COVID-19: Marketing Ideas
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MediaWorks is giving away $20 million of advertising to SMEs, start-ups, and community organisations - TV, radio, billboards and digital. The MediaWorks MediaFund will give small businesses, community organisations and new brands affected by Covid-19 access to free advertising space in both local and national markets across the MediaWorks and QMS stable of Radio, TV, Out Of Home and Digital assets between May - July 2020.
More information can be found here.
The American Booksellers Association has presented Marketing Meetups focused on virtual events, during which booksellers heard from guest speakers who have held virtual events recently. Here and here are some of the key points from two of these meetups.
ABA Director of Development and Publisher Relations, Matt Zoni, has also spoken with a number of publishers to learn about their expectations and the types of assistance they can offer. Here is some publisher feedback.
UPDATE (30 March 2020)
Our prediction is that when the restrictions are eased, retailers will be allowed to sell online well before we will be able to reopen for face-to-face retailing and we need to be prepared for this. (There are a few things that the government has to sort before any of this happens, not least making sure that distancing and cleanliness protocols are in place for couriers and that couriers can even handle any extra volume over and above “essential” deliveries.)
If you don’t have an online store at the moment and want one, contact us and we’ll see what we can do to help you.
If you do have an online store, maybe re-open it now on the understanding that orders will not be fulfilled until the restrictions are eased. Most of your loyal customers will understand and want to support you. Maybe suggest that those customers buy your own store vouchers/gift certificates and be ready to cash them in when the doors open again.
Think about sending this message via your own e-newsletters or social media. We’ll be helping out soon with images and banners you can use on social media supporting the message that we’ll be open for business as soon as the situation allows. This is a good time to come together as a united front. If we have consistency across stores, our messaging will have a better chance to be heard and take hold. Some stores have already started using the #BookshopsWillBeBack or #WaitForYourBookshop hashtag, encouraging people to hold off on those international orders and patiently support their local.
Even better than just using your mass e-newsletters, consider looking at your email lists and writing to your (best) customers personally. Ask them how they are enjoying their latest purchase (if you know it) and make personalised recommendations for what to read when you are open again.
At times like this, human to human interactions are precious and memorable. If you do them well, they don’t feel like marketing. They feel like community. Many of you will have time to do this and it pays dividends.
Tag us into your social media posts and we will amplify them to our audiences.
There is a very clear message that we want to send to the public – we are making our contribution to the health of New Zealanders by staying home but as soon as we are able we will be there to serve them.