What changes did you notice in your business/industry through COVID?
McKinsey and Company says e-grocery shopping, virtual healthcare visits, and home nesting are likely to endure beyond the COVID disruption.
But they argue that remote learning, leisure air travel, and live entertainment would likely revert closer to pre-pandemic patterns (https://which-50.com/mckinsey-reveals-consumer-behaviors-that-will-stick-and-which-will-revert-after-covid/).
What changes have you seen in your business and industry? Will those changes stay or go back to what it was?
March/April 2020, normal phone system install and maintenance work dried up for me. Fortunately, Bendigo Bank took the opportunity to upgrade the phone systems and WiFi at a number of branches around SE Qld so that kept me busy until May and normal work picked up again. June was hectic, July was the overflow from June. August - November were solid and then it tapered off in December.
This year, lots of bigger projects seem to be being completed. Bendigo stil have a lot on too.
It's a cmobination of the normal lifecycle of hardware, the desire to move more things online plus NBN migrations.
In marketing everything has migrated to online. Lead generation budgets are being redirected to social media and website/SEO improvements. Many marketing dollars previously allocated to in-person events and direct marketing efforts are being redirected now due to the pandemic. The majority of marketers now say that much of their lead generation budgets will be spent on social media, website or SEO improvement, and that email or automation will account for a significant amount of budget in the year ahead too. Content in video format is the most effective at building relationships to generate leads that convert. When building loyalty and trust with an audience to build relationships, creating and distributing content is essential. Marketing professionals agree that content in video format is most effective at building relationships to generate leads that convert. Educational content such as webinars and original research are also effective. Finally social media, email marketing, and website/SEO lead the way as the most effective channels for building relationships for lead conversion. Developing an overall strategy of how all of your marketing tactics connect and work together as part of your customer journey is an important step to building stronger relationships now.
Thanks for this insight @Paige Arnof-Fenn . It seems many businesses realised the importance of their online efforts. That shows too by budget being redirected to social media. I wonder if that will continue or if business owners will let it slip once they can rely on their old ways
Would love to hear your thoughts @Maya Zack @Mark Reisinger @Hassan Qureshi @Keith Rowley
Hatty Bell, Executive Assistant at Country Road Group
That's great to hear @Jamie Bone - sounds like you managed very well. Do you think more businesses focusing on upgrading their systems, or did they need to so that they could migrate everything online/virtually?