As we emerge into a new normal, AMADC and other marketing leaders are trying to answer a critical question: How will we market in a post pandemic world? Here are some insights from two panels we held this spring.
As we emerge into a new normal, AMADC and other marketing leaders are trying to answer a critical question: How will we market in a post-pandemic world? Here are some insights from two panels we held this past spring.
Outlook for Small Business Marketing
In May, AMADC partnered with the Washington Network Group to produce a virtual panel talking about what comes next. Their answers range from transforming messaging to making better use of event content and finally to driving business development in a new direction.
Deepika Kumar, CMO, CareJourney (a healthcare analytics firm):
“We work with hospitals and healthcare systems, and during the pandemic there was a huge shift in their everyday workflows. We had to very quickly make sure we were focused on what their problems were. We shifted from transactional messaging to asking, ‘How we can help you solve the problems you have right now?’ We also offered a lot of free content in blogs, customer ports and thought leadership webinars with people like the chief medical officer from Mt. Sinai and his peers. All of this effort helped build trust in our brand and we plan to continue with it.”
Karen McFarlane, AMANY President:
“The pandemic was a drastic change for us. We went from doing 8-10 live events per year to hosting a lot of webinars. As a result, our ability to create content scaled rapidly. We weren’t in the practice of remarketing the content so we created and started an effort to do just that through social media, blogs and more.. Now our investments in marketing are more structured and smaller because we are leaning into what we did well.”
Tim Young, Young Marketing Consulting:
“The biggest change for our business was in business development. The majority of it pre-pandemic was going to events in industries where we were trying to grow our business. Without that option, we started leaning more on individual connections, sending more emails out to people and checking in often with clients and prospects. It’s definitely working on the B2B side which is doing better than it did in 2019.”
Check out the discussion here.
Chasing Dreams – How Local Founders Found Success Doing What They Love
Last month, four local entrepreneurs whose businesses grew during the pandemic discussed how they market their products and services and where they are headed. Their main focus is customer experience. The panel included: Stacey Price, co-founder, Shop Made; Lilly Scott, Electric Collective; Nic Bash, HoneyFlower Foods; and Samantha McKenna of #samsalesconsulting and was moderated by Arthur Uritani, director of marketing and outreach at the legal firm, Bookoff McAndrews.
These entrepreneurs are not just customer focused —they are customer zealots. Lilly Scott discussed how she operates in a value-based marketplace and she must deliver value all the time. Her favorite method is free content. She says people get excited when she puts up reels or Tik Toks offering fitness options, but more importantly she is trying to show the feeling and motivation for joining the Electric Collective.
Stacey Price of Shop Made says that keeping a strong connection with the hundreds of creatives who design, craft, roast, stitch, bake, weld, brew and build amazing products will be harder as her stores grow, saying, “We are a close-knit family and do not want to lose that.”
Nic Bash of Honey FlowerFoods summed it up with, “Hopefully there is a transition away from exclusively spending for conversion and trying to develop longer term relationships.”
Watch the event replay.