Impact of COVID-19 on B2B Content Marketing

David jones
9 min readFeb 22, 2021
Impact of COVID-19 on B2B Content Marketing

The impacts of the new coronavirus are still largely global. With the advent of long vacations, brick-and-mortar store closures, and a potential recession, B2B retailers are determined to keep their heads above the water. Planning a profitable content strategy has become even more difficult as content marketing agencies have very limited research opportunities right now.

The inability to use it in the real world has turned us to the Internet, where there are many online activities available 24/7. This massive leap in internet use has put retailers in a bit of a dilemma when they turn to COVID-19 through content marketing.

Needless to say, it’s a difficult time for traders to understand how the market is changing in real time. To understand better, we have put together a more accurate and agnostic analysis by service providers on the consumption of content that hinders the B2B space.

This article is full of content ideas, insights, and specific user data.The purpose of this article is to give marketers a clear view of the volatile market so that they understand how to produce good, tested content. Possible content marketing efforts to navigate online. Your business in the new norm

Let’s dive in.

Work from home
Americans spend more time on the Internet than ever before. With most of the world in a building, online activities are at record heights, and remote work has periods. The work-from-home mentions peaked on March 13, showing readiness for the upcoming shutdown.

We rely more on solutions that help us learn and work from home. This dramatic shift from our regular work-from-office to work-from-home results in the need for tech information.23.1% of homework is driven by WFH technology and related issues, divided into three categories: this

New technology required for remote work
Technology needed to contact
Cyber ​​security risk
Additional meetings are being held in Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Teams.The brand invests heavily to ensure processes and workflows are updated so that collaboration can continue smoothly remotely. Cybersecurity is a key part of this equation as employees need the right tools and solutions to stay productive while protecting the company’s confidential information.

Zoom noticed a significant increase in usability after locking. It has also become a popular communication tool. As a result, the company recently had to deal with information confidentiality and security concerns when it was under investigation by the New York Attorney’s Office for its data privacy and security practices.

Web, Search & SEO — What Will Hit Your Audience The Most?
With the cancellation of events and conferences, marketers seem to be more focused on adding top marketing channels to help retain their target audience and expansion efforts, rather than looking for new deals when asked about a change. Budget in terms of digital marketing, we see this:

According to a study conducted by Chief Marketer 2020’s B2B Marketing Outlook, key elements of content marketing strategies that have proven to be more effective at moving prospects from sales funnels are blog posts and posts. (55%), customer recommendations (43%)) and white wallpapers (38%).

The new Centerline Digital report looks at how VPs and Managers respond to C-level managers in various content marketing strategies for making decisions. C-level executives found that they spent 21% more time watching content than managers, while the vice president used the content the fastest — usually 24 hours.The report also concluded that infographic was the type of content it received. The highest ranking at the top of the funnel, with 59% of the top executives wanting videos to be text-based. Visual content has become the most engaging content on the Internet today.

Your website is the primary source of moving your business forward right now as it is one of the first places for you to create content. Your initiatives and ideas about thought leadership can be readily readable on your website or target audience. Customers spend more time on the web and interacting with online businesses than last year. Therefore, your priority should be to focus on education rather than promoting. Regardless of the format or type of content you decide to publish, it remains an integral part of your content marketing strategy. Hubspot’s benchmark data showed a significant increase in average website traffic, with a 13% increase in March compared to February. Weekly chat volumes via onsite chat and Facebook Messenger were up 5% after March 16, compared to the previous global Q1 weekly average.

Instead of focusing on brand awareness and boosting promotions for your products and services, focus on maintaining long-term relationships with your customers, stating where you can help them.

How are sales and marketing teams reaching potential customers in this crisis?
The 2020 B2B Lead Marketer Marketing Outlook Survey suggests that B2B marketers use email, search engine results, and content marketing to find leads with the highest ROI, however, the biggest challenge in creating them. Leads are finding buyers’ identities, attracting potential customers (57%), and finding people who convert (48%). As companies are running email marketing campaigns, email open rates have increased. In march This shift from traditional marketing to the present could be due to corporate communications conveying COVID-19 related messages, and indicators are expected to change over time.

The chart above shows that the average email marketing volume increased 29% in the week of March 16, while the opening rate increased 53% that same week. Over the course of the month, the opening rate increased 21% overall, however sales teams found it difficult to engage with their sales content. Hubspot benchmark data shows companies send 23% more sales emails with great content per week starting the week of March 16.

The response rate for those emails has been declining since the first week of March, down 27% from February. The data showed a steady increase in chat volume over the past two months. Experts believe this figure will be higher.

Conversational marketing can help prospects and sales engage in real time as it also automates the lead-routing process. Now is the time for you to come in and answer customer questions so your business can serve both potential and current customers, even if you work remotely.

Another content marketing strategy that content marketers should invest in is chatbots to respond to customers faster, automatically qualify leads, or book meetings and meet the growing demand for customer inquiries.

