Digital Marketing to Offset Tariff Impacts for Canadian Business
Who would’ve thought that the change of power in the United States of America could prove to be detrimental to the Canadian economy? But, here we are, when The USA’s President has imposed tariffs on Canada, and the locals are already feeling the heat.
In case, you’ve a business or are working in a managerial position in a corporation, you need to understand that not all is lost. A potent digital marketing strategy that leverages the leading online marketing channels can prove to be your secret weapon to nullify the tariffs’ impact.
In this blog post, you’ll learn about the digital marketing strategies that can help your business come out of this tariff storm unharmed. So, let’s get going!
3 Digital Marketing Strategies To Lessen The Tariffs’ Impact:-
1. Diversifying Your Market To Lessen The Impact
The impact of tariffs on each one of the businesses operating in Canada can’t be denied. The costs have increased for raw materials and even the finished goods. Due to this, the financial impact on businesses is making them take a lot more tough decisions to stay afloat.
But, diversifying their market on a global level can prove to be a quite successful strategy. For this, digital marketing will be very helpful for your business. Here’s how:-
Search Engine Optimization(SEO)
Your business website will be your online storefront for your target audience in these difficult tariff times. SEO can help you a lot to get your website ranked in other markets on the search engine for your products or services.
However, if you want to expand your business in markets other than that of North America, you will have to follow a strategic approach. For this purpose, you can optimize for multilingual keywords. It will ensure that your content is resonating with a diverse set of audiences and that too, in non-English speaking nations.
Another approach can be to have localized content on your website which is personalized by incorporating the cultural intricacies of the place that you want to optimize your website. Alongside this, carrying out robust keyword research will ensure that you are incorporating the regional variations of the keywords related to your industry.
Don’t forget to craft localized content that is as per the sensibilities of the local audience. It will help you become an authority in your niche and even build a good amount of trust with your prospective customers.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Social media is a powerful medium that can help you a lot in transforming this tough time into one of the best ones for your business. There are different types of social media platforms that can play their part in your brand story so as to diversify your market reach.
However, you need to understand that expanding your social media presence to different nations will require foolproof strategies along with the knowledge of each market.
You can utilize highly targeted advertising on these platforms. It will make sure that you are reaching the right type of demography, maximizing the ROI, and even driving plenty of conversions.
Influencer marketing is another strategy which can be your aid in building a good amount of trust and brand awareness as well. As a result, you will get localized endorsements and even get a good amount of goodwill because of the local influencers.
Regularly posting engaging content that is as per the local culture will encourage communication and build local communities around your brand.
One non-negotiable thing is to regularly monitor social media analytics so as to get valuable insights. It will enable your business to optimize your business social media marketing campaigns to drive great results and even sales.
Expanding Your E-commerce Business
Expanding your ecommerce operations from Canada and The USA to other lucrative markets is crucial at this juncture. You can either develop the platforms from scratch or build upon your existing e-commerce platforms to get international sales. It will enable easier transactions and provide you with access to a much bigger customer base.
There are many global e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon and Alibaba that you can leverage for your business. They will provide you with an existing customer base and even a time-tested infrastructure, saving you plenty of costs.
You can even implement international shipping solutions so as to ensure that the delivery is on time and that your customers become loyal ones. By having secure payment solutions that are customized as per the regional requirements, your business will be all set to facilitate smooth transactions.
Multilingual support and crafting the content for the local audience will considerably improve the customer experience, increasing global engagement.
2. Building Your Brand During This Tough Time
It might seem counterintuitive to try to build a brand name for your business in the era of tariffs. But, you would be surprised to know that there have been many businesses in the past who have leveraged difficult times and taken their business to new heights.
If you want to make a name for your business in the brand history of the future, establishing a strong brand identity is important.
To achieve success on this front, content marketing can prove to be your best bet. By crafting great-quality and insightful content to address customer concerns, you can build a good amount of trust. Here’s how you can do it:-
Content Marketing
Doing the right type of content marketing for your brand can help you build thought leadership within your industry. As a result of it, you will be able to improve your credibility in the new market in a relatively shorter timeframe. Along with this, you will be able to attract a much wider audience who are more likely to buy your business offerings.
By leveraging content on the right platforms, you can highlight your brand’s unique selling proposition(USP) with the help of engaging storytelling. Incorporating insightful information in your digital marketing materials will strengthen your brand appeal and help you differentiate your business from your competitors.
For this purpose, you can utilize different types of content formats. Some notable ones are blog posts, videos, and infographics.
Don’t forget to use strategic content distribution methods across the topmost platforms. It will help a lot in maximizing your brand’s reach and engagement in the new market.
By creating content on a consistent basis and that too, by optimizing it for SEO, your business’ visibility and online traffic will get a significant boost.
Managing Customer Relationships
Getting customers is relatively easier as compared to managing a two-way relationship with them. In fact, if you’re trying to build brand resilience, strengthening customer relationships is key.
Let’s say you have some existing customers in the new locations that you want to target. Strengthening relationships with this existing customer base will be a piece of cake instead of attracting new ones. The best part about bettering your brand’s relationship with these customers is that they will help your business a lot through word-of-mouth marketing.
