Melih Oztalay, CEO of SmartFinds Marketing in Birmingham, Michigan, joined the team from M2 TechCast on Monday, March 30, 2020, to discuss digital marketing during the time of the coronavirus pandemic.

Melih is suggesting that cutting your digital marketing and advertising spend during the pandemic is not a good idea. “You want customers to know you will be there for them when social distancing ends”, he said. He added “it is important to stay ahead of your competition, keep your brand alive, and gain the marketplace’s trust during these times”. Listen to the radio show below.

The global economy is in decline due to the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of people are forced to work from home, businesses have moved to work remotely, and there is an expected fear in business owners to pull their digital marketing and advertising budgets.

The mounting fear along with the relentless bombardment of this single-focused news topic automatically forces a business to go into survival mode during this state of emergency. Pulling back your digital marketing and advertising budget seems like a natural reaction. This, in turn, will allow you to pull back from your day-to-day operations. So, it seems.

This fear-based reaction is not logical nor is it objective for a business. Sales need to continue not only during the pandemic but more importantly when the pandemic is over. You don’t want to wait for 30, 60 or even 90 days for sales to start after the pandemic. A business will want sales to get going as quickly as possible.

However, if you pull back your digital marketing and advertising budgets now, you will need to rev that marketing engine from scratch after the pandemic ends. That will take time to generate a quick return on investment. Keep in mind your competition will be hitting the marketplace at the same time adding to the confusion after the pandemic.

For this reason, the one thing working for you is your digital marketing and advertising. This is your sales lifeline. You need to keep this going in order to stay ahead of your competition, who has surely pulled their budget back based on the same illogical reaction. Additionally, you will want to keep your brand in front of the marketplace to show that you are in fact open for business, allowing them to put their faith in your brand.

Melih Oztalay, a digital marketer, and SmartFinds Marketing are regular guests on MITechNews and M2 Techcast.