Lockdown in Switzerland
Effective Monday, January 19 through the end of February, Switzerland has tightened restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The measures taken include closing shops selling non-essential supplies and extending the closure of restaurants, and cultural and sport sites.
While the government also eased rules for pandemic-hit businesses to apply for state aid, many businesses will still be struggling to stay afloat, retail in particular. Now is the time for B2C brands to rethink go-to-market plans to ensure they can survive in the short term and thrive in the future.
Promote Other Income Sources
Ongoing lockdowns mean many businesses are still struggling for survival and must seek to compensate for the resulting losses in revenue. Fortunately, the pandemic hasn’t entirely stopped business, but rather shifted how it’s done, and marketers need to shift with it.
Promoting alternative sources of income such as e-commerce is a crucial lifeline. Some sectors that particularly stand to gain from better promoting their online business are retail, telco, electronics, e-supermarkets, and digital entertainment.
Successful brands are those that are able to connect with consumers and create a relationship. Leveraging social influencer marketing to tell stories and create more emotional connections drives a stronger, more appealing social media presence. According to the Swiss Influencer Marketing Report 2020, about half of the marketing managers surveyed estimate the return on investment of their influencer campaigns to date to be higher than with alternative forms of advertising. Influencer- and user-generated content are among eMarkterer’s transformative developments that ought to be on your radar in 2021.
Brands should invest in promotions now to take advantage of upcoming holidays, including Valentine’s Day. Reach out to our experts and the Kingfluencers team can provide you with a clear strategy to connect with your target audience.
Prepare for What Comes Next
While the timing and phases of the end of lockdowns remain unknown, the fact remains that businesses need to prepare. Brands that take steps now to strengthen their brand perception will be best positioned to capture their share of consumers eager to travel, shop, and enjoy leisure activity.
As the rollout of vaccinations continues, the return of many previously risky activities is expected within a matter of months. The time to prepare is now. Taking steps now to fortify your brand will position you to come out stronger once the lockdown is over. For example, a leading Swiss insurance provider decided to run an end-of-year influencer marketing campaign to generate additional new leads and customers. The company provides health, property, and liability insurance, and serves over 261,000 private customers with over 1 Bn. in premium volume. Kingfluencers managed the entire project, which took 5 weeks from ideation to finish. 21 influencers across multiple social media platforms made posts consisting mostly of videos. The campaign achieved an engagement rate of 3.4%, exceeded the goal for reach by 145%, and generated 3,025 qualified leads.
Build Now for a Stronger Tomorrow
Well-structured marketing plans can help you win over customers online during lockdown and then shift to also win new customers IRL once life goes back to normal. Social influence marketing can help your brand get even closer to consumers and win them over and retain them.
With a holistic approach in the industry and the help of in-house AI-based technology, Kingfluencers can run influencer marketing campaigns that not only provide impressive reach but also drive conversions. Contact us to discuss tactics for building brand equity to get ahead of your competitors. Our dedicated and creative team will take care of your marketing journey every step of the way.
Say It with Influencers and Boosting Emotional Appeal
Often, brands don’t adequately convey their true value and unique selling propositions, which leads to lost opportunities in sales and customer loyalty, and unrealized brand equity and value. The “Brand Indicator Switzerland” (BIS) study classified brands into 4 groups, including “Rational Brands:” those with low scores on emotionality but high scores on relevance.
Such brands could gain by boosting their emotional appeal by engaging in more people-driven, creative, storytelling and advertising that unlocks emotion.
Now that physical distance is a given, it’s crucial to get closer to your audiences digitally. Physical distance doesn’t need to become emotional distance and detachment, but brands must act to prevent the loss of brand equity. Unfortunately, as everyone increases their digital outreach efforts, noise increases, and true connection becomes more difficult. Smart choices are vital to stand out from the crowds, and the best path to effective connection is with emotion, empathy, storytelling, and authenticity.
Singular asked marketing leaders for their free-form input on the future of marketing, then consolidated the responses and found empathy as a “supertrend” for 2021. “The goal: better marketing, sure. Consistent marketing, absolutely. But ultimately: strong and lasting customer relationships.”
Social influence marketing is an ideal tool to achieve these goals.
Influencer marketing can make people feel closer to your brand and develop a strong preference for it.
- 92% of consumers trust an influencer more than any form of advertising
- 87% of consumers made purchases based on influencer recommendations
Influence marketing provides an agile, real-time communication channel with consumers. Social influence marketing is also quick and agile. Such a campaign can be developed and launched in a matter of weeks to drive revenue promptly.
Social influence marketing delivers reach and real impact on consumer decisions fast and efficiently. Give your brand a face people can relate to, elevate your advertising spending by adding credibility and authenticity to your message. Social media channels also enable you to reach audiences that aren’t easily reached via traditional marketing.
Contact Kingfluencers to discuss how you can humanize your brand. Kingfluencers provides worry-free execution along with best-in-class outcomes.
Continue Your Investment in Social Influence Marketing
It certainly feels as though life will never go back to normal. (When do we start shaking hands again?) But much of what we miss, from concerts to sporting events, will indeed return. When that time comes, brands must continue their investments in connecting with consumers. Tomorrow’s winners are being created now, so what are you up to? Let’s talk.
Author: Yoeri Callebaut, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer at Kingfluencers