India has reached the end of Lockdown-2. Government has announced lockdown-3, an extension of two more weeks. In permitted zones and categories, businesses and industries will slowly limp back to operations with restrictions. Consumers and businesses are hurting, and cash is scarce. Auto sales were zero on April, an unprecedented occurrence. Demand for luxury products will be down for some time to come, while demand for pandemic related products, like immunity boosting supplements, home exercise equipment, and disinfectants have seen huge increases. Faced with uncertainty, you may have cut down your investment in digital marketing.
There are many opportunities to connect with your customers now, offer them solutions for this period and show that you care. Believe me, it will pay off rich dividends.
Are you in the online training business? Faced with layoffs, people are looking to up-skill. Even those working from home would have time to learn new skills. They are looking for online courses to make themselves relevant in the job market.
Unable to go outside for exercise, consumers are looking for exercise machines and online physical training videos to stay fit. They seek ways to boost immunity and supplements like chyawanprash and tips. If you offer products in this niche, you should be creating useful content.
Hair salons and beauty parlors are closed. Even when they open, people would be scared to come. If you offer grooming and beauty products, you are in demand. You can increase your chances of being found by offering content like beauty and skin care regimen for women stuck at home, and how to trim your hair. Think videos.
Confined in their homes, people have more time to shop online. You can make shopping easier for them by offering pre-booking of orders to be delivered after restrictions are lifted and easy finance options since money is tight. They are browsing mostly on mobile, so make sure your website is mobile friendly.
Even if overall demand is down, people locked down at home still need products and services.
By investing in SEO and digital marketing, you will be putting yourself in front just when they need it.
Yes, nobody could buy cars or bikes during lockdown, but they may be comparing features and deals online. If you are not found online, you may drop of the race.
With the supply chain broken, there is scarcity of many products across categories of products. Unable to get their favorite products in brick and mortar or online shops, people will search for these products and alternatives online. If you can rank for the long tail keywords, you will reach windfall.
Help customers plan creatively for the future. Holiday plans have been cancelled, and people are not sure when it would be safe to travel. Content to help plan holidays in safest destinations, in terms of being COVID-19 free, would be highly useful. Students have missed classes and are not sure when exams would be held and they would graduate. Content to plan their free time now, learning new skills or prepare for a career, would be relevant and likely to rank high.
The pandemic shall pass and things will slowly come back to normal. If your rankings suffered during the lockdown, then they are likely to stay that way once demand rebounds, which it will.
On our part, we at Ananya SEO are doing our bit to help. We are offering 50% discount to all businesses and 75% to NGOs for 6 months for SEO.