Covid- 19 - Crisis - Recovery- Growth

COVID-19 CRISIS-RECOVERY-GROWTH:
A MARKETER'S ROADMAP TO LOCAL SUCCESS
APRIL 15, 2020

Confidentialwww.milestoneinternet.com | 1-408-200-2211 @MILESTONEMKTG
TODAY'SSPEAKERS
Greg Sterling
VP of Insights
Uberall
2
Andrew Shotland
CEO
LocalSEOGuide
Benu Aggarwal
President, Founder
Milestone
Sathya Krishnamurthy
CTO
Milestone

Confidentialwww.milestoneinternet.com | 1-408-200-2211
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COVID-19CRISIS-RECOVERY-GROWTHSTRATEGY- AMARKETER'SROADMAP
TOLOCALSUCCESS
4
https://www.milestoneinternet.com/covid-19-resource-center

CRGWEBINARSERIESFROMMILESTONE
CRG Framework
Thurs, Apr 2
SEO After Covid19
Wed, Apr 8
Healthcare SEO
Wed, Apr 22
Intro to
Crisis-Recovery-Growth
framework
CRG Content and B2B
Wed, Apr 29
SEOAfter Covid19: FAQs,
Schemas,AMP
Healthcare SEO
During a Crisis and Beyond
Content and B2B in
Crisis-Recovery-Growth
phases
Watchrecap Watchrecap Register Register

#SEJWebinar
@MilestoneMKTG
• Overall impact of COVID-19 & new normal
• What does it mean? Behavior changes – search,
channels, spending
• Critical local channels
• CRG examples and list of critical must-have items
• Helpful resources
• Recap and actionable CRG list
Today's Agenda
@MILESTONEMKTG
6

OVERALL IMPACT OF
COVID-19 & NEW NORMAL
Behavior changes, Critical channels

ECONOMIC IMPACT
Brands, SMBs, workers, consumers

• Enterprises/brands
• Small businesses
• Workers/consumers
@MILESTONEMKTG
NO SECTOR UNTOUCHED

ALMOST 40% REPORT JOBS BEING IMPACTED
Source: KFF March 25-30, 2020
Americans also worry:
• Investments negatively
impacted long term -- 59%
• Will be laid off – 52%
• Will lose income due to a
workplace closure or
reduced hours -- 45%
Roughly 11% of workforce out of a job in less than a month

CONSUMER SENTIMENT DOWN
Source: HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (April 2020)
Potential bright spot:
confidence in US
economy rose following
passage of $2 trillion
financial stimulus.

SMALL BUSINESSES ‘VERY WORRIED’
77% "very worried" about economic
impact of the outbreak
54% expect the economy to fall into
recession during the next 12 months
49% say customer demand is down
Source: National Small Business Association Impact Poll, March 2020
75% of all SMBs report COVID-19 is negatively affecting them; 19% say it has not impacted them; 6%
aren’t sure. (Source: SMB Group, n=500 SMBs, March 23 – 30, 2020)

THE SHAPE OF RECOVERY
V shaped recovery involves a sharp decline followed by a sharp rise back to its previous peak.
U shaped recovery is when employment, GDP and industrial output gradually decline and then gradually
rise back over time, over a period of 12 to 24 months.
Wshaped recovery involves a sharp decline followed by a sharp rise, followed again by a sharp
decline and ending with another sharp rise.
L shaped recovery involves a steep decline followed by a straight line of stagnant growth; recovery can
take a decade or more.
Source: Investopedia

BEHAVIOR CHANGES
Spending, search, commerce

What are
consumers
doing?

NEW CATEGORIES, SEARCH BEHAVIORS
Immediate needs,
answers to questions
around:
• Essential services
• Store hours
• Food delivery
• Unemployment,
financial assistance
How to stay productive,
and socially connected:
• Work/productivity
• Education
• Exercise
• Cooking/recipes
• Connecting to
colleagues, family and
friends
Ways to ‘bring the outside
world inside”:
• Entertainment
• Virtual travel/museums
• Fitness/self-
care/beauty
Source: Think with Google (March 2020)

SEARCH QUERIES: RISING, FALLING
Source: SEMRush (2020)
• Collaboration and video software
• Home fitness
• Streaming video services
• Food delivery
• Airlines
• Hotels
• Live entertainment
• Furniture retailers
• Events
Rising Falling
Stuck at home, needs and priorities have dramatically changed

LOCAL SEARCH STILL HAPPENING
Source: Google Trends April 2020
Often in the category of “immediate needs”

DRIVING DIRECTIONS  CALLS, CLICKS
Source: Uberall internal data (March 2020)
In a short period of time,
directions requests have
almost evaporated and
been replaced by clicks and
callsWebsite visits
Driving directions
Phone calls

