The lightning spread of the Coronavirus is terrorizing people all over the world. Businesses are struggling to comprehend what exactly they are facing, what actions to take to keep afloat during this worldwide crisis. What would this year look like for mobile app development and marketing?
As people stay in their homes, they turn to mobile phones and devices for activities, which present a lot of opportunities for numerous verticals. In the long run, however, a recession in the economy would shrink the overall spending of consumers as well as reduce user lifetime value. No doubt about it, there are challenging times and full of uncertainty as well.
Staying at home for months and avoiding social contact is something that people are not used to. They need things to keep themselves busy and occupied while indoors. Mobile apps seem to be the perfect fit.
The Information Technology industry and mobile app developers are holding up well during this pandemic. Nonetheless, the rising cases, deaths, and ongoing lockdown have impacted the software development field. Big and small developers are mobilizing the outbreak to build new methods of dealing with the pandemic with technology.
The Coronavirus Impact on App Downloads
If a lot of industries are affected negatively by the pandemic and must resort to drastic measures during the quarantine, mobile apps and games gain from being entirely digital as well as fully available from home 24/7, making it very accessible nowadays compared to many other services.
When it comes to mobile app development downloads, the following are the ongoing trends amidst the Coronavirus pandemic.
1. Education and Business applications: One of the first major movements witnessed in the mobile field was the gush of usage in business applications. Following the closure of cities all over the world, social distancing and work from home, downloads, and hours sent in business applications are taking off.
2. Mobile games apps: With the pandemic continuing to hit hard, consumers staying at home turn to mobile games to stay entertained. There is huge growth in Games downloads in affected markets, as consumers turn to their mobile phones and devices to stay entertained and to pass away the time while under lockdown or quarantine.
3. Food delivery apps: There is a considerable uptick in demand for food delivery applications. Growth in the engagement for grocery and food delivery apps are an indicator of the rise in coronavirus spread within a market, as social distancing and working from home policies take effect. Expect to see more increase in food and grocery delivery applications as more cities, states and countries impose lockdowns and mandatory quarantines as well as extend social distancing policies in the days to come.
Courtesy- Freepik
4. Social media and entertainment apps: Entertainment and social media applications help pass time and provide connection. Along with gaming, consumers turn to video streaming and social media apps to stay entertained and to keep in touch with their loved ones while also keeping them safe.
Video streaming apps also experience rapid growth, an indication that consumers are looking outside of their normal go-to streaming applications, expanding the catalog content that’s available to them.
5. FinTech applications: Amidst the uncertainty in the market, more and more consumers are turning towards FinTech applications. Along with the drop in oil prices, consumers also worry about the global economic state. The fear is reflected in a rise in the average weekly hours spent in FinTech or Finance apps across markets.
6. Telemedicine and mental health apps: There is a significant rise in time spent on health and fitness and medical apps. With social isolation and work from home policies put in place, consumers turn to their phones to find peace of mind and to manage their stress.
7. Dating apps gamification: Gamification of dating applications could help users stay engaged. The rise is greatly attributed to the effect of the coronavirus pandemic. With dating applications, users could still stay active by matching and messaging without actually meeting face-to-face. The gamification of dating apps slots helps find avenues to entertain and pass time.
The Impact in Marketing
Covid-19 is heavily affecting the mobility of a consumer, habit changes in consumption of media, shortages over goods manufactured in China, supply chains, and the volatility of the economy.
With the overwhelming scenario in the world at present, organizations need to plan their next marketing strategies wisely to mitigate the downside risk or capture all the possible upside.
A few advertisers may have to hold dry powder. Others in the meantime need to double-down on investments to seize opportunities. For organizations, it’s paramount to pay close attention to how the situation is changing the plan scenarios and landscape, instead of waiting and hoping that no changes would be needed.
These are some examples of the kinds of changes happening now and expect to see in marketing investments and approaches.
a. Direct investments in marketing techniques that drive internet sales.
b. Lowering investments on marketing campaigns to drive business outcomes or drive short-term sales, while keeping the brand-building campaigns live, saving dry powder essentially.
c. Changing budgets to promote delivery-based and at-home options, such as grocery delivery, food delivery, at-home fitness solutions, and so on.
d. Shifting the focus, from the promotion of premium products to every day or entry-point items.
e. Make use of Google query volume and social sentiment trends on relevant keywords as indicators to inform actions on marketing.
f. With the cancellation of sporting events or are played with the absence of spectators, a lot of advertisers are formulating new plans for the budgets, holding investments for later use.
g. Fine-tuning media allotments by tactics as the world is experiencing fluctuations in demand-driven price in different media channels. Changes in media demand and supply would affect costs, thus we anticipate that marketers would have to manage specific spending aspects, like digital closely with new cost levels and refreshed ROIs.
h. Keeping track of local geographies that are experiencing different levels of impact.
i. Addressing viruses with custom creative measurement.
j. Build fast response learnings for budget optimization in marketing as well as transfer learning across industries.
Industries Most Affected by Coronavirus
Few industries escape the devastating effect of the pandemic. However, some industries are suffering more than others.
