How to make your brand shine out of competitors during a recession? How can customer loyalty help survive a crisis? How to gain the target audience's trust? How to ensure your business resilience to the new normal? These and other entrepreneur's urgent questions are briefly answered below. Let's take a look at the five simple yet actionable practices proven by my marketing experience that can help your business increase customer loyalty during the downturn. Discover The Power of Visual Explanation With Animated Explainer Videos It's difficult to overestimate the genuine power of great animation for your digital marketing and customer loyalty. Animation has become a new trend in digital marketing and an integral part of marketing strategies at many creatively-thinking businesses across different industries, spanning financial services, eCommerce, real estate, SaaS development companies, and more. From a simple animated logo, advertisements on social media, and explainer videos for customers to product demos to tradeshow videos - there are many use cases of animation for your business. It can unlock your brand and product uniqueness for a target audience within several minutes. Animation hooks the customer’s attention and creates a lasting impression. There are many benefits of an explainer video for marketing. People like animated explainer videos in particular because they are fun, informative, and really helpful. When it comes to user onboarding, it's better once to see how to set up anything than to read about it many times. Plus, an explainer video allows customers to save their time, letting them avoid reading long tutorials. Explainer video for Swiss Fin Lab produced by Explain Ninja is an excellent example of an unobtrusive, engaging, and entertaining animated video that describes a complicated financial platform to users in only 1 minute. Once invested in explainer video production, you will save many more money and human resources later. It will help you reduce the number of customer questions sent to a customer care team. An explainer video can also decrease customer dissatisfaction caused by difficulties experienced during the product set-up process. Finally, it grows consumer loyalty to a brand since people feel that a company cares about their comfort and great experience with a product or service. Smooth Out Sharp Edges With Lovely Digital Illustration Digital illustration is probably the most effective way to set an emotional connection with customers. Just look at this funny guy below. It’s a hardly forgettable image, right? What if to associate your brand with a specific digital illustration style too? "The Master of Disaster" designed by Magda Of course, it mustn't be as an outrageous hero as this retro-guy, but a recognizable character that embodies your brand style and values. You can make your business distinguishable by having a few fun characters (or mascots) accompanying your brand everywhere in the digital space - from a website and mobile app to social media ads and advertising banners? There are a lot of ways of how digital illustration can boost marketing and multiply sales. If used masterfully, digital illustration can help you of the negative customer experience. smooth out the sharp edges Nothing is perfect in the whole Universe, so imagine your mobile app has faced a temporary technical issue - instead of displaying "We're sorry" text to users, you can show them fun illustration asking about forgiveness. It can make users smile despite they meet some technical infelicities and continue their experience with your brand, having probably an even better mood than before. Stay Connected With Customers Via Mobile Apps Many of us are talking about digital transformation that has started accelerating during the Coronavirus lockdown. We could witness that a lot of businesses having their own mobile apps were ahead of the competition during a downturn. However, a branded mobile application has become a competitive advantage in the market much earlier. Companies that have invested in mobile app development have their own stable and independent channel of communication with customers today. It allows them to spread the company's news and updates among customers very at the wind speed. It's particularly important during a crisis when many things go out of their common schedule and may evoke customer anxiety. Furthermore, a mobile app is an excellent way to establish customer loyalty, allowing them to make quick online orders, purchase products, or manage their financial issues from any device, anywhere, and in real-time. What can be better than having one-point access to all your daily tasks and business from your mobile device? Customers are especially loyal to brands, offering them mobility. Loyalty Programs Help Survive a Recession According to Philip Kotler, a well-known marketing writer and professor of international marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, the recession is not about profit but about business survival. Even though it may sound controversial, discounts and loyalty programs can help your business overcome a crisis. Keeping your customers happy through a recession is more rewarding than trying to make a big profit out of them. It will help you increase customer retention and keep them loyal to your company during and after an economic downturn. Otherwise, most likely, you will lose them. Loyalty for loyalty. Customers feel more loyal to companies that offer them loyal programs. People appreciate it when brands reveal their care by offering customers discounts or loyalty programs. Don't forget about being mobile! Mobile loyalty is a must in the modern world. So, make sure your loyalty program offers a mobile solution. Invest in Your Business Mobility by Offering Delivery Services We might see the increasing popularity of delivery services during the Coronavirus lockdown. Actually, this extreme global situation has taught us a good lesson on business mobility. It has become an urgent necessity for businesses in different industries. Offering the delivery service for customers, you help them save their precious time. In the modern fast-pacing world, time is one of the biggest values. So, incorporating delivery services in your customer experience, you show that your brand is keeping abreast of the customer's rapidly changing needs and requirements. Care More About Your Customers in Uncertain Times Customer care is crucial for a strong brand reputation. But, in times of uncertainty, it is becoming vital for business survival and further success. Paying particular attention to the quality customer care, you will ensure positive customer experience and reduce their anxiety caused by the stressful economic situation. Hopefully, this short digital marketing guide with a slight tone of crisis management will help you run your business more successfully despite the crisis.
