Five Ways Brands Can Continue Thriving in 2021 Amidst The Pandemic
The onslaught of the pandemic continues to be felt across indutries worldwide.
Regardless, today, brands are becoming all the more aggressive when it comes to adopting new strategies that can help them regain stability and recover in 2021.
In this blog post, we’re identifying five ways brands can continue to thrive amidst the global pandemic.
1. RECALIBRATE YOUR PRODUCT AND SERVICE OFFERINGS - BEAUTY INDUSTRY
Last year, we identified some key focus areas that brands in the beauty and personal care segment can take into consideration as part of our industry article series.
In this report, we talked about industry predictions for non-essential categories such as nail care and color cosmetics, among others.
Although the market outlook seemed quite grim, brands continued to rise to the challenge.
One worth mentioning is Posh Nails.
As one of the most affected industries throughout ECQ, Posh Nails recalibrated their entire strategy to adjust to the crisis by unlocking different revenue streams that would continue to push their brand’s ethos.
Their response to the pandemic?
At-home #NailTheDayKits for nailcare enthusiasts who might not be all too comfortable seeking nail services just yet and Posh at Home by-appoint pampering services.
What worked well for Posh Nails was that the two-way approach addresses two different consumer pain-points - and it looks like these service offerings are here to stay.
Posh Nails gets extra points too for their effective use of social media influencers to bring attention to their new products.
INSIGHT: Exploring how to adapt your brand’s products and services to fit the new normal will still be a key priority to thrive this 2021.
2. SOCIAL MEDIA WILL PLAY A MORE IMPORTANT ROLE IN BRAND DISCOVERY - RETAIL INDUSTRY
The retail apocalypse caused by the pandemic proved that it was a sector that needed to embrace change.
To circumvent these hurdles, well-established brands had to keep an open mind in testing out different strategies to get by, while risk-taking entrepreneurs saw it as the prime opportunity to start their own businesses.
Across the board, all of the buzz took place on social media.
This year, we envisage platforms like Instagram to play a more integral role in brand discovery, more so now as social networking sites continue to diversify their features to cater to businesses.
Across the board, all of the buzz took place on social media.
This year, we envisage platforms like Instagram to play a more integral role in brand discovery, more so now as social networking sites continue to diversify their features to cater to businesses.
Local jewellery brand, Penny Pairs does this effectively by creating a user experience that tackles brand discovery, education, engagement, and conversion.
DISCOVERY & EDUCATION
Use Instagram Stories to help your brand raise awareness on exclusive product launches or to highlight any new features about your existing product range.
ENGAGEMENT & CONVERSION
Running brand-led giveaways and special promos to engage consumers is a necessary step to move them from the awareness to interest stage. This is the best time to show a little flair by coming up with strategies that can draw out some of your brand values.
To help drive those conversions, work with influencers who can help capture some of those brand values even further.
We also break down Instagram for Business’ different features further to help you achieve your social media marketing goals in this exclusive guide.
INSIGHT: Brands can significantly benefit from creating their social media strategies with the customer sales funnel in mind.
3. DIGITAL EXPERIENCES WILL BECOME PERMANENT - SERVICE SECTOR
Throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen how brands across the Service sector have reinvented their business models to continue catering to consumers.
We’ve been keeping a close eye on some of the country’s top boutique fitness studios, and the response has been unanimous.
The industry has embraced the challenge of the pandemic full-stop by offering various ways to keep consumers motivated and coming back for more.
From Ride Revolution’s on-demand workouts to One Life Studio’s one-on-one Pilates and physical therapy sessions, personalized brand experiences are going to prevail even after the pandemic.
For us at Near Creative, we also began launching virtual webinars throughout ECQ to stay connected with our audience.
Due to its resounding success and the positive feedback we’ve received from our community, we felt that webinars and virtual events is something that we’d like to incorporate into our strategy moving forward.
Keeping the Recovery theme in mind, we’re hosting a two-part webinar to help brands discover more ways to thrive and succeed in 2021.
Virtual webinars have given us an opportunity to engage with our community, while expanding our reach at the same time.
4. BUYERS STILL NEED REASSURANCE - TRAVEL & LEISURE INDUSTRY
Brands within the Travel and Leisure category are one of the most, if not worst, hit industries throughout the pandemic.
Though brands are still keeping a conservative approach (also in line with local government protocols) towards remarketing their services, we’re slowly beginning to see some movement again.
In an effort to instill confidence and reassurance back to consumers, Crimson Boracay is among the stand-outs of the industry by launching their #boracaybetterthanever campaign.
Through an influencer marketing campaign, the hospitality brand showcases how they’re adapting to the pandemic and the myriad of experiences that await clients and guests in Boracay.
Social media’s top families from the likes of the Bolzicos, the Wilson-Burnands, to the Gonzagas are some of the influencers that have participated in the campaign.
Mega influencers like those chosen by Crimson are known across various consumer groups for their credibility and social candor.
Choosing families of influencers also helps push the brand’s core values and desire to promote shared experience, which makes this a successful approach.
5. AUTHENTIC STORYTELLING STILL REIGNS SUPREME - F&B AND FMCG INDUSTRIES
In an effort to boost the overall morale of the general public, brands across various industries within the private sector launched the Ingat Angat campaign throughout the pandemic.
The overall objective of the initiative is simple, to raise awareness and encourage Filipinos to patronize their favorite brands once again, while adhering to safety protocols.
Given this brief, the Ingat Angat team launched a heartfelt video featuring some of the top Filipino brands that are working hand in hand to help bring the Philippine economy back to its feet.
The compelling narrative and authenticity in telling the story has since resulted in over 3.2M views and counting, which goes to show the impact of a great story for a particular brand or campaign.
COMING OUT STRONGER IN 2021
Although the odds may be stacking up against us, there are still various opportunities that brands can leverage to hit their goals and thrive amidst the global pandemic.
By mixing up your brand’s strategy through purpose-driven marketing and fool-proof campaigns like video production or influencer marketing, building and sustaining that brand-consumer connection becomes a lot more attainable.
