An article on how marketing strategies are evolving in response to COVID? The article is divided into the following sections- 1) Analysing the impact of COVID-19 2) Delving Deeper 3) Current Trends 4) User Content Consumption Pattern 5) Changing Marketing Strategies 6) Conclusion 7) References

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How marketing strategies are evolving in response to COVID?
Analysing the impact of COVID-19
COVID-19 has delivered a devastating blow to the world economy and has forced companies
to drastically change the way business is done. More than 63 Million people have contracted
the disease and it has claimed the lives of almost 1.5 Million putting the mortality rate at about
2.32%. As a second wave of cases come under the radar, governments all across the world are
putting more stringent lockdown measures. The recovery rate is steadily rising and is currently
at a healthy 69.15%
Fig 1.1 Source- https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
In India the situation is significantly better. More than 9 Million people have reportedly caught
the virus and over 1.3 Lakh innocent lives have been lost to the same. The recovery rate stands
at 93.8% which towers over the global rate and the mortality rate is 1.45% which is better than

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the global average. However, with the threat of a second oncoming wave, there is a chance of
massive resurgence of cases all over the country which needs to be prevented at all costs.
Fig 1.2 Source- https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/india/
Seeing the condition at hand, businesses have two broad options they need to choose from.
Either drastically reinvent themselves and their business process in the wake of the worldwide
pandemic or succumb to the virus and surrender everything to it. Functional units within
companies therefore need to reinvent the wheel as well in terms of basic business processes
that drive the entire organization forward. Marketing, as an important function of any company,
is no different in this regard.
Delving Deeper

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Organizations are inherently very slow to change and require careful strategic planning in case
of massive overhauling. This is truer for organizations that span multiple countries and
geographies than start-ups which are quite reactive to macro-economic changes. The image
below shows the three levels of Management of an organization. The bottom level has all the
employees while the middle level has the middle management and the top tier consists of
business leaders who steer the company’s growth and direction.
Fig 2.1 Source- https://theintactone.com/2019/05/05/cam-u3-topic-2-information-systems/
The Operational Management contains within it all the functional units like Marketing,
Operations, HR, Sales, Accounts to name a few. Each function of a company serves a
different purpose that together make up the company as a whole. The focus of the article is
upon Marketing and how it has evolved during the pandemic to better serve the customer and
the company alike. Many organizations are now eliminating the concept of Functional Silos
and embracing the concept of Business Processes that cuts through multiple Functional
Departments towards an end result, for example, Salary Processing, Account Invoicing,
Product Delivery.

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Fig 2.2 Source- https://foundersguide.com/functional-areas-of-a-business/
Current Trends
COVID-19 has drastically shifted the way consumers behave and therefore it is fundamentally
necessary that marketing efforts also align in that direction. Certain industries like Essentials,
e-Commerce, Gaming, EdTech, Entertainment to name a few have flourished during the
lockdowns and have seen increased activity/business while other industries like Travel and
Tourism, Hospitality have seen better days. This section aims to cover the current trends in
marketing during COVID-19 so as to understand how global catastrophes urge marketers to
change their way of thinking to suit their customers.
Online Marketing Boom
The image below shows a comparison of Google Searches along with the graph of rising
COVID-19 cases. Three of the most important search terms were, “online shopping”, “online
doctor” and “food delivery” and the image shows that as cases started to rise, the search terms
had risen alongside it. Companies like Zomato and Swiggy have upped their ad spending on
digital marketing and their YouTube advertisements all this time was focused on the “No
Contact Delivery” of the customer’s favourite food.

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Fig 3.1 Source- https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2020/04/27/leveraging-
e-commerce-in-the-fight-against-covid-19/
e-Commerce sales and usage

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Fig 3.2 Source- https://www.datafeedwatch.com/blog/how-coronavirus-changes-ecommerce
Ecommerce sales skyrocketed (30.1%) from 2019 to 2020 thereby driving digital adoption
in many cases. In the same time retail growth has been limited to only 4% showing the
declining scenario of retail in the country (USA). Data compared between first six months of
2019 vs. 2020. Online spending accounted for almost 19% of the total retail sales in the first
two quarters of the year 2020.
Fig 3.3 Source- https://www.datafeedwatch.com/blog/how-coronavirus-changes-
ecommerce#coronavirus-vs-ecommerce-data
Amazon.com is one of the few companies that have gained significantly since the lockdowns
began with the image showing steady growths YoY (year on year) from the previous year. As
the lockdowns progressed, traffic increased further contributing to sales on the website.
Customers on Amazon spend a whopping US$ 11,000 per second which is unbelievable!

