‘The possibilities are endless’
Q&A with marketing expert Sarah Gallagher on the pandemic’s impact on digital operations and where small businesses should go from here
The pandemic has upended how many companies do business. For the more fortunate, it’s sped up their digital transition and even encouraged some to rethink their office strategy. With workspaces becoming more and more digitized, I wanted to know how this is impacting online marketing. I spoke with Sarah Gallagher, a marketing co-ordinator with Performance Auto Group, to get her insight on how the pandemic has altered her job, what the online advertising and copywriting industries are going through, and working in the world of influencer marketing. I also asked her what advice she has for small business owners starting out in the digital world.
Sarah Gallagher, marketing co-ordinator with Performance Auto Group.
How has the pandemic and lockdown changed your job as a marketing co-ordinator?
Sarah: The basics have not changed much, because a lot of the digital marketing tools have stayed the same. If anything, the messaging has changed, taking that softer approach. If you look at a lot of different marketing campaigns for any brand, a lot of them now focus on a “people-first” approach with consumer-focused messaging.
That makes sense, changing the messaging in a pandemic. I’ve seen both online and on TV how a lot of companies have pivoted their marketing since March. At first, they made it sound like the pandemic was a temporary thing. Now, you see the phrase “the new normal” a lot, and it’s interesting how companies are trying to adopt this into their corporate messaging.
S: A lot of marketing has moved in that direction. The new business approach is how your company is helping people. So, when you look at current marketing campaigns and ads, especially made between March and now, they’ve all been about how their different products and services can help people. You’ve seen this in two senses: whether it’s in payment deferrals or in different CSR initiatives, such as companies switching their production to make face shields, face masks, hand sanitizer, to meet the needs of right now.
COVID has changed how businesses operate, whether that’s different products or services, or how they’re interacting with their customers. A lot of interaction can’t be face-to-face any longer, so there has been a switch to digital and other new approaches. They key is to outline how their business can really help people. If we’ve learned anything, it’s the importance of company values and being able to home in on them, and really showcase that.
When a company faced with this pandemic is thinking they need to expand their digital space, maybe tweaking their website or even having one for the first time, and starting to look at online marketing, where would you say they should begin, assuming they’re a small business?
S: Make sure your websites are 100% up-to-date and you have good SEO content that can drive traffic organically. Then, build up your social media profiles. For a small business, first and foremost, you should start organically before you do anything paid. The benefit of having a social media profile, especially for a small business, is that you’re able to connect with your customer base and build that online community. Second, it’s a good way to share information. That’s not only about your products and services, but also how your company has changed its operations.
Once you know that customers are able to find all the most relevant information on your website, and that you’re able to use social media as a customer service tool, then you can start to build out your different ad sets, whether that’s Google AdWords helping to drive search traffic, or social media helping to drive traffic to your site, or an e-mail marketing campaign if you do have a customer list – even if it’s small. We’ve seen that e-mail marketing has been a really great tool in terms of driving traffic to your site and building engagement with your customers. Of course, you must make sure that you’re following any CASL [anti-spam] regulations. Use content marketing as well. That’s a good tool for businesses to use to build the content on their website, for customers to find information and really driving your digital audience.
What’s your favourite part of working in this industry?
S: That’s a good question. I would say that possibilities are endless. It’s interesting to be able to put out a campaign and then look at the analytics to see how it did and to be able to really use that information to say why it was successful or maybe not, and then using that to build out your next campaign. You always have something to look forward to and it’s very results-driven too.
I agree that there’s something very satisfying about looking at analytics, then unpacking gender and location and age, seeing things you expected or didn’t expect about the results, seeing where your content did well and why. Having that “Oh, I didn’t expect that!” moment. There’s something satisfying about the analytics factor.
S: Yeah, figuring out why it worked and then driving that back to a potential sale, month-to-month. And even though you’re using the same mediums, or doing Facebook ads, e-mail campaigns, Google AdWords, it’s always new content you’re working on, and so I think it kind of helps you grow because you’re able to see what you’ve done one month, and then work towards getting better the next month, while having fun with it as well.
Obviously, an automobile dealership will always have a physical component, but do you think the company has focused more than ever on digital now that the pandemic has started?
S: Yes, for sure. In terms of our efforts, and just how COVID-19 has shifted the industry, a lot of changes have been online. So for example, there’s been a lot of using video as a key communication tool, whether this has been through digital events – for example, you see a lot of different companies and brands using Instagram and Facebook Live videos as a way to connect with their customers – or using different video vehicle walkarounds to showcase important features for a customer, that way clients know what they’re looking for if they can’t see it in person. So, we’ve been using different digital tools to highlight what we would do in store, but online.
What’s your main day-to-day life, as a marketing expert?
S: A lot of my day-to-day is overseeing a variety of our company websites, making sure they’re up-to-date with current information. It involves a lot of external communication and digital marketing, whether that’s working on e-mail campaigns, social media, or programmatic and retargeting ads.
Can you describe the work you do in the social media department?
S: For social media, we do a mix of both paid campaigns and organic. For organic, it involves engaging new and pre-existing customers with content, whether that’s delivery photos, new vehicle arrivals, and sometimes even videos of a new vehicle launch. That’s on any of our Instagram or Facebook pages, our two main social media pages.
How many different social media accounts does Performance Auto use?
S: Thirty in total, I work on about 10.
Do they use Facebook and Instagram? Do they use Twitter?
S: We don’t use Twitter, no.
So, it’s mainly Facebook and Instagram? Do they run any Google ads?
S: Yes, so we run a lot of Google AdWords. And one thing that’s different that we do now since COVID is discovery ads and display ads through Google. We’re exploring those a bit more aside from Facebook ads.
Can you talk a little bit more about Google AdWords and Discovery ads and what those terms mean?
S: With Google AdWords, you have your general search AdWords, which is just all copy-based. It can be anything that you Google. For example, if someone searches “women’s t-shirt,” you have an ad that pops up for different companies that sell that product on your regular feed. That’s what Google AdWords would be, in terms of search copy. And then discovery campaigns are something that we’re doing a lot more now. For the discovery ads, it’s mainly an image that will come up with a key headline saying, for example, “shop here,” with the general offer of what we’re promoting. Those display mainly on YouTube and some other websites.
You worked in influencer marketing in a previous role, right? Can you talk about what that was like? Working with influencers and what that entailed for people who don’t know much about it?
S: Influencer marketing is really interesting. Especially when it was first becoming popular, there might’ve been a lot of hesitation about it, but it’s just a different form of advertising. And what makes it interesting is, when it comes to influencer marketing, depending on the influencer and what their [online] following is, you’re really able to segment your audience based on who is following that influencer.
There are a lot of lifestyle bloggers, and mommy bloggers, and different things like that, so if you were to really focus on that, and their following is, say, people who are looking for the new trending jeans, or whatever the different product is, by really focusing and working with that influencer, you know you’re reaching your target audience and it’s not just generalized, which might be positive for brands and be more effective in terms of marketing because you’re really able to hone in on the audience you’re looking for.
Do you have any marketers or any accounts that inspire you? Do you follow anyone who’s your inspiration at the moment?
S: Work-wise, no. I would say there’s definitely some influencers I follow where, I really do like their content, whether it’s paid or unpaid. Generally, with the influencers I follow, I really like the ones that stick to their own branding, even if they are working with a company. Those influencers that can work with a brand but also relate it to their everyday lives, I think that is impactful and I really like those influencers. Because you know that even though they may be doing a paid content piece, it does relate to their everyday lives and there’s some authenticity to it.
