The past year has been a rough time for people across the globe. From everyday workers to mega corporations, the influences of the pandemic have changed how we all do business, interact with one another and even absorb information. Because of this, it should not be surprising that the effects of the pandemic on digital business and brand operations are notable as well.

Marketing in particular is one prime example. With entirely new manners through which people are engaging with brands and each other, finding the very best updated strategies in marketing is crucial to long-term performance. To highlight the importance of this, we’ll take a look at a few marketing tweaks over the past year that are likely to stay thanks to the pandemic’s influence on global society.

The Emergence of Supportive Marketing

Prior to last year, marketing – while advanced and vast in scope – was largely focused on large-scale deployment, with some emphasis on personalization and assistance. Since the start of the pandemic, however, more and more people have more and more time to spend finding solutions that match their exact needs. Without such an approach from brands, marketing efforts increasingly will fail to resonate with audiences.

Most people have needed help in one form of another over the past year, whether it be logistical, financial or emotional. Brands and businesses that know how to engage marketing efforts that are supportive of their target audiences can better connect with audiences today and in the future. Whether it involve pinging users with discounts for necessary products and services, connecting vital information for self-betterment into the broader marketing effort or embraces pandemic/isolation-related messaging as part of a broader, concerned marketing strategy, this type of marketing is here to stay.

The Scaling Back of Bombardment

The pandemic has created a situation where tens of millions of workers who were previous busy all day now instead find themselves at home and/or connected to their digital devices consistently. Because of the inflationary effects of marketing over the past several years, more and more emails, ads and invasive forms of marketing became the norm.

However, with people now at home, on social media and checking their emails more than usual, constantly spamming people with pitches – when in the past it was necessary just to gain visibility thanks to others doing the same – can alienate consumers. As such, be sure to incorporate more helpful and neutral content into your emails and ads, and reduce the overall frequency during business hours.

The Rise of On-Demand Service

If there’s one important lesson to be learned about how the pandemic affected consumer requests and orders, then the restaurant industry is where to look. The vast majority of franchises and otherwise popular restaurants throughout the country added features such as online ordering and curb-side pick-up, helping to make the experience more convenient during a time in which convenience was hardly anywhere to be found.

While plenty of businesses and brands do not have marketing models that are compatible with the restaurant industry, finding new ways to allow consumers to interact with brands live and achieve desired results (whether it be product ordering for later pick-up or live, real personal assistance) is paramount.

We’re now past the age where pinging users with generic marketing scripts works – and have been for some time. However, the pandemic has blown the doors off of this accelerating phenomenon and pushed us into a new world where brands must utilize out-of-the-box, personalized and convenient strategies in their marketing for optimal results.