3 Realities of Marketing During a Pandemic You Need to Know

Mar 25, 2020

First: Online engagement is surging with more than 50% of the population under shelter in place orders. More people are using social media and web-based applications than ever before.

Second: Many companies stopped marketing on social media and the number of social media ads plummeted. Your ad money will get you more today than ever before.

Third: Conferences and travel are on hold. The activity and candidates you might get at a trade show or residency visit don’t exist – take that money and get in front of those people online. 

Point Number One 

Pandemic notwithstanding – you still need:

  • Physicians, advanced practitioners, and nurses both immediately and as the days turn into weeks and into months
  • To accurately and swiftly educate your community.
  • To implement new procedures and inform the public.

Funny, at my age, (yes – I fall into the age group most at risk) (celebrating my 20th birthday three times now) I shake my head as the 20 and 30 somethings communicate almost everything on Instagram or Facebook. I frown when our politicians use Twitter to communicate policy. 

Who knew that baby boomers, senior executives, middle managers, and human resources executives would desperately need the “List of the Most Common Social Media Abbreviations” to work with teams and clients?

ICYMI – In Case You Missed It – online engagement is surging with social distancing and shelter in place orders covering 50% of the US population. The use of social media and web-based resources has never been greater. 

The home bound populous needs communication and community more than ever. This is your opportunity to lead your markets and solve your problems. This is the best time to show off what you do and how you do it. 

This is Your Time.

Imagine how tired the front-line care providers feel as the healthcare industry becomes overwhelmed. They don’t take time to read a story or log-on to email when they get home. They glance at that powerful, smaller social media and smart device on the quick break they take between patients. As frustration builds and providers disagree with their institution’s reaction to COVID-19, or newly retired or about to graduate advanced practitioners and nurses are looking for how to help, do they know that you are looking for them? 

  • Are you offering telemedicine?
  • Are you raising salaries or offering bonuses? 
  • Are you consolidating all your COVID-19 patients in one facility and all other healthcare into another location and you want to tell your community?

Those of us working remotely may be listening to a little too much 24-hour news. We can tell you everything happening in NYC, but not where to take your immunocompromised child to get tested. We know there is a shortage of N95 masks, but do not know where we can help. Or maybe we have begun conversations with our pets, just to make sure we can still talk.

Point Number Two

Many companies are making the wrong decision and cutting back on their marketing. This is great news for you because ad pricing is way down and you will likely get way more exposure for a lot less money.

So, in summary – this is a great time to use digital media. 

Here are a couple of ideas:

  •  Identify needs and create social media ads.
  • Update and regularly post on social media accounts.
  • Offer information in a blog or article posted to social media.
  • Post updates to your Google My Business Listing.

Point Number Three

Many organizations get candidates from trade or candidate conferences, who knows when they will be back. So, save the money you would spend on conferences and travel and get out there in front of your market. 

ICYF – In Case You Forgot – point number two, your ad dollars will get you more today than in a few months when everyone else realizes how far behind they are. Your ad dollars will go farther now than ever before. Click below if you're interested in learning how to utilize your marketing budget to hire healthcare providers.

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