Stop! Don’t Make These Marketing Mistakes in the Post Pandemic Era

It might sound like a broken record at this point, but the pandemic has changed so much in the last two years that it’s not even funny anymore. Everything has changed, from the workplace and unwinding space to the number of social media consumers. In fact, according to Statista, during the pandemic, the US users spent 65 minutes daily on social media compared to 54 minutes in 2019.

These changes have had a massive impact on how brands interact with their customers. And with the indications that things are likely to stay the same for years to come, brands need to stay abreast with the changes and have a strategy in place for the same.

During the pandemic, the role of marketing became ever more important, with companies around the world assigning more priority to it. According to a CMO report, the number of companies finding marketing more important jumped from 62.3% in June 2020 to 72.2% in February 2021, and the number has only grown since.

It is the right time to either hire a dedicated marketing team or a marketing agency. The latter will help you with branding strategy, including content marketing, social media management, and more. Regardless of whether you have a marketing team or an agency, there are some mistakes you must avoid. Here are the top three marketing mistakes to avoid in the post-pandemic era.

Don’t Ignore Brand Experience to Favor Product Quality

It goes without saying that brands must have good products or services to succeed in the industry. However, don’t make the mistake of focusing solely on improving the product and ignoring the brand experience aspect of the business. Consumers these days prefer brands that are customer-focused and purpose-driven. 

If you ask any marketing expert today, they would tell you that the brand sells more than products. The way your business handles social media to the website content and customer interaction, everything impacts holistic customer satisfaction and retention.

It’s natural to focus entirely on product quality but lose focus on the overall brand experience, resulting in reduced customer loyalty. Bear in mind that a good product is only a part of a good brand experience. Therefore make sure that your marketing strategy places equal importance on both product and the customer experience in the post-pandemic era.

Don’t Ignore Existing Customers

It’s important to acquire new customers to grow and sustain in the industry, which makes customer acquisition an important aspect of marketing strategy. However, the pandemic has been hard on everyone, including customers, and acquisition has been difficult in the last two years. It has forced brands to focus harder on ways to acquire more customers.

However, according to Semrush, selling to an existing customer is 60-70% more profitable compared to 5-20% profitability in selling to a new customer. The numbers clearly suggest that brands will benefit more from spending money on retaining existing customers. Focus on marketing more to your existing customer base by coming up with more campaigns and offers for them.

Don’t Depend on Your Old Customer Segmentation

Customers who never shopped online moved to shop entirely online, including the older demographics. It is one of the many changes that the pandemic has brought around. If you know marketing, you must know what customer segmentation is and its importance.

For the uninitiated, customer segmentation involves classifying your customers into various demographics to better connect with them. It’s an important part of a marketing strategy because no brand can claim to have the entire general population as its target audience.

As mentioned before, a lot of demographics and customer segments have changed or evolved in the last two years of the pandemic. The interests and priorities of a lot of customers have shifted and quite understandably so. These changes are likely to stick around in 2022 and beyond. 

Therefore, it’s a good idea to analyze and change your target audience again to keep up with the changing demographics. How the world and consumers have changed, your marketing strategy needs to adapt for the business to continue to grow and succeed.

So, these are the mistakes that any brand shouldn’t make in 2022 and years to come to lose their customers. To succeed, brands must ensure that their products and the whole experience match or exceed customer expectations. Simply put, retaining the existing customers, focusing on the brand experience, and updating the customer segmentation will give you an edge in the market.