How to evaluate content marketing opportunities during COVID [Video]

“There should be a moment of evaluation that you have as a business to say, ‘What role can I have in this? What need can I address?’ and your content strategy can match that,” said Meghan Keaney Anderson, VP of marketing at HubSpot, on our content marketing during COVID session of Live with Search Engine Land.

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in waves of change for businesses. Many have had to temporarily close, move operations online, or shut down entirely. In some regions, businesses are now gearing to open back up with new safety precautions that are once again forcing them to adapt. For organizations that can produce content addressing what their audiences are going through, each of these shifts presents opportunities to provide value to customers while strengthening their brands.

“The opportunity identified is using search data to understand that there is an increased demand, via search, for certain types of products and solutions,” said Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Marketing. Fresh search data should be used to inform your marketing strategies year-round, but this tactic takes on more importance during times of upheaval, in which annual trends and historic data have been disrupted by new search patterns.

Creativity is one aspect of content marketing that will always be a mainstay: “If you’re thinking about something new to create, this is an opportunity in your brainstorming for ideas, not just [regarding the pandemic] . . . but how it’s impacting day-to-day lives,” said Amanda Milligan, marketing director at Fractl, encouraging content creators to assess the emotions that their audiences are currently experiencing. “Any kind of pain point you can alleviate at this point is much appreciated,” she added.

Why we care. The challenges presented by the health crisis and economic downturn can result in COVID-response marketing tunnel vision, where organizations are churning out similar content and messaging, or shutting down their efforts altogether.

For businesses that can turn to their search data for ideas and apply some creativity to their content strategies, there’s an opportunity to position themselves to perform better during the pandemic and recover more quickly after it.

Want more Live with Search Engine Land? Get it here:

• Click here for the full session.
• The old marketing playbook isn’t enough during COVID [Video]
• Emotional ROI should be one of your key performance indicators during COVID [Video]
• Why digital commerce marketers shouldn’t ‘go dark’ during COVID [Video]
• You can also find a full list of all our Live with Search Engine Land sessions on YouTube.