The COVID 19 pandemic has upended not just companies, but entire sectors on a global level. The web design and digital marketing sectors have also been affected by the novel coronavirus in ways that we never could have foreseen only a few months back.
The pandemic has forced billions of peoples into their homes and it shows no signs of slowing down at all. Since the web design and development sector is anchored on the internet, it is has been able to mitigate the risks to a certain extent.
It has done so by allowing key personnel and support staff to work from home. However, this has still led to the loss of initiatives due to missed real-world meetings, partnership opportunities, and a whole lot more. As of now, it is too early to ascertain the total opportunity cost of capital in the web design and digital marketing industry due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
There is one thing that we can confidently state here. Today, we are on the cusp of monumental change. COVID 19 has effectively transformed the way we have always lived our lives. It is all but certain that it will also have a highly transformational effect on our collective social attitudes, long after it is gone.
Social Distancing and Its Impact
This is primarily due to how fast we have had to adapt to the rapid changes bought about by this pandemic. Our lifestyle has been effectively reset. As of now, the change now affects how we consume content and continue to work at our jobs and even how we shop for different products.
Regardless of how much we abhor these restrictions, we have nonetheless been forced to accept widespread school and office closures and blanket travel bans. Social distancing is the new watchword. In fact, the only certain way of keeping this terrible virus at bay is to keep our distance from our fellow humans.
This has led more and more people to turn to digital tools to while away the time and to keep track of the world outside. The internet and the digital world are helping us to retain at least some semblance of normalcy, even as we are housebound for so many months.
This is the part where digital marketing companies and web developers and designers can get together to seamlessly transform our workspace. They can help us to create a more conducive working environment…one that enables and empowers us to operate more effectively, in an increasingly digitalized world.
Let us see how some of our favorite web design and development and graphic design tools and companies are leading from the front:
The ‘Affinity’ Way
Affinity is known for a range of software suites including Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer as well as Affinity Publisher. It has now introduced multiple measures to comprehensively support web designers of all levels:
- Free trials of both Mac and Windows version of Affinity’s suite of products have now been extended from 30 days to 90 days. This way, many struggling web designers would be able to stay afloat while offering high-quality services to their clients.
- All customers purchasing licensed Affinity products for all supported platforms will receive an automatic 50 percent discount off the usual price.
- The good people at Affinity have also pledged to spend the rough equivalent of their whole 2020 commissioning budget in the next 90 days. They will use these funds to engage 100+ freelance web designers.
Adobe’s COVID 19 Plans
The software giant Adobe has come up with its own comprehensive strategy to help people cope with the dreaded COVID 19 epidemic:
- Students all over the world have now been given free and in-home access to Adobe’s Creative Cloud as a substitute for their schools’ classrooms. The free license will be valid until 31 May 2020, but the company might extend it as the pandemic shows no sign of abating.
- The company has allowed free access to their web-based PDF services on Adobe.com up till 31 May 2020. This way, small businesses all over the world will be able to create and share documents without fearing licensing costs and abrupt withdrawal of services.
- Adobe’s Creative Cloud and Document Cloud (CCDC), as well as Adobe’s Enterprise customers will have an extra two months to pay for the company’s Value Incentive Plan (VIP).
- All additional license charges For CCDC and Enterprise Term License Agreement (ETLA) customers have been waived for a period of 60 days.
- Businesses are driven by extremely urgent needs for digital communications. Adobe understands this and they are now supporting data and analytics web traffic spikes with the help of Adobe Experience Manager as well as Adobe Analytics.
- They have provided unprecedented access and flexibility with their Experience Cloud software suites as per the specific needs of their enterprise customers. They are now also trying to make sure that their signature technology is available for users scattered all over the world.
- The company has transformed their Adobe Summit into a completely digital experience. One that features a continuous and ongoing cadence of videos and fresh content. The core purpose is to help customers best utilize their services, applications, and the platform, at a holistic level.
Asana
Asana is now offering its business subscriptions free of charge for a whole year for all non-profit organizations engaged in disaster response or medical research. This offer is specifically related to the coronavirus outbreak.
Bannersnack
This company is one of the most well-known online banner makers in the world. It is a cloud-based platform and it enables people to design highly responsive and animated banners on multiple browser platforms. Bannersnack is now offering three months of its popular team plan for free. This offer is applicable to all nonprofit organizations that are now helping the fight against COVID-19.
Codecademy
Codecademy is a leading provider of mobile development and online web courses. The company is actively trying to support students who have not been able to access their regular learning resources. It is offering them one hundred percent free memberships of Codecademy Pro for both high schools as well as colleges. This offer can be availed by students all over the world, for the duration of the current school year.
