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For those living under a rock since Australia was ablaze, the Corona Virus has impacted the entire planet, and practically every marketer along with it. Now it’s starting to look like we might be on our way out of the woods (granted, there’s a good chance there’s a whole new set of woods on the other side) and we’re entering the semi-post-Covid world everyone’s already dubbed ‘The New Normal.’
What does The New Normal look like for marketers? Well, until we have a time machine (I’m looking at you Doc Brown!), our best bet is to look at the great clues and data that’s out there. So I did what any great market research partner does, and pulled together some research!
We may not have 88 mph, but we have evidence of what our audience has been going through and what they’re going to be looking for in the future. Remember, we’ve had about 3 months of major changes, and like any great shift, we’re probably not going back.
What is an insight in the new normal? What does it look like? Well, it’s all about behaviors, both past and future. It’s about changing habits, updated preferences and brand new concerns marketers have never dealt with before.
Note: if you need a quick refresher on the insights definition, click here.
Take a look at what I’ve mapped out, and be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments too. I’m, like, 100% sure I want to do a follow-up on this article, and I’d love to hear more suggestions!
Times are changing, literally.
There’s a concept in marketing called Dayparting, in which you build your time-based marketing around people’s lives. It usually sticks with broadcast, but has extended itself into digital and more nowadays.
Well, one of the biggest changes to marketing is that dayparts are now very, very different.
Look at working from home. A lot of businesses and workers have fallen in love with the work from home mentality, and many businesses are even seeing productivity increases as a result! In fact, there are many businesses out there looking at making flexible schedules and working from home the new norm for their cultures.
Then there’s major changes, like the fact that preschools across the nation are closing at an alarming rate. Even as the world starts spinning again, many working parents are going to be forced to map their days differently to account for the fact that children are home.
And finally, with all of these changes, attentions are changing as well. How people interact with digital, social, television and more is simply inherently different from the long long ago. Email, for instance, has seen a 27% higher open rate over the past few weeks as more and more people spend time on their connected devices, while podcast listening has dropped overall as more and more people stop commuting.
So what does this mean for marketers? It means people are spending their days – and their lives – differently. And if you were previously building your marketing based around the predictability of how your audience spends their time, it’s up to you to make sure your marketing acknowledges the fact that that methodology might be less predictable than ever before.
Let them get on with their lives.
Covid has shown many consumers that shopping for necessities (and I use that term lightly) might not need to be a full time-consuming activity. Grocery stores have fully embraced online ordering, Target and its competitors are all offering same-day curbside pickup, and the ecommerce industry is seeing a huge uptick in usage.
Sure, this is a huge result of no one actually being allowed to shop, but as stores begin to reopen, many consumers are still embracing the pickup and delivery options.
The reality from this? Get-on-with-your-life is the new normal. People are still shopping, but for many, they’re not spending time shopping. They want to find what they need, get it, and get on with their lives. And Covid helped show how accessible that want actually is.
Experiences are important in marketing, but as you start to navigate the new normal, consider if a quick in-and-out solution might help you attract a few more customers who are looking for this fast turnaround shopping event!
Customers won’t pay for logistics.
Like we saw in the above, customers want to get on with their lives in the fastest possible manner. But it’s also important to note, they also expect that service to be included in the experience.
A few months ago, our society was fully accepting of fees associated with simplification. From delivery fees to convenience charges to print show tickets at home, we all just agreed that doing things the simpler way should cost the customer money.
That’s not the new normal. Customers don’t only expect fast delivery or availability, but they expect it to be included. For the past few months, for instance, Staples has eliminated shipping fees in order to help businesses get on with their lives and get back to work. McDonald’s, meanwhile, is also offering free delivery on all orders over $25 every weekend through June.
The trend to pay attention to is that convenience is now expected. It’s not a luxury, but a fact of doing business. In fact, Amazon Prime shoppers have become so normalized by free shipping that this audience segment specifically is almost universally opposed to paying for similar services and conveniences in practically every industry.
Your audience has spent the past two and a half months receiving convenience on demand, and they’re not going to go back. Be prepared to incorporate simplicity into your deliverables, before a competitor does it first!
Paranoia will prevail.