- Retail: Brands were forced to close their brick-and-mortar stores as countries worldwide are locking down. For a great number of retailers that are dependent on imports, the maintenance of the supply chain network would also cause hardships.
- Manufacturing industry: Businesses using manual processes have ceased operations in light of the prohibitions on group gatherings. The drop in demand for cars, it’s expected that sales of automobiles could decline as much as 20 percent this year.
- Construction industry: Bad news for the construction field as the continued rise in the pandemic has caused organizations to withdraw from expansions. Moreover, parts supply coming from China was disrupted, thus smaller construction firms could face and some are even facing huge layoffs.
- Hospitality and Tourism: Major cities ordered restaurants and fast-food chains to offer to take outs only as a preventive measure. Additionally, travel bans all over the globe, coupled with social distancing mean that maintaining the streams of revenue and steering clear of layoffs would be harder for the industry.
- SaaS and Tech: While the tech industry has not been spared from Coronavirus, it’s’ most likely to recover fast. The odds of a decline of a tech market this year are at present 50 percent, thanks to global import restrictions. For SaaS as well as cloud-based products, operations may not be greatly affected, but spending definitely would decrease this year. Software as Service products, which facilitate remote workers would likely skyrocket.
Brand Response from the Marketing Viewpoint
When the dust would settle is not clear and thus brands for sure are going to struggle harder to make up for losses. Despite the deadly pandemic, there are still business opportunities for maximizing the digital marketing presence during the lull, letting a business hit the ground running as soon as things start stabilizing.
Courtesy- Freepik
1. Focus on digital markets: The growth in internet use and online traffic is matched by the rise in online activity. Now, more than ever there is more attention online, with consumers looking only for content that’s relevant to the present happenings as well as any kind of comforting or entertaining content. Brands investing now would have an edge on the competition both long-term and short-term.
Advertisers took a hit due to the considerable decline in digital spending across the board. The severe plunge in competition and the average cost-per-click means the advertising budget would take further in the second quarter. Look for opportunities to widen the reach.
2. Think about empathy: Right now, people feel very uncertain, thus sensitivity and empathy are paramount. Make an audit of your messaging and find out if it’s still relevant and could it be deemed as insensitive. Look for ways possible to make it more helpful. There is no need to stop promoting your business or products. Just do it in such a way that shows awareness of the challenges faced by a lot of organizations and people of course.
3. Opportunities for growth: Taking over where your competition has surrendered is one of the best reasons to make your digital marketing efforts stay alive throughout the pandemic. Often, there is less competition in an economic downhill. Companies could use this to their advantage to achieve faster results when it comes to market growth and share.
People may tend to be wary of spending during an outbreak. Nonetheless, the crisis will not stay forever. Staying visible to the target market during and after the pandemic helps brands stay fresh in the minds of consumers.
4. Maintain a healthy online presence: Despite the drastic changes in the market, it’s necessary to maintain a healthy presence online. The moment may seem the end of the world, but the future holds even more possibilities of overcoming the odds. Check out your branding strategy and rework or fix technical SEO problems on a website.
5. Marketing channels re-evaluation: Trade shows, as well as other critical marketing events, are impacted by the present health crisis. There is a great surge in cancellations of important events. Rather than cutting the marketing budgets in light of opportunities lost, it would be wise to redirect it to digital marketing efforts. It does not only avoid face-to-face interaction but could also see a return on investment via effective marketing strategies.
Organizations that have not fully developed their digital marketing techniques have the chance to change gears and turn the loss into a possible gain through updating the brand’s website, search engine optimization, upgrade content marketing and boost engagement in social media.
Looking Forward
Looking ahead, mobile changes would reflect people’s preferences as the world weathers the storm. Mobile and mobile apps are a reflection of people’s lives. What’s relevant at the moment, what helps people get through the day, and what connects to others and the globe at large. It enables us to get the services and information we need during this stressful time right at our fingertips.
The influence of the Coronavirus pandemic is expected to surface through mobile actions in the weeks to come. As more business organizations and countries take precautions to flatten the COVID-19 curve, consumers remain at home and self-isolate. New consumer behavior is expected to emerge in almost industry verticals all over the world.
ONE STEP AT A TIME
Taking the roadmap of the future one at a time, take into consideration that the present slow-down is only a temporary bump. Controlling depressing thoughts during the pandemic, staying positive, and more focused on the brighter side of what life has to offer after the Coronavirus could be helpful to keep nerves under control without losing our sanity. Furthermore, it could also help businesses to make profits.
For mobile app developers, marketing strategies have to be taken into consideration to remain up float in the uncertainty that is facing the world right now. As mentioned previously, there are some apps that are very popular right now, while some apps have unfortunately decreased in downloads and use.
Writer note:
Morgan is an IT Consultant at TatvaSoft Australia. Which is a Mobile App Development company in Australia. He likes to share informative and very useful articles, blogs on mobile app development. He is having seven years of experience in a Technological domain and helps the organization of all shapes.