Coursera
Coursera offers an online learning platform that partners with some of the top educational institutions around. The company is now offering its flagship Coursera for campus access to just about any college or varsity that has been affected by the COVID 19 outbreak. The participating students just need to be registered by their respective learning institutions and they are good to go.
Cloudflare
Cloudflare offers a comprehensive range of diverse solutions to keep remote teams inter-connected. The Cloudflare for Teams (CFT) application suite will allow your team to work safely and securely on multiple remote-access applications while accessing company data.
The CFT is offered free of cost, to all organizations of any size, until September 1st. Apart from that, the company is also throwing in optional half hour onboarding sessions with their experts to make sure that everyone knows how to use their application properly.
All of the above web design and online communication companies have put their commercial interests behind them. They have come up with comprehensive solutions to help people during this time of unprecedented crisis.
Web-based digital marketing solutions are now pretty much the only way to survive in today’s COVID 19 driven reality. Any company or other business organization that doesn’t switch to this up and coming model will risk becoming obsolete.
The Role of Digital Marketing Companies Amidst a Global Lockdown
Companies and industries just about all over the world have now gone into a state of suspended animation. Since there is no certain way of knowing when the situation will become normal again, the global economy has now shifted to digital solutions to ensure uninterrupted workflows.
However, many digital marketing companies have been able to increase their customer base. Several traditionally offline businesses have switched to digital marketing to get their message across. For instance supermarkets and other retail outlets are now offering their own cash on delivery options to their clientele.
Now that they have witnessed firsthand convenience of digital marketing, it is unlikely they will go back to the old way of doing things even after the pandemic is over.
The Increasing Relevance of Digital Channels of Communication
These are highly uncertain times, but the corporate world is coming around to the idea of mutually collaborative approaches and remote working options. Companies are now increasingly turning to digital channels of communication. Many offline brick and mortar stores have shifted to the online model and overhauling their website presence to ensure that their supply chains are maintained, and their customers provided with goods and services.
This has been like a shot in the arm for the web development and design industry. In fact, there is now a clearly visible spike in updated websites over the past few months. Many companies had only put up their websites for the sake of having a web presence. However, they now find themselves almost entirely dependent on these same websites to communicate with their target audience.
Web based marketing companies have also comprehensively revamped their digital strategies by creating more user-friendly websites. Apart from that, they have also launched new channels to market their products. Small scale outlets are now availing many digital opportunities to market their products by creating value-addition for their homebound customers.
Digital marketing companies have also pivoted towards a home-based workforce. They are utilizing the services of social media influencers while using highly targeted search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to reach out to new audiences.
People Have Plenty of Free Time
It is very simple. The more free time people have, the more they will spend it online. Keeping this in mind, various digital content management companies are now offering cutting edge solutions for their clients.
Most offline marketers are also stuck at home instead of spending time on roadshows, promotional events, and sales visits. They are now utilizing that time to build a better relationship with their digital marketing partners. These marketing experts are using their hard earned insights to help their digital counterparts create more targeted marketing plans and campaigns.
This is a highly successful tactic and it is used to create web pages with a more innovative approach. Web designers and developers are also benefiting from such research by creating web pages that are designed to capture and retain the attention of the target audience.
COVID 19: The Long Term Legacy for the Digital Marketing Industry
It is a common belief that one day when the lockdown ends, everything will go back to normal and people will simply head out to their favorite, clubs, pubs, and restaurants. Subways and offices will be filled to capacity and theaters and cinema halls won’t be able to keep up with the demand.
However, this won’t be the case because the habits formed over months are slow to die within days. People have now become used to the internet for entertainment and information as well as working, shopping and other activities. It will be a long time before everything reverts back to the way it was, that is, if it ever does.
Many countries will continue the lockdown, but with varying degrees of severity. Tourism will be particularly hard hit as nations would be scared of foreigners who might bring another catastrophe to their shores. Here again, the internet will come to the rescue, and people will be able to visit their favorite places, if not in person then via highly interactive websites.
Web designers and developers can work with their clients to create websites that can tap into this huge market. As sites and services improve, people will gravitate towards websites that deliver the most bang for the buck.
Web-based digital marketing solutions are now pretty much the only way to survive in today’s COVID 19 driven reality. Any company or other business organization that doesn’t switch to this up and coming model will risk becoming obsolete.
COVID 19 and web design, digital marketing companies, web design and digital marketing industry, Web-based digital marketing solutions
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