A great method to do so is to have personalized communication with them and provide them with tailor-made offers, which will increase their retention rate. You can even plan to execute customized digital marketing campaigns that are according to the customer data along with their needs. As a result, your brand will not only get great engagement but plenty of conversions as well.
You need to be proactive in addressing the concerns of your customers and provide a great amount of support to them. It will not only build a good amount of trust but will give a boost to your brand’s positive perception.
You can also utilize different types of CRM Software which can help you track customer interactions, analyze business data, and even improve digital marketing strategies.
Alongside this, you can segment the customers as per their requirements and behaviours. It will help you in putting out strategic messaging and customized experiences.
You can also ask for customer feedback and incorporate their insights into the future business decisions that you’ll make. It will not just improve your business services or product offerings but will increase customer satisfaction as well.
Managing Your Brand’s Online Reputation
Your brand has a perception of its own, just like a living entity. If it’s positive, your prospective customers in the new markets will surely want to buy what you have to offer. However, if this isn’t the case and your brand’s perception is negative, you will struggle to even get a good amount of leads for your business, let alone sales.
By monitoring and managing the online reviews and feedback that your customers are giving, you can make swift changes according to the market demand.
It’s natural to make mistakes when you’re trying to diversify your business in a new market. But, what holds a lot more importance is to address the concerns and respond to the feedback in a quick fashion.
By responding to negative comments in a very professional manner, you will not only win over your critics but will also have a positive brand perception in this new location.
Your brand credibility will also shoot up because of building a great presence on digital mediums by posting audience-specific content.
You can also utilize online reputation management tools to track online mentions, know about potential threats, and even manage your brand reputation in the most effective manner. By building a positive online reputation, you will be able to attract plenty of new business opportunities.
However, you need to regularly assess and adapt the online reputation management strategies to ensure that your brand’s online reputation improves further.
3. Improving Your Operational Efficiency
Optimizing your business’ operational efficiency at this tariff time can be one of the best things that you can do for your brand. It includes utilizing your business data, automating the work and even to leverage the paid advertising.
This strategic approach will also reduce your operational costs and improve your business’s overall performance. You will also be equipped to adapt to the rapidly changing market conditions, providing you with a definite edge over your competitors. Here’s how you can follow this path:-
Data Analytics
Keeping track of the results of your digital marketing efforts can help you a lot. It can be your aid in identifying the areas of improvement in your online marketing practices and also to refine your strategies accordingly.
You can analyze customer behaviour so as to get insights into the purchasing patterns of your customers. It will allow you to craft a lot more strategic and targeted digital marketing campaigns.
Alongside this, you can also leverage the data, which will help you in predicting the market trends and tweak your strategies accordingly. Using data visualization tools will assist you in interpreting complex data into a simpler version.
Furthermore, implementing the right type of data collection and analysis system will ensure that you get dependable insights. You should also review and adapt the data-driven strategies to ensure regular improvement and optimization.
Automating The Work
Automation can streamline your digital marketing methods and will free up an ample amount of time for more important and strategic tasks. Some of those tasks which can be automated are social media posting, publishing emails, etc.
You can implement chatbots, which will provide your customers with instant customer support, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce their response time as well.
You can also automate the inventory and shipping tracking which will ensure efficient logistics and lessen the errors as well.
Integrating automation with CRM will ensure that the data flow improves along with the overall efficiency. Don’t forget to regularly review and update the automation processes so as to ensure regular optimization.
Paid Advertising
If you want to make a mark in the new marketplace, and that too, in a record timeframe, paid advertising is the first thing that you should do for your brand.
By diversifying your paid advertising budget across different online platforms, you can minimize the risk and maximize the reach.
You can also utilize the retargeting method so as to reach potential customers who have a high likelihood of converting into paying customers.
To optimize your paid advertising campaigns for achieving maximum ROI, you need to continuously monitor and analyze your performance metrics.
You can also implement A/B testing along with other optimization techniques for effective advertisement placement and messaging. By leveraging the platform-specific advertising methods, you will be able to maximize your brand’s reach and engagement.
You can even integrate paid advertising with other types of marketing channels which is going to improve your campaign’s effectiveness. By regularly reviewing and adapting your paid advertising strategies, you can ensure an amazing alignment with your business goals.
Wrapping Up
The tariffs have hit quite hard not just on Canadian businesses but the common people as well. However, you need to understand that there’s still hope. With the right type of digital marketing done for the new marketplaces outside of North America, you will be able to recover the lost ground.
You just have to follow the three foolproof strategies which will help your business to stay afloat. The first strategy is to diversify your market so as to lessen the impact of the tariffs. The second one is to build your brand on the digital medium by leveraging different approaches. The third and last one is to improve the efficiency of your digital marketing practices. These strategies will ensure that the impacts of tariffs on your business are negligible, and you get to turn this obstacle into an opportunity.
Do you want to get help in leveraging digital marketing for your business so as to offset the impact of tariffs? If your answer is a resounding yes, Kinex Media can be of much help. We have a huge team of experienced digital marketing experts who will take your business to new heights in spite of the tariffs with our customized strategies. Get in touch with us now and let’s venture into new markets with our time-tested digital marketing strategies. Contact us now to get the best digital marketing services!
