesses Closures: Google advises businesses to change their business hours and mark their businesses as "Temporarily Closed" on Google Search and Google Maps.

• Retain Your Existing Customer Base: During this time of unrest, it’s vital to keep in touch with your customers at every touch point in their customer journey. Publish updates on your website homepage, email your subscribers, and stay connected through social media platforms.

• Up Your Content Strategy: Marketers need to produce content that keeps consumers busy, optimistic, and excited about the world.

• Make Yourself Visible to Your Target Market: Despite many store and business closures, you can find ways to still connect with consumers and prospects. Restaurants turn to free delivery services, retailers serve up e-commerce discounts, and some gyms are even offering online classes.

• Prepare Bounce-Back Strategies: While chaos ensues around us, start planning for when normalcy returns and consumers’ spending habits stabilize.

• Revisit Marketing Items You’ve Put On the Back Burner: Marketers should focus their time and resources on high-level strategic PR and marketing activities:

  • SEO historical optimization: Consider rewriting old blog posts and updating your content with updated keywords that are optimized for search engines.

  • Organizing collateral

  • Refresh your website design

• Don’t Halt All Advertising Efforts: It’s a natural inclination to cut back your ad spend during an economic downturn. But brands that maintain or increase their ad budget can get a long-lasting boost in sales and market share. Advertising during a recession offers several competitive advantages:

  • When competitors cut back on their ad spend, the “noise level” in a brand’s product category can drop significantly.

  • Brands can create an image of corporate stability and resiliency during challenging times.

  • The cost of advertising is lower during a recession.

Conclusion

As the coronavirus continues taking its toll, it's vital for marketers to balance prioritizing customer safety with protecting their brands. While businesses are on lockdown and people are confined to their homes, use this time to assess your branding, strategize future marketing plans, and connect with consumers on a deeper level.