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User Content Consumption Pattern
To understand the marketing efforts, it is important to understand the potential
customer/consumer first and during COVID-19, user content consumption has changed
drastically. It is evident that digital mediums have gained traction in the pandemic, but it is
difficult to estimate quantitively due to the recency of the data and the fact that work across
all spectrum has not resumed with full force yet thus impeding research as well. People in
isolation are turning towards entertainment to keep themselves occupied. Thus, this section
will primarily aim to study the before and after consumption pattern of certain
websites/apps/channels.
1. Social Media Platforms
Platform Facebook Instagram Snapchat LinkedIn Twitter Reddit
Parent Facebook Facebook Snap Inc. Microsoft Twitter Advance
Publications
Google
Play Store
Downloads
5 Bn+ 1 Bn+ 1 Bn+ 500 Mn+ 1 Bn+ 50 Mn+
Unique
Users
2.6 Bn 1 Bn 315 Mn 660 Mn 330 Mn 430 Mn
Average
Minutes
per User
58
Minutes
53 Minutes 30
Minutes
17
Minutes
3.39
Minutes
10.38
Minutes
Use Case (Facebook)-
a. Facebook monthly active users have increased from 2,498 Million to 2,603 Million
(4.2% increase) from Q4, 2019 to Q1, 2020
b. Voice and video calls have recorded a 50% usage increase, while group calls have
surged over 1000%. In Italy, people are spending 70% more time on Facebook and its
sister applications
c. On Mach, more than 3 Bn users logged on to any of Facebook’s applications

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Number of users (in Millions) for Facebook. Only the first two quarters are considered for
2020
Source- www.statista.com
2. OTT Platforms- Even before the pandemic, the OTT platforms were all the rage.
a. Due to the lockdown, the OTT market jumped by 55% globally
b. OTT is supposed to grow from $104.11 Bn in 2019 to $169.4 Bn in 2023 at a
CAGR of 14%
c. More than 75% Indians (of a target pool of 3000 surveyed) purchased an OTT
subscription in the lockdown
i. 73% started watching Hotstar and YouTube
ii. Amazon Prime had 67% growth while Netflix saw 65% growth in
subscribers
iii. Facebook (80%), YouTube (84%), WhatsApp (92%) saw an increase
in usage
Platform YouTube Disney+Hotstar Voot Sony Liv Prime
Video
Netflix
Parent Alphabet Star India Viacom
18
Sony Pictures Amazon Netflix
Google
Play Store
Downloads
5 Bn+ 100 Mn+ 50 Mn+ 50 Mn+ 100
Mn+
500
Mn+
1517
1754
2036
2256
2434
2652
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020*
CAGR- 15%

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Unique
Users
274 Mn 128.5 Mn 22.5
Mn
24.5 Mn 23.1 Mn 15.5
Mn
Average
Minutes
per User
7.4 Minutes 13.4 Minutes 3.8
Minutes
2.7 Minutes 96.3
Minutes
24.1
Minutes
Use Case (YouTube)-
a. In India, YouTube has seen a surge of 20.5% in its subscriber base in the
lockdown
b. YouTube has gained over 300 Bn views in the first quarter of the year which is
a 13% increase from the last quarter of 2019
c. 70% viewership comes from the age group of 18-34 years of age
Viewership of YouTube in millions is steadily rising in the country as the graph shows, and
the pandemic has only accelerated the process by manifold.
168.6
229.2
271.9
308.7
342.3
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
2017 2018 2019 2020 (f) 2021 (f)

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The chart shows the usage of YouTube in the USA increased in the pandemic significantly
(63.7%) as opposed to before. The data was from a survey conducted during the initial months
of the pandemic, and as time progresses, the increase is only going to be more apparent.
Source- www.statista.com
3. Miscellaneous-
There are several different aspects of content consumption, and although it would be
impossible to cover them all, the miscellaneous section attempts to cover at least the most
important among them.
Virtual Conferencing Applications-
 Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet have gained millions of users with Zoom’s
usage jumping 30-fold in April 2020
 Microsoft Teams recorded 560 Million minutes on March 12, 2020, which increased
to 2.7 Billion on March 31st
39.4
24.3
22.6
1.2 0.7
11.8
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Significantly
more
Slightly more Stay the same Slightly less Significantly less I don't use

