Effects of COVID - 19 in the Marketing and Business World

Due to the COVID - 19 pandemic, the world has experienced certain changes, companies have been shut down, the stock market is crashing, people have been mandated to work from home and some have even lost their jobs. This is indeed a difficult time for everyone and businesses of course have been greatly affected by this global crisis.

Research shows that COVID 19 has shut down retail sales almost entirely during the lock-down period, however, brands that have e-commerce offerings and direct to consumer marketing have skyrocketed in sales. E-commerce businesses such as amazon and Jumia has experienced an increase in purchases, as consumer behavior is changing rapidly and more purchases are being made online, although this is based on the category which the business operates.

Most businesses are therefore inclined to make a total digital transformation, as many of them have been forced to get rid of the traditional methods of marketing and invest more in TV campaigns and digital marketing advertisements.

Furthermore, some brands have been able to come up with new innovations, products, and offers that seem appealing to their customers during this period in the bid to sustain their businesses. For example, I recently came across a digital flyer for Eko Hotels and suites offering to deliver food to their customer's doorstep, and based on some comments that were shared online about the flyer implying that they usually do not offer such service during normal times, i figured out that it was obviously a branding switch which was necessary in order to sustain their business.

These adaptability measures by brands also remind us of the recent okada/motorcycle ban in Lagos, Nigeria, where brands such as Gokada, Opay, Max, etc were greatly affected, a huge branding decision had to be made by some of the motorcycle companies  in other to achieve sustainability and reduce loss, i think Gokada made a brilliant re-branding solution buy converting their business into a delivery service.

So what does  this mean for businesses post-COVID 19 

• A large number of businesses will divert their marketing budgets into digital or new media marketing, and will most likely stick to it for a longer period even after the global crisis
• Because of this switch to digital marketing trends, more metrics,insights and data will be available to business owners helping them make better-informed decisions which will surely make a good impact on their businesses post COVID 
• As the work -from -home method has been recently enforced by employers. More online meetings will be adapted as it has been reveled to business owners that some meetings can be carried out online effectively via the use of video conference apps such as zoom, also more remote jobs will be encouraged post-COVID 

Generally, marketers and business owners  in the post COVID era will definitely rethink what technologies and advertisement strategies they will always need, ones that can help save money and which ones can help them transform their businesses that have been altered by the crisis. And we can see a lot of changes coming to stay in the marketing and business industry.