One fact you can always count on: smart businesses adapt. This is true regardless of hot trends or even geopolitics, and it’s especially true in moments of major change.

I think it’s safe to say that, right now, we’re in a moment of major change. Which means that there is tremendous opportunity for businesses that are willing to embrace it.

The key is to act from a place of poise, not fear. Many businesses are panicking and reducing their marketing budgets. It’s a short-term solution. Smart businesses are staying calm and thinking long term. Studies show that continued ad spending during recession is actually the safer bet.

People still want quality products. It’s time to pivot toward the shoppers like never before. Your focus today should be finding that target customer base and building relationships with them.

To make that pivot, here are three powerful strategies that businesses should be prioritizing:

• Invest or Establish in Ecommerce + Mcommerce
• Lean into Personalization
• Focus on First-Party Data Collection

We’ve designed this blog series to explore each of those, to help other businesses keep calm, carry on, and gain momentum – for the short-term during the Covid-19 pandemic but especially for the long-term.

So here’s how your business can thrive in the new normal.

1. Invest in Ecommerce + Mcommerce

Nearly two-thirds of shoppers are using multiple devices for retail transactions. The most successful brands right now are finding each person on their preferred device and platform. This holds equally true for ecommerce shops, direct-to-consumer producers, and CPGs with no online shopping cart at all.

A smart campaign can help all of your partners excel in different niches of the industry. When a CPG brand employs an eReceipt Rewards campaign, for example, it’s generating product sales for itself and the retailers that carry the product.

Even if you have a brick and mortar store, you can benefit from focusing on digital platforms, equipping customers to order online and pickup products from your shop. The challenge is getting those shoppers engaged to begin with. That’s where personalization and data come in.

2. Lean In To Personalization

Personal greetings, customized item recommendations, streamlined touchpoints… the people want it all. Personalized marketing wins new clients and keeps repeat customers coming back – which increases ROI.

Personalizing your approach might be as simple as emailing repeat customers with Thank You coupons for their favorite items. And if it’s a SmartOffer coupon, the discount offered will be a precise amount optimized for each person who receives it – making your campaign more efficient. Additionally, that coupon will allow you to chart data about the shopper’s path to purchase – an investment in future marketing campaigns.

RevTrax has more than a decade’s worth of behavioral data for our clients to build on. Experience empowers us to offer secure, proven data services at any scale. How personalized you go is up to you – but the more you can tailor to each individual shopper, the more likely you are to convert sales.

3. Collect First-Party Data

Product trends, user trends, supply chains… all of this changes at hyper-speed in the current business climate, and especially in moments of crisis. You can’t wait for other people to process that information for you.

First-party data means collecting granular data yourself, through behavior analytics, customer surveys, transaction records, and many others. It allows you to identify ideal customers, track their preferences, keep them engaged, convert their sale, and keep them coming back.

Some businesses hesitate when presented with the initial costs for first-party data collection infrastructure. But it’s an investment in long term vitality: you’ve got a steady stream of current data flowing in at all times. And you own all of it.

Pivot Toward Long-Term Success Today

RevTrax specializes in helping brands gain and retain customers. We’ve provided guidance like this to C-suite leaders from the travel industry to hospitality, food retail, and just about everywhere else in between.

The tactics we’re suggesting today are the same ones we’ve been using for our own success, long before you ever heard the word ‘coronavirus.’

We’re confident that we can help any business shift to the customer-focused omnichannel approach that this moment calls for.

So I encourage you to reach out. Our team is ready to get you started.