The Design Group - Web Design Charleston Company

How Did COVID-19 Change Our Digital Agency?

Many of our clients exhibited renewed interest in pushing forward the timelines on their pending digital projects. Websites, e-Commerce, paid and social campaigns, plans that had been stalled for whatever reason: this time social distancing acted as a catalyst for making them happen.

New Websites Converted Customers at Home

The month of social distancing turned out to be quite an ideal time to get online. More people spent more time at home, which, in turn, meant screen time skyrocketed. One of our retail clients recognized that it was time to launch their e-commerce shop. Our economic development client also opted to go live in early April. Both were looking for a hub to stay connected while people spent time apart.

eCommerce Made Sales

Our retail client’s eCommerce site had been in the works for a while. Our design, development, and digital marketing teams were steadily making progress towards a site launch in the very near future. But when their retail locations were temporarily closed for safety, their eCommerce site became a portal for engagement and valuable sales to their dedicated customer base.

In launching their eCommerce site during COVID-19, our furniture retailer was able to gain PR traction as a local business that adapted to challenging circumstances. We coupled the site launch with a pivot in their digital marketing strategy, a new shoppable social media account, and ramped up advertising.

As in-person sales phase back into play, their eCommerce site still gives their business model some digital insurance, enabling remote sales and an even stronger digital presence. An active social media presence and frequent newsletters keep them at the forefront of their customers’ minds.

Online Resources Showcased Economic Opportunities

Our client in the economic development sector also found that their new website keeps them connected to their partners. TDG’s team relaunched the economic development partnership’s site during COVID-19. Our client’s new site houses extensive resources for businesses in manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, and more.

A new streamlined design, updated infographics, detailed resources, and enhanced capabilities enabled investors to remotely research the region.

Investments in the region’s economy mean more local jobs and more stability. A new, updated website helps the region compete for investment opportunities even if offices are closed.

Clients Prioritized Messages that Mattered

COVID-19 messaging is complicated, as is all crisis communication. The carefully planned schedules of content, blogs, and announcements suddenly felt too out of place to publish in a world where the economy, our public health, and our families were at risk.

Our personal finance client changed its blog messaging to cover breaking news and events in the finance industry. With so much market speculation, government stimulus legislation, and uncertainty clouding the financial sector, our client’s new, flexible blog schedule kept them engaged in relevant and important conversations.

Our content writers adjusted blog schedules to cover multiple angles of the CARES Act importance, high-level impacts of the coronavirus on the financial markets, and a hopeful look at how markets have recovered from tumultuous times in the past. We then pushed their hyper-relevant blogs to social media to loop in followers and ramp up site traffic.

The adjusted strategy presented trifold benefits. 1.) The business answered some questions clients had for financial planners. 2.) Publishing timely articles at an accelerated pace kept the site’s content increasingly relevant. 3.) The business positioned themselves as trustworthy authorities in personal finance, creating more opportunity to establish meaningful relationships with customers.

Social Media Connected Socially Distant Audiences

The in-person customer service that many small businesses depend on became nearly impossible under shelter-in-place orders.

Social media gave our businesses the ability to showcase their human element. We could chat with customers at the click of a button any time, anywhere. Many of our clients took a more personal tone with their messaging and provided direct customer service through comments, direct messages, and informative posts that showcased current operations.

All of our clients elected to publish special posts about their new COVID-19 policies. These press release style posts went live near the beginning of the COVID-19 precautions, establishing our clients as businesses that cared and could adapt. After initial messaging, our social team ramped up the frequency of client social posts. We crafted more informative content pieces supplemented with creative campaign series.

By keeping customers engaged with the business, our social specialists have primed followers to convert to customers and brand loyalists long after COVID-19 fears have passed.

In this day and age, many customers see social media as the first line of contact to reach a business. This held true with the clients’ accounts that TDG manages. We saw increased customer service requests via direct messages on Facebook and Instagram, as well as in post comments. The takeaway: during COVID-19 customers wanted to connect with our clients in a way that seemed familiar, personal, and efficient.

PS: We recently published our top five tips for using social media as a crisis communications tool.

The Right Digital Strategies Keep You Connected at Home

A digital presence with the right infrastructure can reinforce business models, grow audiences, and keep your business connected even if everyone stays at home. Let our experienced team help your business get to work with websites, custom marketing solutions, social media content strategy, and more.

Need to get online? Let’s get it started.