Product Marketing strategies to survive rest of 2020

This year has been a year of the firsts. The first forest fires on an unprecedented scale, the first year when we have lost many of our modern heroes (RIP Chadwick Boseman), and who can forget (or forgive) COVID-19, the pandemic that dragged down the entire world economy. As the year is about to end and India’s GDP is practically an abyss, it’s time to up your game.

It’s time to adopt product marketing strategies that’ll help you survive the rest of 2020.

How can adopting marketing strategies can help your business at this point?

I know what you might be thinking:

“It’s the end of the year. My business has almost gone to the wolves.”

“Do marketing strategies even matter at this point? I don’t even have any resources.”

“What’s the point?”

Let me tell state one simple fact, YOU ARE ALL THINKING THE RIGHT THINGS.

You are correct asking these questions. However, if I give the answers to your queries in the same pessimistic way you’re asking, you might not muster the guts to move forward.

And you have to move forward.

While you’re right and the COVID-19's greatest hits were the following:

1. It shut down most startups.
2. It destroyed many big corporations – forcing them to reduce their workforce.
3. It has sapped out the entrepreneurial spirit of the people.

You're also wrong in assuming that COVID-19 is all bane.

For those who still have some will power left in them, COVID-19 has left the following gifts:

1. It has forced entrepreneurs to adapt: The new scenario we all live in now, it has forced entrepreneurs to think out of the box. Who once shunned tech-driven solutions, are now fully embracing it. Those who once micromanaged their employees are now trying to put their trust in them. Finally, those who grew complacent before, now have to come out of their comfort zone.

• It has forced entrepreneurs to look at their shortcomings: “Sometimes, you have to stop to move forward” – just as this saying goes, COVID-19 has forced businesses to stop and look at their state. It has given them time to observe their business. Before the lockdown, they didn’t know what they were doing wrong. But now, their mistakes lie in front of them, leaving them with no choice but to address those mistakes.

• It has forced businesses to look around their local market: Owners of global enterprises often live inside an illusionary-bubble. Believing that all products have to be international, anything local is apprehensive to them. Mistaking internationalism to quality, they think that the only products worth selling have to cross the ocean. COVID 19 has burst that bubble. Now forced to look beyond the illusion, these global entrepreneurs have to venture out in the real world and look at local markets.

The product strategies that I am presenting you here take full advantage of these gifts.

Survive the rest of 2020 with these product marketing strategies

Thanks to the gifts of COVID 19, forcing us to look outside the box, we have a road that we can follow towards growth even during these times of uncertainty.

• Embrace tech-driven solutions: Brick and mortar marketing strategies are dead. It’s time to embrace the tech. As most are huddled inside, now is the time to tell them of your presence. Dive into social media marketing techniques to reach out to these home-bound citizens of India.

• Create a brand story: You need to stand apart to be truly visible to people. To do that, you need engagement; an engagement that you can only get if your brand can make people feel. Create a story around your brand, and people would come running towards it. It’s a time of despair, and a good story with a good hero can brighten these people’s days.

• Leverage influencers to help you: From faux talents of Tik-Tok to legitimate professionals of LinkedIn, everyone has now become an influencer. The successful among them can use their power to advertise your products. Find those influencers (local influencers if you can), and leverage their popularity to expand your product’s reach.

• Create social media posts around your shortcomings: As you’ve stopped and looked at your business, you can now perceive the shortcomings more clearly. You can see the mistakes that you’ve made and are now ready to address them. But solving them is not a marketing technique. Address your shortcomings as you take them to your social media. Create a stream of content that people find it easy to get behind. Once people get behind your content, they also get behind your brand. It would foster a loyal community around your product – creating thought leaders that advertise your products on your behalf, without a cost.

• Give voice to the local products: Now that you’re locked away from the rest of the world, it’s time to give voice to local products. Be vocal for local. Push the products around your local area, city, state or country. Believe in these products; believe in their message and add it to your own. You might not achieve a wider reach, but it would be an effective one.

Conclusion

The beginning of this year has been trash, but it doesn’t have to end the same way. While you were afraid of COVID 19 in the start, it has provided you with a new perspective. Now, you have to look deeper, think critically, and implement the resources at your disposal. As you do all those things and create a story around your brand, you can rope in the best local influencers to share that story. In doing so, you give voice to local products – achieving a small, but effective reach that would help you survive the rest of 2020.