COVID-19 Archives | Girlpower Marketing

Finding Your Travel and Hospitality Brand’s Share of Voice in the Current Marketing Storm

If hotel reservations and airline ticket sales are any indication, the travel and hospitality market has resurged with a vengeance. Coastal destinations have experienced a 42% increase in bookings over the summer of 2019, and mountain and lake resorts are up 44% over 2019.

With consumers clamoring for a vacation after a long eighteen months at home, the problem isn’t drumming up business for the travel market at all. So now, hospitality and travel brands must focus on how their marketing can be heard above all the noise, and as international travel destinations continue to open up, the buzz will only continue to grow.

How will you find your brand’s share of voice with your travel and hospitality marketing? More

What We’ve Learned About Consumer Trends So Far in 2021

There is little precedent to help us understand how COVID-19 might shape consumer trends, especially in light of the technology that has emerged since the last global pandemic event in 1918. Now that the end of the tunnel is in sight, we’re gathering data at a lightning pace to understand the emerging consumer trends expected through 2021 and beyond. More

3 Ways COVID-19 Has Changed Marketing for 2021 and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot about buyer behavior, from online ordering to contactless payments and so much more. The world looks different now, and many of those changes will stick even after the virus fades.

Many of the changes made have been in the works for years, but without a pressing reason to widely adopt or even use them regularly, some of the technology we rely on so heavily today may have languished forever.

Instead, QR codes have made a considerable resurgence at restaurants, where diners can view menus on their mobile devices instead of handling menus. Uber Eats and other restaurant delivery services have seen demand soar. Meal kits and grocery delivery apps are booming as consumers seek more ways to stay home while ordering the food they need. Most, if not all, of these changes are sure to remain in place and even continue to evolve even further.

The same is true for marketing strategies. Many of the tactics used before COVID-19 were beginning to find a footing as consumers prioritized their importance. Now that we’re months into the pandemic, those strategies have taken hold and helped brands not just maintain their bottom line but often increase it.

Which of those marketing tactics can we expect to see long after the coronavirus is gone?

Purposeful Marketing

Brands throwing their weight behind specific causes was nothing new before 2020, but the act didn’t quite have the gravity it does now. And, while 90% of consumers expect brands to put their employees and suppliers’ safety first, it’s not all about the virus.

social responsibility marketing

This year saw hundreds of brands take a stand for racial equality, diversity, and inclusion, as well as new “green” practices and sustainability. Social responsibility is something many consumers now expect their favorite brands to adopt, and beyond 2020 this will become even more commonplace.

Ecommerce Marketing

With many shoppers still uncomfortable going into stores due to COVID concerns, it makes sense that ecommerce shopping has significantly increased in 2020. Compared to $266.84 billion spent online in the first six months of 2019, the first half of 2020 saw online sales skyrocket to $347.26 billion.

Ecommerce requires specific digital marketing strategies to achieve the best results, some of which have been in use for quite a while, including SEO, product reviews, content marketing, social media marketing, and influencer marketing.

This won’t be enough as we move into 2021, however. The trend toward ecommerce will continue to grow, even as consumers begin to feel safe again in stores. Some of those tactics will include “buy” buttons on social media posts, more detailed Google shopping information, apps with push notifications, better email marketing, Amazon advertising, increased payment options, and a more streamlined landing page experience.

Marketers need to continue adopting ecommerce marketing tactics and innovations to maintain their competitive edge.

Empathy and Customer Experience

Big Data was the name of the game for years, as more and more companies relied on numbers to learn what their customers wanted. The pandemic changed that as the convenience consumers thought they wanted made possible through that gathered information now seemed cold and impersonal.

In the face of the world-wide virus, consumers began communicating that what they want is comfort and understanding from the brands they’ve come to trust. Though supportive messages like “we’re all in this together” worked for a while, in the future it won’t be enough. Consumers will expect brands to walk their talk to earn their loyalty and hard-earned money.

In response, brands have stepped up their personalized marketing strategies, from AI programs that help them solve consumer problems as quickly as possible, to personal shopping sessions, both in-store and online. Consumers will continue to gravitate to this individual attention, and marketers should make sure that personalized marketing strategies are here for 2021 and beyond.

With lights, decorations, and sidewalk Santas, it’s beginning to look a lot like the holiday season. Unfortunately, it’s also looking like the pandemic will put a damper on our usual holiday fun. Most brands have considered what socially distanced store capacity and the danger of COVID exposure may do to their bottom line. Their COVID holiday marketing reflects that understanding, not only for the potential danger that holiday shopping might bring, but also for consumers’ desire to experience some normalcy during the holidays. More

Expected Food and Beverage Trends for 2021: The Light at the End of a Long, Long Tunnel

2020 has been an extremely long, difficult year for many brands. COVID-19 has changed the landscape for many industries, perhaps none so much as for the food and beverage industry. We’re already starting to see food and beverage trends for 2021 taking shape.

Interestingly, many of the food and beverage trends that first appeared in 2019 actually prepared consumers for the sheltering-in-place and social distancing required beginning in early March throughout the country. In 2021, we can expect to see new food trends and marketing trends that have evolved out of necessity throughout 2020. More

COVID-19 Has Changed Everything, Including Consumer Behavior

COVID-19 is changing consumer behavior across all industries. Some of those changes are easy to see, and others were easy to predict. Who could miss the worldwide shortage of toilet paper that we’re still experiencing, even today? We probably could have predicted the increase in online shopping and stockpiling our pantries as well.

We don’t know yet how permanent these changes will be, though we can take a few hints from history. For instance, smart gyms and telehealth services were already on the rise before the pandemic. Continued popularity with consumers once life returns to “normal” isn’t hard to foresee. More

COVID-19