Lockdowns, postponement of major sales periods, implementation of health protocols, then curfew at 6 p.m.: consumer and merchant habits have been shaken over recent months. In such a context, how can you react and adapt your strategy to maintain your visibility and profitability? This comprehensive guide explores proven strategies and actionable insights to help merchants navigate these challenging times while maximizing their advertising ROI.
A Profoundly Changed Advertising Landscape
After a brutal halt to advertising campaigns during the first lockdown, brands gradually resumed communication online. Whether to show support during the current situation and/or to communicate about their activity, it became necessary to remain present in consumers' minds (and on screens). With increasing performance indicators, campaigns maintained during lockdown were well illustrated, notably in the furniture, decoration, food, and photo printing sectors.
Today, despite a more global recovery, we observe various changes in the advertising landscape: communications with a more offbeat and entertaining tone, increased caution in investments, a search for short-term profitability, and the arrival of new advertisers starting to take interest in advertising and online sales.
The Rise of Digital-First Consumer Behavior
The pandemic has accelerated digital adoption by approximately 3-5 years, with e-commerce penetration reaching unprecedented levels. According to recent industry data, online shopping frequency increased by 65% among consumers who previously preferred in-store purchases. This shift has created new opportunities for merchants willing to adapt their digital marketing strategies.
Key behavioral changes include:
- Increased mobile shopping sessions, with mobile commerce representing 54% of total online transactions
- Higher demand for contactless payment options and curbside pickup services
- Greater emphasis on local businesses and community support
- Extended research phases before purchase decisions
- Preference for brands demonstrating social responsibility and transparency
Evolving Consumer Expectations and Brand Communications
Modern consumers expect brands to be more authentic, empathetic, and socially conscious in their communications. Purpose-driven marketing has become essential, with 73% of consumers willing to pay premium prices for products from companies committed to positive social and environmental impact.
Successful brands have adapted by:
- Implementing transparent communication about safety measures and business practices
- Showcasing community support initiatives and local partnerships
- Providing valuable content beyond product promotion
- Personalizing customer experiences across all touchpoints
How to Organize Your Advertising Strategy and Media Budget in This Period?
Developing an effective advertising strategy in today's volatile market requires careful planning, data-driven decision making, and agile execution. The following rules provide a framework for optimizing your marketing investments while maintaining competitive advantage.
Rule #1: Prioritize Your Core Target
We know consumers are increasingly demanding and committed to supporting companies that share their values. Precisely identifying your core target becomes a key success factor for your campaigns. "Lookalike" or geolocalized targeting approaches are precious allies to broaden your audience while pertinently targeting consumers likely to be interested in your offers.
Advanced Targeting Strategies for Maximum Impact:
First-party data has become invaluable for creating precise customer segments. Successful merchants are leveraging CRM data to build detailed buyer personas and implement sophisticated targeting strategies. Consider these approaches:
- Behavioral targeting: Analyze purchase history, website interactions, and engagement patterns to identify high-value prospects
- Demographic and psychographic segmentation: Combine traditional demographics with lifestyle preferences and value systems
- Geographic targeting with local insights: Leverage location-based data to customize messaging for regional preferences and market conditions
- Custom audience creation: Upload customer lists to advertising platforms for precise targeting and lookalike expansion
For example, a sporting goods retailer might create separate campaigns for outdoor enthusiasts in rural areas versus urban fitness enthusiasts, tailoring messaging and product selection accordingly. This targeted approach typically results in 40-60% higher conversion rates compared to broad audience targeting.
Rule #2: Do Not Neglect Commercial Peak Periods
As we saw during the last Black Friday, consumers are keen on these commercial peaks for making purchases. For retailers facing budget cuts, it will be wise to concentrate investments and campaigns during these periods, when consumers are ready to concretize their buying intentions. Levers generating short-term sales will be favored to maximize ROI and better move stock.
Strategic Planning for Peak Shopping Seasons:
Peak periods now extend beyond traditional holidays, with new shopping events gaining prominence. Smart merchants are identifying and capitalizing on both established and emerging peak periods:
- Traditional peaks: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day
- Emerging opportunities: Singles' Day, Prime Day-style events, back-to-school extended periods
- Industry-specific peaks: Fashion week sales, seasonal transitions, new product launches
- Local and cultural events: Regional festivals, local appreciation days, community celebrations
Peak Period Campaign Optimization:
Successful peak period campaigns require preparation 6-8 weeks in advance. Key strategies include:
- Inventory planning aligned with promotional calendars
- Pre-campaign audience warming through email sequences and social media engagement
- Cross-channel coordination to ensure consistent messaging
- Real-time budget reallocation based on performance metrics
- Post-peak retargeting campaigns to capture delayed purchase decisions
Rule #3: Measure Multi-Lever Performance
Consumer behavior can sometimes bias the evaluation of certain levers that nevertheless play an essential role in the purchase journey. In search of quick profitability, some advertisers overlook certain audience pools by focusing exclusively on SEA budgets. Whether through social networks, affiliation, or drive-to-store campaigns, other levers exist to find new clients and generate sales across all channels.
For example, a consumer receives an SMS announcing promotions at a furniture store. They consult offers on their phone, then visit their computer to compare, read reviews, and finally complete their purchase, attributing the sale to search and not the SMS, which nevertheless played a key role.
A precise measurement of the performance of each activated lever is essential to judge their effectiveness and avoid losing valuable allies.
