First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times?
Thank you for asking. We’ve been very lucky as the COVID hasn’t affected our physical health. But like everyone else, we’ve been living with some concern. I feel for my parents as they’re in the higher risk group but at the same time, I make sure that my 4 and 6 year old kids live without fear and with as much freedom as possible.
Tell us about you, your career, how you founded or joined this company
I’m Miquel Bonfill, the commercial director at Easypromos. I joined the Easypromos team in September 2020, although I’ve been the project partner from the very beginning. I studied Economics and I have a Computer Science background. I was a consultant and IT project leader in several companies, and in 2005 I created my own development company. In December 2019, I sold the company and decided to join Easypromos to strengthen the commercial and international structure.
Now that you’ve seen Easypromos from the inside for a few months, how is the platform?
We are a consolidated company, in expansion and growth, with many opportunities and projects. The first lockdown came just three days after we celebrated our 10th anniversary. Our team can effectively work from home, as all our servers are on Google Cloud and our software is accessible from anywhere in the world, as long as you have a computer and Internet access. On the first day of lockdown the whole team was able to productively work from home.
How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business and how are you coping?
The very first days were full of uncertainty and stoppage from our clients. It was a sudden, new and abrupt situation, never seen by today’s society, nor by companies. But after some days, brands realized they needed to stay in touch with their customers, which also meant that many had to adapt their marketing strategies. Since then, there has been a constant demand – something that surely happened to many marketing companies.
How has the pandemic affected the marketing of companies?
It depends a lot on each sector, the country and also the restrictions that keep on changing. Many tourism-related companies completely put a stop to their marketing actions, while others focus on reinforcing brand recall. They mainly launch engagement generating campaigns and maximize lead generation for future marketing purposes.
On the other hand, e-commerce businesses have been thriving, with visits to their web highly increasing. They have been putting their efforts on converting visitors into leads and thus improving the conversion rate. Many online shops have also looked for ways to reward customers with loyalty actions.
Of course, there were also those that hadn’t put much thought into digital channels prior to the pandemic. But with the arrival of lockdowns and restrictions they had to urgently find a way to communicate with their existing and potential clients. Some had to fully readjust their approach in order to stay viable. We’ve seen companies incorporate digital marketing into their strategy for the very first time. It was something crucial to survive. This occurrence was common with companies in the educational sector. Product manufacturers that used to deal with wholesalers were now trying to directly reach the final consumer, while merchants associations were trying their best to promote local commerce.
The pity is that what usually takes years to implement was now done just in a few months: the digitization of processes, online communication channels, alternatives to face-to-face commerce, customer-driven marketing, etc.
How do you deal with stress and anxiety, how do you project yourself and your company in the future?
We are in a unique situation, unique in history, and it is impossible not to be discouraged by the constant negative news, both on the health and economic level. My way to overcome stress and anxiety is to focus on the little every day victories. Looking into the future can cause many headaches, simply because the uncertainty continues to be enormous. So more than redefining long-term strategies, I believe that in survival moments it is necessary to strengthen the most practical and tactical dimension of the business.
Finally, a piece of advice for those starting out in the world of online promotions.
The bottom line: Having a clear marketing objective is essential to start creating online promotions. Nowadays, marketers have many inputs and must work with uncertainty. Everyone talks about digital marketing, having your e-commerce, running social ads, being active on the new social networks… But before you want to implement all of these ideas at once and just ‘see how it goes, you must stop and sort your ideas.
What advice can I share from my experience? Start by establishing your objectives, then develop the strategy and focus on concrete actions. If you follow this pattern, everything is more likely to run like a Swiss watch: you undertake actions that compile with your strategy and thus you achieve your objectives.
When you build a house you don’t start with the roof. Don’t organize a social media giveaway just because everyone else does it. If your goal is to capture leads, your marketing strategy should be lead-driven. So instead of running an Instagram giveaway, you can launch a branded mini-game where users participate by filling out a registration form. Don’t forget to attract more participants by raffling attractive prizes or distributing discount codes to all registered users. Just remember that there are dozens of options; all you need are clear objectives and a good plan.