It’s been interesting to hear people talking about the “Post COVID” world and “The New Normal” and so on. Will we ever go to work again, will shops become a thing of the past, will we ever go to a shopping centre again… Yes, we will go to work again and no - shops will not become a thing of the past.
Sure, there will be a few less big businesses around which is a shame, and we have lost a great client due to the pandemic which is a shame. Some people have been forced into early retirement, people will have to tighten their belts for a while and some will struggle to find work. It’s all very hard to take and sad and unfortunate. But it’s life. And it happens every week - we just don’t hear about it because it’s not attached to a pandemic.
So what do we do once restrictions are eased from a marketing point of view? This is an unprecedented time so we don’t have any learnings that can help us move forward. Or do we?
As a strategic planner, I was always told that data can only tell you so much. And it’s one thing a lot of planners tend to forget. The who and the what, is what data tells you. It doesn’t always tell you how, why or when – well I’m probably showing my age a bit there, as that data now exists. But you get the point.
In times like this, when consumer behaviour is king. And right now, it seems like audiences are online now more than ever and less in-store. But that’s almost kind of normal for this time of year right?
Sort of. Right now, whilst we’re heading out of a pandemic that we as a nation have never endured before, we are also heading straight into winter which of course happens every year – and that’s kind of a good thing. Because what the winter months do, is move more audiences on-line than off-line. And that’s all we’ve been doing lately – living in a world of Zoom meetings and Google hangouts and streaming video. So whatever you’re doing right now, probably a good idea to keep doing it for a while if it’s working for you – don’t change for the sake of change.
So if you’re worried about what to do next, maybe don’t do anything for now because you’re probably doing everything you can or could do. August will be the time to make big decisions but not right now. Consumer behaviour isn’t going to change overnight.
The human race are a very industrious bunch. We’re like little ants going to work every day because it’s what we were programmed to do. To succeed, to accumulate stuff, to feel safe, and comfortable. We’re not going to sit on our hands and say “well that happened” I guess we’re done. No. We’re going to do our best to get back to normal – the way things were, do the things that make us happy, spend time with our friends and our family and get outside and start living our lives again.
And from a marketer’s point of view, we will follow the trend of “now” – not because it’s post-pandemic, but because it is winter. Plan for the winter, not for a “Post COVID” world because Post COVID will change as soon as spring hits in September – make sure you’re ready.