Change is Inevitable

This year, we had more than eight million members upload thousands of projects every day. We found that some incredible — and unexpected — things happen when you share your work. Here’s a snapshot of our favorite moments in 2016.

COVID-19. Marketers, digital or otherwise, will find that success will elude them if they are unable to adapt to changes or unwilling to take the opportunities for change that might come their way.

Not only are their different types of change but there are several ways that marketers can make adapting to change easier.

First and foremost, marketers need to remain flexible because changes are the result of actions – they might be planned and deliberate changes, made after thorough investigation and reasoning. Or they might be unintentional changes – emerging internally like work culture or externally like economic change, competition, or pandemics.
You might have also heard of episodic and continuous change. Episodic is more intentional often involving replacing and acting on a new strategy or program. Continuous change is evolving – people constantly adapting and shifting ideas around to create new processes.
Understanding and staying to date with market research – use this to help solve problems and job opportunities brought to you by customers.
Throughout the process of change, ensure and encourage the importance of your customers or clients. Not only that but the importance of continual great customer service.
When planning and creating new marketing strategies – take in to account the pre-existing ones consider how they could be adapted and how customers might react.
Maintain a connection to your customers, whether this is through emails, conversations, surveys, or feedback. You need to be as aware as you can be of who your customers are what their needs are and what you can do to help. A connection will help you be better at noticing opportunities for change, gauging interest and effectiveness of company ideas or changes.
Marketing strategies need to be adapted and should change with industry and customer expectations. Your strategies should also be different during the different stages of a product’s life cycle; because ‘new’ sells differently to something that is common or that has been on the market for an extended period. All phases of a ‘product’ need to be considered.
Use the available marketing platforms to create new options and fields. Make sure to be relevant.
A lot of marketing is data-driven; constantly tracking industry changes, consumer information, needs, trends and expectations. Data and research is vital to gain a better understanding of not only the industry but you customers as well. It is vital for your success. You need to make sure that all the data and research is not only regularly updated but relevant and of a high-quality.
Be able to integrate differing marketing and media channels, measure and analyze research, use insight obtained from customers and keep up with changing competitive strategies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far reaching consequences across the globe – not just in the health and wellbeing of communities but with businesses as well. In this current climate, marketing is important because not only can it help your business, but it can help people as well. Remember, in the long run, People are your employees, consumers and your customers. There are some marketing strategies that might help in this time:

Consider what you can give away for free because anything that you can do during this difficult time will be greatly appreciated by people.
You might find that ads are cheaper to purchase, and it is suggested that as more people are online and ensconced in the digital world than ever, ads allow your company to be on display.
As people are paying more attention to their income and the money, they have available due to job and economy problems– consider offering payment plans. This can help reduce the burden that your customers may be experiencing.
Try offering education and training – unemployment is prevalent during this pandemic, and people are looking for new opportunities and new skills.
Consider your current SEO (search engine optimization) and consider diversifying – International SEO offers more variety and helps to ensure that there is less reliance on one country’s economy. This also mean that your company will be more visible.

Marketers need to stay attuned and adapt to consumer needs throughout not only during the time of COVID-19 but beyond and into the future as well.

Change is everywhere; technology is ever evolving which allows us access to more platforms than ever before. People change; expectations, likes, dislikes, needs and challenges are all in constant flux. There are changes in culture, communities, governments, laws, economies and in health. We need to adapt, and harness change thus allowing us to grow and diversify.

Resources for research