Some of the key industry search trends that chart the charts are e-commerce (toilet paper near me, hand sanitizer near me, near-face mask, thermometer and wipes), health and wellness data. (Symptoms of corona virus, home remedies, antibacterial hand washing techniques Essential oils, antiviral food, antiviral herbs) and news media

Food and recipe websites increased 22% while search-related was 46% lower. Helpful SEO / SEM tips for marketers:
Always check your analysis data.
Stay at the top of Google Trends by creating great content.
Cut down on paid searches and be prepared for daily dealings.
Maximize the reach of your email.
Follow the path of SEO and content marketing.
No promotions or offers of coronavirus are prohibited.
Help and support your community
I started thinking about the Q4 project right now.
Focus on customer support and integration, rather than acquisition, depending on your industry.

For Content Marketing Services — CONNECT WITH A CONTENT MARKETING SPECIALIST

Social Media — Should Brands Want to Promote Now?
In addition to email, social media has also seen a significant increase in engagement as the outbreak continues, with LinkedIn being the highest ranked for engagement with B2B content. Facebook is also using it. All app tasks were up 70% in March. Both platforms proved to be winners in the burgeoning content marketing trend.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn reported an increase in engagement as people continue to engage deeply, according to LinkedIn, COVID-19 did not impact employer branding until late February and early March. The platform has at least one in four companies mentioning COVID-19 in a post, the data showed that the COVID-19 related posts took place within weeks.

As the mid-March dominated the main story, and brand posts began to reflect the same. By the week of March 2, COVID-19-related posts were 4% of all company posts on LinkedIn.Two weeks later, they were 24% of all posts.

The data show that COVID-19 related posts comprise nearly 50% of companies posted in the legal industry, followed by public administration. Health care, non-profit and public safety are among the other industries that make up the rest. Around the same time, employees who were able to work from home had to make adjustments, affecting the company’s messaging.Marketers tackled the new setting by making additional posts on working remotely, which demonstrated. That 15% of company posts on this topic from mid to late March.

Twitter
The data show that COVID-19 related posts comprise nearly 50% of companies posted in the legal industry, followed by public administration. Health care, non-profit and public safety are among the other industries that make up the rest. Around the same time, employees who were able to work from home had to make adjustments, affecting the company’s messaging.Marketers tackled the new setting by making additional posts on working remotely, which demonstrated. That 15% of company posts on this topic from mid to late March.

Increased user demand for video content With streaming channels like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Disney + leading the crowd, people spend their time engaging with sports news content and watching content creators.

It’s important that you understand the impact of your speech, whether it’s a blog post or even a tweet, especially during this time. What you say and how you say it is more important than ever before.People on Twitter are interested in seeing brands support (45%), inform (44%) and positively (35%) on social media. Media

Digital Advertising — To advertise or not to advertise?
Increased media engagement does not necessarily translate into increased ad revenue. The slowing economy has led to market and supply chains downtime, prompting advertisers to pull or pause their ad spending. Thus, in the digital marketing industry, digital ad spending forecasts have dropped from $ 712.02 billion to $ 691.7 billion in all forms of media.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau stresses that a quarter of media buyers and brands have postponed all advertising in the first half of 2020, while Facebook reports that 89% of advertisers act on a budget in response to the outbreak. Stating that “45% said they had a fine. Usage of media type or budget that changes according to media type ‘’.

The March 2020 survey of Internet users across 13 industries found that nearly 4 in 10 US survey respondents aged 16 to 64 agreed that ads should continue as usual and their share is similar (35 %) Were neutral versus 28% disagreed. Global turnover is equivalent to that of the US at 37%, 36% and 27%, respectively.

Many US marketers (54%) say the digital content of travel-focused ads should not be near COVID-19-related content, and neither should food and beverage nor automotive. While 55% of respondents saw that health and drug ads were fine.

While consumers don’t expect brands to stop advertising But brands need to revisit their strategy calendars and respond appropriately to changes. Planned campaigns before the outbreak may no longer be considered appropriate at this time as consumers look for information on how to deal with the crisis and how to stay safe, and should use other content marketing examples that Related to virus In another ad trend survey in March 2020, 77% of respondents said they wanted ads. “Talk about how brands benefit their new everyday lives,” and 75% say their ads should. “Notify me about (the brand’s) efforts to face the situation”

It’s time for building a empathetic employer brand.
Whether it’s honoring healthcare workers, supporting local communities, or caring for employees, messages that put people first will do their job best. The brands that convey empathy and coexistence in their message are most engaging and accurate. As more and more audiences connect with the human touch, things to do that reflect today’s reality will be liked and encouraged.

Some of the COVID-19 posts, where companies see more engagement, often include keywords such as “health,” “help,” “people,” “support,” “employees,” “social disparities,” “and” social disagreement “. “Health Authority”, “Public Health”, “Care” and “Medical Personnel”.

What is the priority of content marketing for B2B marketers in 2020?
As of now, I don’t know what will happen when the rest of the year unfolds. However, this is where marketers will prioritize budgets for 2020, with absolute focus on consumer behavior.

2020 will be a year of creating and delivering more quality content, grounded in delivering empathetic brand messages and reaching as many potential customers as possible.

What do people expect from the brand at this time?
There has never been a better time for marketers to listen to their customers. Remember to align your message with what your customers expect to hear from you in the middle of a crisis. Respect, support and nurture — be there for the people who need you. Now there is less of what you want to say. Instead, it will focus on what your audience wants to hear and will be more responsive. Make your marketing approach human to human.

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