Masks, hand sanitizer, and a side-eye at anyone who dares to cough or sneeze out in public. Like it or not, there’s no doubt that the next stage of normal is going include a fair share of paranoia surrounding germs, and marketers need to be cognizant of this truth.
Take a look at food delivery sites like GrubHub, which quickly added contact-free delivery options in order to keep people separated. While this is a big thing for the quarantine era, add on the continued concern of “does he have it?” in everyone’s mind, and you start to see how this mentality is going to reverberate throughout how we do nearly everything moving forward.
The casino industry is a good example, especially since it’s one of the most hard-hit and at-risk at the moment. In Las Vegas, they’re exploring temperature check technologies at entrances and exits, and in other parts of the country, those casinos that have opened have literally shut down every other video machine in order to maintain distance between patrons.
As brands, these major casinos are not only dealing with keeping people safe – the perception, of which, will also be a part of the brand – but also combating a preconceived vision of casinos, filled with smoke and few windows, that might not seem so appealing to a post-Covid crowd.
So what can brands do? Build the new normal into their planning. Map out a system for the most concern-filled customer you might have, and make sure everyone feels comfortable and safe.
Want to take it to the next level? Embrace the change. If every one of your customers needs a mask or wants hand sanitizer, fill them up with high-quality branded pieces and let them promote your brand in the new normal for you!
The return of personal space.
Healthy health-conscious paranoia is one thing, but I’d be remised if I didn’t specifically call out the importance of providing personal space in the new normal. We saw casinos are spreading out their customers, and that trend is prevailing throughout every industry that touches consumers.
Take a look at Ross, which saw its stores swamped on opening day, and consider the major changes that have had to go into modern retail design to safely accommodate all these customers.
Restaurants are another industry facing the same changes in a major way. While take-out is still going to be a huge part of the norm moving forward, many customers want to dine in again as well, and restaurants are forced to reconfigure their seating to maintain healthy and safe distances.
The travel industry is making the same accommodations, with airlines eliminating middle seats from booking availabilities, and even sporting arenas are experimenting with new ways to maintain safe social distance when they return to business operations.
The point of all this is that customers are quickly growing to accept these changes, and this persistence on social distance will remain a part of the new normal for a long time to come. Marketers creating promotions, events, or just working to increase the number of customers coming through their doors need to take heed of this important change, and create systems that solve for it.
Simply put, if you don’t provide guidelines for safe social distance, many of your customers just won’t come.
Drive-by’s are fun now.
If you’re one of the dozen-or-so people who’ve been waiting patiently for the term ‘drive-by’ to lose its negative connotation, then congratulations, your time has come!
Let’s face it, people are paranoid, and social distance or not, there’s a lot of people who feel we’re a long ways away from huddling up next to each other on a regular basis at events and activities.
At the height of the quarantine, The Majestic Theater in Las Vegas created the Majestic Drive-Thru Theatre, complete with included facemask and keepsake t-shirt. Meanwhile in Portland, the Lucky Devil Lounge managed to transform its strip-club experience into something more akin to the service at In-N-Out. And through all of this, birthday parties, graduation events and more have quickly converted into veritable vehicular parades in celebration of the occasions.
Several months into it, this new drive-thru experience for in-person events has become a viable alternative that many consumers are rapidly embracing. Take into account mandated masks in the foreseeable future, the possibility of future outbreaks and quarantines, and general uncertainty about all of this from many pockets of society, and a pretty obvious conclusion comes about…
As the unknown continues to rear its ugly head throughout the next year or so, drive-by experiences are going to continue to be a normal part of every-day life. And as consumers manage to adapt, they’ll continue to seek out the brands that can cater to this desire for stay-in-the-car experiences.
Virtual revisions with limited limitations.
Virtual events and online iterations have rapidly become a common part of our world. Consumers have become aware of some of the benefits of these revised receptions, and while they might not maintain the same market share they’ve had during the quarantine era, they’re also not going away any time soon.
Take a look at traditional in-person event providers, like Rock Star Beer Festivals. The company has previously hosted in-person beer festivals, and as a result have always promoted safe alcohol consumption and designated driver programs.
During the quarantine, the company pivoted and began hosting virtual beer festivals, which included eight hand-delivered beers and an interactive video event with celebrity appearances.
