How Can Tech Companies Connect with Clients in a Post-COVID World?

Nearly every corner of our collective lives has been affected by the pandemic this year–our homes, our families, our jobs, and our dreams.

On an external level, it’s also dramatically affected the content that most of us are exposed to each day, as well as the resources that most of us have access to in order to conduct business and make connections with new clients.

One discussion at the Finance Magnates Virtual Summit touched on exactly this new set of challenges.

The discussion, entitled “Marketing in The Era of New Norm,” was dynamically moderated by Itai Elizur, partner and chief operating officer of MarketAcross. The experts present on the discussion panel included Rachel Varley, senior industry manager of financial trading at Google; Ran Avrahamy, chief marketing officer of AppsFlyer; as well as Ayelet Noff, founder and chief executive of SlicedBrand.

What does the “new norm” look like in the marketing world–particularly when it comes to fintech?

This is an excerpt that has been edited for clarity and length. To hear the rest of the discussion on digital marketing in a post-COVID world, visit us on Youtube.

Ayelet Noff: “Companies need to be more goal-oriented.”

Itai Elizur kicked off the discussion with a question about what normal is going to look like in a future that will be indelibly affected by COVID-19, even if a vaccine is on the horizon.

“Are we–in a year from now–going to look back and see this all as a kind of weird recollection, or have we substantially changed the way we’re going to work, and live, and market for a long time?”, Itai asked.

Ayelet Noff, founder and chief executive of SlicedBrand, was the first to answer: “I don’t know if this is here forever, but I definitely think that it’s here for the foreseeable future,” she said, referring to the measures that are currently being taken in direct response to the COVID pandemic.

As a result, “companies need to adapt,” she said. “I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing–I’ve noticed a lot of very positive impacts and effects that the pandemic has had on businesses.”

For example, “at this time, businesses need to work more on internal communication,” she continued. “Internal communication is key when groups are working remotely–so even taking someone in-house to help with internal communication and to make sure that those various teams are working effectively together is an aspect that’s a very important thing, and also a positive thing in general.”

“In addition, I think that companies understand that they need to be more purpose-driven,” Ayelet said. “Given this reality, we’ve all learned how fragile it can be, and we all want to make a difference in the world; we’ve all learned that we don’t have infinite time to do it.”

Therefore, “companies need to be more goal-oriented,” she said. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Ran Avrahamy: “An amazing opportunity for re-thinking how we do marketing externally.”

Itai asked Ran Avrahamy, chief marketing officer of AppsFlyer, if he believes how marketing will be affected over the long term.

“I’ll tell you one thing–from a marketing standpoint, I’ve seen the Five Stages of Marketing Grief,” Ran said.

“I think at the beginning, all of us were in big, serious denial–I called us ‘headless chickens,’” he continued. “I remember the conversations back in March: ‘oh, this event will be delayed to summertime, it’ll be fine.’”

“But guess what–it’s not,” Ran said.

“So, I don’t call it the ‘new norm’ anymore. It’s just the ‘norm.’ And in the model of the five stages of grief–denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance–I think we’re all somewhere between the depression and acceptance stage right now,” he explained.

“We’re planning Q4 and 2021, and this is the first time in our yearly planning that we’re planning with this. Our events budget is nothing–and that’s shocking for a business-to-business company” that previously heavily relied on corporate events, he continued. “That was a big thing for us–those close, personal interactions.”

At the same time, though, “there are a lot of opportunities that can be found.”

For example, “on a company culture level…big companies and small companies are on equal playing fields in terms of what they can give to their employees.”

“The perks of big companies are gone,” he continued, specifically naming “parties and gyms in the office.”

“That’s an amazing opportunity for re-thinking how we do marketing externally, as well as how we communicate internally–that’s more important than ever before.”

Rachel Varley: Online events are “a lot more inclusive.”

Itai shifted the discussion to focus specifically on the effects of events being moved online with the next question Rachel Varley, senior industry manager of financial trading at Google.

“Online events are good for attendees, I think, but do you as a marketer see value in online conferences?”, Itai asked.

“We run a lot of events, so I think it’s definitely been an interesting journey,” Rachel replied. When the pandemic started, “every single person was like, ‘let’s do a webinar! Let’s do a webinar!’ But, very slowly, we realized that it’s not the easiest option.”

After all, “it’s tough,” she said. “You lose a lot of engagement, you don’t have the networking breaks–you can’t really get that feeling back that we all miss…when you’re all here in 3D life. I think the 2D gets a little bit boring sometimes.”

That being said, “there’s definitely been value,” Rachel continued. “I think it’s a lot more inclusive–we’re seeing people being able to join from everywhere and anywhere at any time, whether they’ve got their kids or they don’t have their kids.”

Additionally, “we’ve also seen our numbers higher as there aren’t as many obstacles to attending–there’s not that excuse of, ‘oh, my meeting ran over and I couldn’t get across London in time.’ We don’t see that same 30-odd percent dropout rate that we used to see.”

This is an excerpt that has been edited for clarity and length. To hear the rest of the discussion on digital marketing in a post-COVID world, visit us on Youtube.