• Winners: at-home entertainment
services, at-home fitness, grocery
and pet supplies
• Losers: dining out, major
household purchases (e.g.,
furniture) restaurant takeout,
electronics and clothes
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ONLINE SPENDING UP 10% TO 30%
Source: LEK Consulting, Civis consumer survey (2020)

E-COMMERCE CATEGORIES: UP & DOWN
Source: Stackline analytics (March 2020)
March 2020 vs
March 2019
Need vs. want:
Luggage, cameras
and apparel give way
to food, medicine and
cleaning/hygiene
products

E- COMMERCE: NEW USERS & O2O ACTIVITY
Source: Numerator consumer survey (March 2020)
15% of those who placed an online order in past 30 days: first time or first time in the past 6 months; 37% of
BOPIS users were new or “new lately.”
56% of respondents say shopping online more now than ever before
Source: AdTaxi Coronavirus and E-commerce consumer survey (March 2020)

What are
marketers
doing?

89% SHIFTED CAMPAIGN BUDGETS
Source: Advertiser Perceptions Survey of 200 US marketing and agency professionals conducted between March 17 and March 20, 2020

B2B: IMPACT ON 2020 BUDGETS
Source: B2B Marketing Zone and Webbiquity, n=456 B2B marketers (March 2020)
Replacing Live Events with Online Events (e.g., Webinars)Impact of Coronavirus on Marketing Budget
61% 68%

Source: B2B Marketing Zone and Webbiquity, n=456 B2B marketers (March 2020)
B2B: REDEPLOYMENT OF EVENT BUDGETS
Current Plans for Live Events Budget Where Live Event Budgets Will Go Now

DOING MORE MARKETING
Source: Singular survey of 250 CMOs (March 2020)
73% of CMOs say they’re
doing more marketing
and advertising (than pre-
virus)

WHAT TO DO
Channels and content

• Empathy: It’s not about you
• Authentic communication
• How can you help?
• Engage in customer dialogue,
seek feedback
• Focus on current customers
@MILESTONEMKTG
SOME PRINCIPLES

GOOGLE’SADVICE TO BRANDS
• Acknowledge the new reality.
• Give people credible, detailed, and current information about your
operations. Reinforce that you’re there to help.
• Regularly update communications across your website, blogs, social
handles, and even your GMB page to ensure people are in the know.
• Be flexible. Help customers with cancellations, refunds, and customer service.
• Look for ways to connect your customers, locally and globally.
• Consider if your brand has a role to play in creating or enhancing shared
experiences, virtually or otherwise.
• Let people know that solutions are available whenever, wherever.
• Assess when people need you most, whether through your own first-party
data (like site analytics or email opens) or Google Trends, and adjust your
communications strategy accordingly.
• Update or publish often. There’s a need for content that informs, entertains,
connects, and promotes wellness.
• Facilitate virtual collaborations
with outdoor spaces and the
cultural institutions people yearn
to visit.
• Join the conversation about home-
based health and well-being.
• Pivot to platforms and formats
that make sense for people staying
home.
Source: Think with Google (March 2020)

CHANNELS: SEO, SEM & SOCIAL
Source: Wordstream, Conductor, Gupta Media, 2020
• SEO/organic search (often the top-
performing channel, don’t neglect now)
• Paid Search (conversions up, CPCs down in
many verticals, but performance varies)
• Paid Social (average CPMs down on FB)
• Content is critical (and challenging)
• It may be a good time be more aggressive,
but be careful about messaging and ad copy
Source: Conductor marketer survey, April 2020
Survey: Top performing channels 2019

NEW RULES FOR CONTENT
Source: Search Engine Land article “Content and Coronavirus,” April 10, 2020
• Review scheduled content to make
sure it’s not inappropriate or
insensitive.
• Be agile and prepared to change
your content plan as the
environment changes.
• Be proactive, plan content for the
post-COVID-19 future (be
thoughtful about when to release it).
• Use research and data to support
your content.
• Continue to develop and publish
content that helps your longer-
term rankings and SEO.
• Don’t create content for the sake of
content but do maintain a regular
publishing schedule.
• Don’t be self-promotional or appear to be
capitalizing on the pandemic.
• Focus on customer needs: does your
content pass the “will this help my
customers?” litmus test? Get regular
feedback on customer needs.
• Determine what you can say or what
value you can provide that’s (relatively)
unique.

