While foot traffic is essentially down to zero, there are still plenty of companies operating online and plenty of customers making their purchases there.
Forget about the fancy new signage or locating to a hipper part of town, that's all budget that can and should be going toward online marketing and social media outreach. From targeted ads, to search engine optimization (SEO), to social marketing, online advertising provides a variety of methods to reach your customers. Depending on the type of goods or services you offer, each may offer a slightly different return on investment (ROI) but a well managed campaign will easily be profitable in the long run.
Targeted Advertising and SEO approaches both seek to understand the search behavior of potential customers. By anticipating the questions buyers ask and the types of information they seek out on Google, you can work to earn their traffic and optimize your site to make the sale. Targeted advertising can create nearly immediate effects, but it is also prone to diminishing returns and competition can quickly run the profit margins down to zero.
The SEO approach is a little bit slower to get started, but pays out much better in the long run. By building up authoritative content and creating a more usable website experience, you'll increase both the organic traffic coming to your site as well as the percentage of visits that convert to sales. SEO focuses on building up your website as the greatest source of information available on your topic, and that value lasts for a long time.
Social media outreach is also an important component of virtually any online advertising campaign. As people increasingly use the internet to keep in touch and learn about new things, it's only natural that they'd like to follow along with companies and organizations that provide goods and services related to their hobbies and interests. Social media can provide powerful connections - as well as valuable feedback from real people.
The future is uncertain, but one thing we do know is that the customers are online these days - if they're anywhere at all!