The big takeaway from the change, as stated during the festival, is that they wouldn’t normally promote drinking eight beers, but since no one’s driving…
The takeaway here is that Rock Star embraced the change, and actually created a truly marketable differentiator out of it as a result.
The same is true across the B2B world, where work travel is also quickly transitioning into a more virtual-based system, with many working professionals appreciating the lack of separation from their families.
The virtual event industry is so opportunistic right now, that many investors are looking at ways to enhance the industry as well.
Virtual events will probably not take over the world or even the event industry, but they also have created a presence that many consumers appreciate. As marketers continue to tap into the potential of virtual events, adding on new technologies and interactive tools, they’re also going to continue to get very very cool.
Bottom line, the door to virtual events has been opened, and there’s no shutting it now.
At-home services and experiences.
Remember when Family Feud encouraged you to pick up a copy of their home game? The game show industry was ahead of its time, because bringing the services and experiences of your brand into the home is a major part of the new normal.
Telemedicine was on the rise before we hit the Covid era, but the ability to receive in-home and virtual health services directly in your living has shot up tremendously since the world locked themselves indoors. And while a huge part of this has been a result of health paranoia, the convenience and efficiency the system provides has been recognized by the consumers. Once again, they’re not going back.
But let’s take a look at something more novel – cupcakes. Sprinkles cupcakes created a take-home box, complete with undecorated cupcakes, frosting, sprinkles, decorating tools and more. As a result, the company not only was able to sell cupcakes, but provide a full experience that brings the brand into the home.
One of the more innovative ideas to come from this in-home experience level of thinking comes from the tourism body of Singapore. The organization took advantage of the extremely popular Animal Crossing video game, and created a full virtual experience of its popular travel destination for the world to enjoy.
While that example might not translate 1:1 in sales, take into account the extreme pains the travel industry specifically is facing in the near future, and consider then that Singapore has managed to literally bring their destination into the lives and minds of thousands of potential visitors. That’s some powerful brand experience!
Moving forward, consider how your business can create an at-home experience that’s based on your existing services. There’s a great chance your audience is expecting it, so it’s up to you to plan ahead and deliver!
Embrace new customers.
Let’s face it, there’s a lot of unknown in the new normal, and the worst thing any of us can do is pigeon-hole ourselves and miss out on opportunities.
At the start of the quarantine, a lot of wholesale businesses revised their strategies and started to cater to consumers’ needs. Many of those businesses were able to survive because they understood that their customer now might be different than their customers just a few months ago.
While I have trouble saying who your new customers might be, or how exactly you’re going to service them, what I will suggest is that there’s many more opportunities out there to find them.
Quillin Advertising out here in Las Vegas was recently offering free social media consultations to small businesses, and my friends at Wild Monkey Design in Texas are currently creating several new very cool opportunities to help businesses navigate their marketing moving forward.
I’ve also been super inspired by Imagine Communication’s Alex Raffi, who’s been creating a series of videos to help every-day business owners embrace their creativity, and also MassMedia’s Paula Yakubik who’s launched a whole new venture and an amazing podcast to help new business owners become the best versions of themselves.
My point in all of this is that we really don’t know where our new customers are coming from, so the best we can do is to help and inspire everyone, and see where the chips fall in the end. Stay open-minded and follow opportunities where they appear.
You’re going to find that, as you help more folks navigate this weird new normal, you’re going to get better at it yourself as well!
Pride, gratitude and communication.
Day No. 1 of the quarantine, my friend Nick of Gaetano’s Ristorante showed up on Facebook with a video. He stated the situation, explained how the restaurant was going to pivot and reinvent itself, and promised his community that he would continue to provide incredible service. He also made it clear, he has a staff that deserves an income, and this is why he was committed to the restaurant’s continued success despite the current struggles.
Since then, Nick has updated his community via video practically every day, always addressing the Governor’s newest safety announcements, and constantly communicating how he’s reinventing the restaurant to keep everyone safe. He also thanked his community profusely for their support.
Now that the restaurant is open again (with limited seating, of course), Nick continues to post regularly how grateful he is for the never-ending support he’s received. He also thanks his customers in person for their patronage, and they, in return, thank him for the experience, the commitment to their health and safety, and the overall communication as well.