LOCALTACTICS
CRG examples and list of critical must-have items

GMBPOSTSAREANEFFECTIVEMEDIUMFORBRANDMESSAGING
&RELEVANTPROMOTIONS
AutoNation Now Using GMB To Amplify Regularly Updated Messaging & Services for 600 Locations

IT'SOKTOSELL...
Non COVID-posts now live on 5,500 Store Location & Department GMBs

WHAT TO DO IN CRISIS
CRG examples and list of critical must have items

GLASSHALFFULL–SPAMCALLERSDECLINEBY17%
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/consumer/were-getting-fewer-scam-robocalls-heres-why/2272891/

STAGESANDSOLUTIONSINTHISCRISIS
Crisis Recovery Growth
Business Goals Customer Engagement and Awareness Customer Nourishment mode Customer growth mode
Marketing Goals Awareness and Customer Engagement Targeting and Consideration Conversions and Revenue
Website Refine Schemas, Update Messaging Limited Time Offers, Restart Promotions
Personalized messaging and content
enhancement and marketing
Email
Customer messaging on covid-19 and business
continuity
Specific offers and targeting
Business as usual, and back to regular
marketing
Local
Enhance all the attributes across all channels
including Google, Apple, Bing, Yelp
Leverage Posts, CTAs
Refine your hours, include offers
Back to normal with hours of operations,
Google posts, CTAs and update description
Social
Communicate with your customers on Social
Media Channels
Social posts targeting growing customer
base with specific offers and customer
engagement
Social posts: fresh content and new
initiatives
Paid
Awareness messaging on Social Media
channels
Hyper-local targeting on Google
and Social media
National and Targeted advertising on
Google and Social Media

UPDATEDESCRIPTION:PRODUCT,SERVICES&BUSINESSSTATUS
39

CRITICALTOHAVEACCURATEINFORMATIONACROSS
ALLCHANNELS
https://moz.com/learn/local/citations-by-category
Local Search
Engine
& Hyper Local
Listings
Data
Aggregators
Internet Yellow
Pages
Social ChannelsMaps
APPS & LISTINGSCentral Data Hub
Source Search Engines Apps & listings End-points

CREATELOCALPOSTWITHBUSINESSUPDATES,SOCIALMESSAGING
41

CRISIS:KEYRESULTSFORNATIONWIDEBAKERY
Posts about the deliveries being the new
normal got high visibility
As request directions went down, call you and
online transactions went up
OnlineBookings

• Refine your schema
use SpecialAnnouncement schema
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CRISIS:OPTIMIZINGYOURWEBSITEFORSEO

• As expected, huge spike seen in
Covid related queries
• People Also Ask and FAQ queries
saw significant boost
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CRISIS:SCHEMAPERFORMANCEFORSPECIALANNOUNCEMENTS
+covid queries and faq performance

CRISIS:LANDINGPAGEWITHINFORMATION

CRISIS:EMAILMARKETING
• Keep messages short and crisp
• Show compassion and understand your customers
• Less about buying and more about caring
• Show positive messaging in your emails
• If you’re business is operating in new normal,
communicate the message
* hubspot: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/covid-19-benchmark-data

@MILESTONEMKTG
CRISIS:ENGAGINGYOURCUSTOMERSINSOCIALCHANNELS
Facebook Blog Post
Drive engagement offering support, providing informational content and highlight options

NEWNORMAL-MID-WEEKSLUMP?SWITCHITUPWITHDELIVERY!

Industry updates:
• https://www.milestoneinternet.com/covid-19-
resource-center
• https://blog.milestoneinternet.com/seo/local-
search-updates-related-to-covid-19/
• https://uberall.com/en-gb/coronavirus-info-
hub
• https://www.localseoguide.com/blog/
@MILESTONEMKTG
HELPFULRESOURCES

#SEJWebinar
@MilestoneMKTG
Update business listings: Hours, description,
Google posts (+ Apple, Yelp, Bing, verticals)
Engage with your customers: Covid-19 banner,
page, FAQs, email communication, flexible policies,
gift cards/offers
Adapt to new behavior – Online, mobile, and no-
touch
Create virtual events to replace trade shows
Leverage Covid-19 schemas - special
announcement schema
Re-evaluate ad campaigns: do the budgets and
tactics make sense now?
@MILESTONEMKTG
Takeaways and Things to Do
in Crisis and Recovery Phases
51

TOHELPASMANYOFYOUASWECAN,WEWANTTOOFFERTHE
FIRST30REGISTRANTSAFREEAUDIT…
@MILESTONEMKTG
• Schema assessment
• Mobile performance
• Local visibility
https://go.milestoneinternet.com/audit

QUESTIONS?
First 30 attendees* to register will get a complimentary
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Covid- 19 - Crisis - Recovery- Growth

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