The best marketing strategy for the new way businesses work

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown in South Africa have radically changed the way businesses function and how people engage.
Most companies have moved their operations online, and Zoom and Microsoft Teams have replaced face-to-face meetings.
This change in behaviour means companies and agencies had to adapt their marketing strategies to fit the new way businesses work.
The recent Trend Score 2020 report, which analysed the change in marketing spend this year, has shed light on the biggest changes in South Africa’s advertising space.
It shows that companies slashed their advertising budgets for magazines, newspapers, outdoor, and radio.
This was expected, as fewer people read magazines and newspapers, and with many people working from home radio and outdoor audiences plummeted.
The best-performing marketing medium during the lockdown was digital, despite marketing budgets being cut.
This shows that companies followed their users by diverting budgets from print, outdoor, radio, and events to online.
The chart below shows the change in marketing spend for different mediums over the past six months.
The best-performing online marketing products
It is well-known that online marketing offers a far better return on investment (ROI) and higher engagement rates than other advertising mediums.
Online marketing is, however, not a single channel. Instead, it has many options like banner ads, sponsored content, social media, and video.
This raises the question: Which online marketing products produced the best results during the lockdown?
MyBroadband marketing director Cara Muller said they have seen strong growth in sponsored content and social media campaigns.
“Sponsored content bundled with social media promotions outperformed all other online campaigns this year,” she said.
She said webinars, online video, banner ads, and email campaigns also showed good growth this year.
Muller advised companies looking to optimise their marketing spend to invest in online content marketing, social media, video, and display advertising.
“The combination of these online mediums will ensure a company gets excellent exposure and the best possible return on investment,” she said.