“Generally, the trend has been to be supportive and empathetic to the customer, to really dig into, ‘Okay, how is this current environment changing life for our customer and where can we be of assistance?’” said CEO of TopRank Marketing, Lee Odden, during the content marketing in the time of COVID session of Live with Search Engine Land.
A number of brands during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic responded to it by putting out generic content that expressed empathy to customers. Because of that, along with other similar messaging, it created a COVID content din that made many grow weary.
“I think there’s a lot of sentiment going around and people are getting kind of skeptical or cynical about brands just saying things that sound nice, but they’re not actually doing anything,” said Amanda Milligan, marketing director at Fractl.
“Deal volume is down, but perhaps surprisingly, activity with customers is up, website traffic up, engagement with marketing emails is up,” said Meghan Keaney Anderson, VP of marketing at HubSpot. She added, “People have gone into their homes, but they haven’t disappeared. And actually, they’re searching — they’re seeking information.”
This crisis pushed customers into searching for different ways to adapt to their everyday operations, solutions to the challenges that came with working during lockdown, as well as how to safely resume business.