Nick represents a business owner who understands the new normal. He’s communicative of his processes, and more importantly, he’s grateful to his customers. Likewise, his customers are also grateful of him and his team.
Grateful is an important part of the new normal, and it needs to be embraced for businesses to survive, on both sides of the fence! Customers have always been looking for marketing that’s genuine and authentic, and now as we figure out how to get back to a world we all want to live in, we’re all somewhat cognizant of the sacrifices and changes everyone’s facing.
Thank your customers. Communicate with them. Appreciate them. And give them real reasons to thank you the same way. There’s many businesses who survived the quarantine by following this mentality, and once again, it’s become a very normalized part of the new normal.
Asking for help.
Basically, every business and industry is hurting right now, and some worse than others. The new normal isn’t going to be a light switch change back to normal, and as we get to something close to stability, there’s going to be many businesses and industries struggling. That’s why asking for help is going to be an important part of the new normal as well.
The Las Vegas entertainment industry took a major hit when the Covid crisis hit. At the midpoint of the quarantine, Mondays Dark, a variety show that raises money for local Las Vegas charities, hosted a live stream telethon variety show of various Las Vegas performers to help raise money for the unemployed in the industry.
This same style of blatantly requesting for help has been seen throughout many industries and many businesses since the start of the quarantine, and as we enter the new normal, several other businesses will continue to need the same kinds of assistance.
We’re all struggling, and we’re all open to the idea of helping each other. Whereas asking for help may have once seemed to carry a stigma, it’s instead going to be a prevalent part of the future, and organizations and marketing teams must embrace it.
Is your industry or one or your clients’ hurting? Consider how you can create a marketable experience that will help them effectively ask for support.
Is your business on the brink of closing? Be open and honest with your customers, and create a fundraiser or promotional campaign that they’ll truly want to be a part of.
Asking for help is a very real and important part of surviving in the here and now. For businesses on the brink, it’s important to communicate and be clear with your customers, ask them for help, create a compelling experience they’ll want to embrace to provide that help, and be sure to be thankful for their assistance in the end.
Defending your policies, and your culture.
Finally, and perhaps the most important part of marketing in the new normal, is the importance of sticking to your guns and defending your decisions.
There are many different viewpoints on the Covid crisis, and not all marketing decisions you make will be popular with every customer.
Some businesses, like Costco, are enforcing masks, and are receiving backlash from customers who don’t feel they’re necessary. The company has ultimately had to decide whether or not to cater to customers who ignore the rules, eventually asking them to leave in the end.
Other businesses, like Bella Cora Bakery in El Paso, received so many rude complaints about their strict health practices that they simply decided to close up shop and offer call-ahead pickup orders only.
Bottom line here, you’re not going to please everyone. But if you’re wishy-washy in your plans, you’re definitely going to piss off everyone.
As stated, customers are looking for authenticity in their brands. And really when it boils down, that authenticity comes back to your company’s culture. If you don’t commit to that culture, your customers will see through it, and your culture now must embrace how you feel about health and safety.
So what do you do? You decide what you’re going to do for your marketing moving forward, values and all, and you stick to it. What you’ll ultimately end up creating is a true, valuable, very real brand that’s relatable in the new normal.
Marketing at 88 miles per hour.
I still don’t have my time machine, but thanks to the power of market research, we instead have a great way to view the future by looking at the past and the present.
Remember, the world’s evolving, and the new normal is just one phase of many that we’re about to go through. There’s going to be a new new normal, a new new new normal, and more. But until we get there, marketers must be cognizant of the here-and-now we’re entering, and map out the best strategy to effectively cut through the reality of the situation.
So, I’m curious, what do you think? Did I miss anything? I’d love to hear your thoughts about how your view marketing in the new normal. Let me know in the comments, or shoot me a message via the contact button below!
Welcome…to the future!
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Book Recommendation!
If you want to keep reading about great ideas to enhance your marketing and think outside the box during this bizarre time in the world, be sure to check out my new book, The Creative Catalyst!
This book will help you tap into your true creative marketing potential and adapt your strategies to any situations (like COVID-19) in a fun and creative way!
Learn more about the book here!