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Fig 4.1 Google trends of virtual meetings
Online Gaming-
 Paytm First Games reported a 200% increase in its user base during the lockdown
 Rummy Circle grew by more than 100% and the target age group playing these games
is the 18-45 group
 Games that have seen an uptick in their activity are-
o Carrom Pool
o Ludo King
o Uno
o Call of Duty: WarZone
o Pictionary

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Fig 4.2 Source: https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Blog/COVID19-and-its-impact-on-
Digital-Media-Consumption-in-India
Changing Marketing Strategies
Marketing is one of the most crucial areas for a company. It is also one of the most unique as
it is one of the few functions that face both the customer and the company. This enables it to
understand the customer and collect key data that drives insights and in turn strategies for the
organization.
Some of the key strategies that are being followed throughout industries in case of Marketing
are enumerated as below-
1) Observing changes in customer behaviour and sentiment closely
Customers have been more trustful of local businesses than big corporations and COVID-19
has only accelerated this consumer behaviour. Therefore, it is imperative that brands now more
than ever-
a) Listen to customers and understand what drives customer decisions. Study the impact
of global phenomenon like recessions or pandemics like COVID-19 on customer
actions and correlate these with why customers are distrustful of big brands

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b) Staying true and honest to the claims that the brand makes. Marketers need to protect
the sanctity of customer relationships and also must stay true to what the organization
can and can’t deliver to the end consumer. Customer trust is an asset for the marketeer
as well as the organization as a whole
2) Making the Marketing Plan adaptable
A good marketing plan is any plan that adjusts for the future. It is prudent to use base, worst-
and best-case scenarios for any decision making related to campaign spending and otherwise.
Other areas that needs focus are-
a) Developing creative, alternate marketing efforts since events that target large gathering
of people within places like malls are not happening right now. Focus all attention
towards Digital Marketing since it is on rise during the recent times
b) Securing media is one key area of focus as everyone has the same opportunities and
channels available to them, making everyone race to grab those opportunities at the
same time
3) Being ready for operational impacts
COVID-19 has perhaps impacted nothing more than supply chains all over the world. Factories
& manufacturing facilities are closed all over, supply chains and logistics have been disrupted
since months impacting the supply side of the equation. This led to wild price fluctuations of
products
a) It is essential to strip everything down to the bare necessities. Marketeers must
coordinate with other departments (especially Manufacturing and Production, Sales,
Logistics, Finance) to understand which products can and can’t be produced due to the
capacity constraints along with supply chain difficulties. For products that cannot be
produced in the current scenario, it is prudent to remove all campaigns related to it so
that the bottom-line can be given space to breathe, so to speak
b) Digital Marketing is the most effective and efficient, hence marketeers must realize
that during times of global unrest, it is best to fall back on something reliable. Digital
Delivery needs to be ramped up by promotion of Facebook/LinkedIn Pages, Mobile
Applications, Amazon/eBay shops, and also incorporating payments into the website
or application
c) Leveraging technology for eliminating redundancies is crucial towards cutting costs.
Business Process Re-engineering is one of the ways to do it. This ensures that the

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Return on Investment for any function inside the company is good and keeps
continuously improving
4) Few trends to consider heavily
Some trends are more useful than others and also effective. The following trends need to be
followed in order to reap the maximum benefits-
a) Market from home
Home is the current battleground, with almost all organizations making work from home an
option for the employee to take. Keeping this in mind, marketers can quickly design and deploy
campaigns from the comfort of their homes, thereby having an edge over others
b) Engaging with empathy
As said before, listening to customers is now extremely important, perhaps more than ever.
Market Research teams need to deliver real time customer data so that they can be converted
into insights and implemented into further marketing efforts by the company
Conclusion
The article deep dived into the impact of COVID-19 and then into organizational structure
and strategy following which it delved into user insights and then into effective Marketing
strategies which can are being followed in wake of the global pandemic. Analysing the
changing marketing strategies give an insight into what works during times of stress and also
how to adapt to these uncertainties so as to better guide the organization into the future.
References
 https://www.mckinsey.com/
 https://www.gartner.com/
 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1106313/youtube-usage-increase-due-to-
coronavirus-home-usa/
 https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/games-people-play-online-games-are-
providing-much-more-than-just-entertainment-in-lockdown/1939582/

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 https://www.statista.com/statistics/346167/facebook-global-dau/
 https://review42.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-social-
media/#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20users%20spend%2058,being%20viewed%20
on%20Facebook%20daily
 https://www2.deloitte.com/