We are East Africa’s leading website design and online marketing experts at infinity360 Web Design. We work with a variety of clients across the region, including Tanzania and Kenya, as well as Uganda, to provide important web design, SEO, and marketing services. As a result, we’ve put together this guide that covers all you need to know about the digital marketing trends that have emerged in the aftermath of the Covid 19 outbreak.
SO, HOW IS THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC CHANGING DIGITAL MARKETING?
With so much of daily life having changed since 2019, it’s no surprise that the last year’s events have had a huge impact on the digital environment.
Especially for businesses and corporations in Nairobi, Arusha, Dar es Salaam, and all over the world. The digital marketing landscape is where this effect is most noticeable. So, in light of the Covid 19 epidemic, how has this changed? There are various changes that SMBs should be aware of, including:
- Growth in the digital realm
- Change occurs at a rapid pace.
- A digitally connected approach
LARGE DIGITAL EXPANSION ASSOCIATED WITH THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC IN KENYA
With so many shops and centers closed to the public especially in Nairobi, other parts of Kenya, and some parts of Kampala in Uganda, many enterprises have been forced to go online, possibly sooner than they had expected. Simultaneously, the number of consumers buying and locating local service providers online has increased dramatically.
According to certain estimates, the pandemic has hastened consumer eCommerce adoption by ten years! People of all ages are ordering and purchasing a larger range of products and services through websites and eCommerce firms. Because of this exponential expansion, digital marketing is becoming increasingly crucial for businesses to stay relevant and get the appropriate amount of attention and traffic from search engine results pages. As a result, cross-platform digital marketing strategies are becoming more competitive and consistent.
THE IMPACT OF THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC ON TOURISM IN TANZANIA
Even though there haven’t been any restrictions or lockdowns in Tanzania apart from the early days of the pandemic, things have been surprisingly normal in Tanzania. People have been taking strict measures to curb the pandemic and everybody in the country has acted responsibly. We can note that obviously, the most affected industry in Tanzania has been the tourism industry, something which has been attributed to the global pandemic as numbers of tourists coming into the country kept on dwindling sharply. There is hope at the end of the tunnel though in the wake of the mass vaccine efforts from all over the world. As a result, safari businesses in Tanzania have learned to increase their digital marketing campaigns and market their services online despite the stiff competition that is rising in the digital world, to try and stay relevant to online shoppers.
FAST RATE OF DIGITAL CHANGE DUE TO THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC
The exponential expansion that is sweeping the digital world also means that the digital marketing industry is always changing, and enterprises and businesses must stay up with the latest innovations in order to keep their digital marketing strategy relevant. This could involve the following:
- Anticipating user requirements and needs- Understanding and addressing the needs of your website’s visitors is an important part of any digital marketing plan. However, in light of recent events, these demands are changing more frequently, and your material is under increased competition.
- If you don’t get this right away, your potential customers and clients are likely to spend less time on your website. It also means that you must not only anticipate the users’ demands right away but also predict how those needs will change.
- Changing styles and directions- your digital marketing strategy should incorporate a variety of content formats in order to reach a variety of users with varying wants. Your digital marketing will need to adapt to changes in customer interests and behaviors on a frequent basis.
HOW COVID-19 LOCKDOWN CAN BE HELPFUL TO WEB DEVELOPERS IN KENYA & TANZANIA IN TERMS OF LEARNING?
Work and study should, in an ideal world, go hand in hand. We improve our usual abilities in the actual world, but we rarely learn new ones. The COVID-19 lockdown will bring about significant changes for which only a few of us are prepared, but the lockdown also provides an opportunity to prepare. Those working in web design in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and the East African Community must seize this chance soon.
One thing is certain: the Internet’s use has surged tremendously as a result of the closure. When the epidemic is ended, many offline businesses will be gone forever, but those who know how to use social media and direct marketing will thrive. Many of them are prospering.
Many businesses, for example, rapidly realized they could reach out digitally and deliver locally.
Survivors and new start-ups will require better-integrated e-commerce solutions after the epidemic. Are developers equipped to give them?
ONLINE TRAINING
Many employees will never return to the workplace since they will be able to work from home. It is preferred by employees, and it saves businesses money on overhead. You can supply these services if you’re comfortable with Cloud collaboration and workflow technologies. Start using them to receive/provide training sessions through Skype, Skillshare, Zoom, Webex, and other tools that your future clients will require if you don’t already.
CLOUD INTEGRATION
How will a client keep track of stock inventories when they sell on a website, over the phone, and to walk-in customers? Will a transaction have to be entered into MySQL, an invoice system, a stockroom database, a work order system, and a CRM system several times? These issues can be solved with cloud-based enterprise management systems. What is your level of familiarity with them?
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Many CMS come to set up to sell digital files for a reason: the developers understand their own business but not those of others. Clients will quickly notice if you create websites for businesses without firsthand knowledge of how businesses operate. Taking a business course could assist to correct this.
UX DESIGN
Many IT firms have excellent network engineers and coders, but they are clueless when it comes to user interfaces and customer journeys. The lockdown provides an opportunity to learn about UX design, which is a specialized field.
MULTIMEDIA
Can you supply those services? A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth millions. A course in Adobe Suite, photography, or video editing will broaden your skill set and increase your job prospects.
The shutdown has given us some breathing room. If you make good use of it, other possibilities will present themselves.
Get in touch with the Infiinity360 Web Design team for further information or advice.