Implementing Comprehensive Attribution Models:
Modern attribution requires sophisticated tracking across multiple touchpoints and channels. Effective measurement strategies include:
- Multi-touch attribution modeling: Track customer interactions across all channels to understand the complete journey
- Incrementality testing: Conduct controlled experiments to measure true campaign impact
- Cross-device tracking: Connect user behavior across smartphones, tablets, and desktops
- Offline conversion tracking: Link online campaigns to in-store purchases through various tracking methods
Key Performance Indicators Beyond Direct Sales:
Savvy merchants track leading indicators that predict long-term success:
- Customer lifetime value (CLV) by acquisition channel
- Brand awareness and consideration metrics
- Email list growth and engagement rates
- Social media followers and engagement quality
- Website traffic quality and user behavior patterns
- Customer retention and repeat purchase rates
Advanced Digital Marketing Strategies for Today's Market
Programmatic Advertising Optimization
Programmatic advertising has become increasingly sophisticated, offering merchants unprecedented targeting precision and campaign optimization capabilities. Real-time bidding and AI-powered optimization enable brands to reach the right audience at the optimal moment and price point.
Best practices for programmatic success include:
- Implementing dynamic creative optimization to personalize ad content in real-time
- Utilizing contextual targeting to reach consumers in relevant content environments
- Setting up frequency caps to avoid ad fatigue and optimize budget allocation
- Leveraging weather, time, and location triggers for hyper-relevant messaging
- Implementing brand safety measures to protect brand reputation
Email Marketing Renaissance
Email marketing has experienced a renaissance during recent market changes, with open rates increasing by 25% and click-through rates improving by 35% as consumers spend more time engaging with digital content.
Advanced email strategies delivering exceptional results:
- Behavioral trigger campaigns: Automated sequences based on specific customer actions
- Predictive segmentation: AI-powered grouping based on likelihood to purchase
- Dynamic content personalization: Real-time content adaptation based on recipient data
- Cross-channel email integration: Coordinated messaging across email, SMS, and social platforms
- Advanced A/B testing: Multivariate testing of subject lines, content, timing, and frequency
SMS Marketing for Immediate Impact
SMS marketing offers unmatched immediacy and engagement rates, with 98% open rates and 45% response rates making it ideal for time-sensitive promotions and customer service communications.
Effective SMS marketing strategies include:
- Obtaining explicit opt-in consent with clear value propositions
- Segmenting audiences based on purchase behavior and preferences
- Timing messages for maximum impact while respecting customer preferences
- Integrating SMS with email and social media campaigns
- Providing easy opt-out options to maintain positive brand relationships
Influencer Marketing in the New Normal
Influencer marketing has evolved significantly, with micro and nano-influencers gaining prominence over celebrity endorsements. Consumers increasingly value authentic recommendations from relatable personalities over polished celebrity content.
Key trends shaping influencer marketing success:
- Authenticity over reach: Partnering with influencers who genuinely align with brand values
- Long-term relationships: Building ongoing partnerships rather than one-off collaborations
- Performance-based compensation: Aligning influencer incentives with business outcomes
- Content co-creation: Collaborating on content that serves both brand and influencer audiences
- Diversified platforms: Expanding beyond Instagram to TikTok, YouTube, and emerging platforms
Drive-to-Store Campaigns and Local Marketing
Despite increased online shopping, local businesses and drive-to-store campaigns remain crucial for merchants with physical locations. Consumers often research online before visiting stores, making integrated online-to-offline strategies essential.
Effective drive-to-store tactics include:
- Location-based mobile advertising with store proximity targeting
- Google My Business optimization for local search visibility
- Social media check-in incentives and location-based promotions
- QR code campaigns linking offline and online experiences
- Local inventory advertising showing real-time product availability
Data Management and CRM Excellence
Successful merchants are investing heavily in customer data platforms and advanced CRM systems to create unified customer views and personalized experiences across all touchpoints.
Essential data management strategies:
- Implementing customer data platforms for unified data collection and activation
- Creating predictive models for customer lifetime value and churn prevention
- Developing dynamic segmentation based on real-time behavior
- Ensuring data privacy compliance while maximizing personalization
- Building feedback loops to continuously improve targeting and messaging
Budget Allocation and ROI Optimization
Smart budget allocation has become critical as merchants face increased competition for consumer attention while managing tighter marketing budgets. Data-driven budget optimization enables brands to maximize return on advertising spend across all channels.
Strategic budget management approaches:
- Implementing marketing mix modeling to understand cross-channel interactions
- Using automated bidding strategies to optimize for business objectives
- Maintaining flexible budgets that can shift based on performance and opportunities
- Investing in owned media channels for long-term value creation
- Regular budget reviews and reallocation based on performance data
Future-Proofing Your Marketing Strategy
As market conditions continue to evolve, successful merchants are building agile marketing organizations capable of rapid adaptation while maintaining consistent brand experiences.
Key considerations for future success:
- Investing in marketing technology that enables rapid testing and optimization
- Building cross-functional teams that can respond quickly to market changes
- Developing scenario planning for various market conditions
- Maintaining strong customer relationships through value-driven communications
- Continuously monitoring emerging channels and technologies for early adoption opportunities
Defining a fixed and sustainable strategy in such a changing context can prove risky for merchants today. However, there are some good practices to integrate into your media plan to best get through this crisis. The key lies in maintaining flexibility while focusing on fundamental principles: understanding your customers deeply, delivering genuine value, and measuring performance accurately across all touchpoints. Finally, do not hesitate to surround yourself with experts who can advise you and guide you towards the levers adapted to your situation. The merchants who thrive in this environment will be those who embrace change, invest in customer relationships, and leverage data to make informed decisions quickly.
