The Evolution of Marketing and Business Development During – and After – the Pandemic By Lee Watts
SGR Chief Marketing Officer
“The new normal” has become a commonly used term as we think about life and business after the pandemic. Many industries and companies, and the overall workforce, have been impacted. And marketers and business leaders are assessing how developing business and executing marketing strategies have also changed. Without a doubt, marketing and business development practices have been redefined by the pandemic. As a result, many companies have had to pivot their strategies and tactics for communicating with clients and customers, as well as growing their business with prospects. As we have faced challenges with health care, the economy and social justice issues, businesses have been forced to adapt and reexamine policies, core values and approaches to the market. The question remains: are these changes temporary, or permanent? Below are some of the major impacts of the pandemic to marketing and business development practices. As we delve into each of these areas,
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we can evaluate whether we believe the pivot is permanent, or we will return to “normal” once the pandemic is over.
1. Digging Deeper with Clients.
As business leaders, understanding your audience is one of the key marketing strategies for growth. When the country effectively shut down, businesses needed to move quickly to understand their audience, i.e., their main concerns, preferred methods of communication, buying patterns, geography, company core values, etc. In essence, companies needed to go below the surface and take time to really think about their clients’ needs well beyond the sale or the service offering. The world had changed … in a big way. Companies needed to understand how their clients and customers had changed and understand how they would be impacted by the pandemic and workforce issues. Now that this expectation has been set, customers and clients will demand this level of attention going forward.
© 2021 Smith Gambrell Russell
