Yesterday, McDonald’s announced that it would be closing ‘for the foreseeable future’. And this wasn’t just the McDonalds in my neck of the woods, either - it was every McDonald’s in the UK.

I cannot think of a piece of news that encapsulates the impact of COVID-19 more than that.

No matter what you think of McDonald’s or their food, it’s impossible to ignore the magnitude of this announcement. McDonald’s is part of the fabric of our society; those Golden Arches are present in every town and have been for decades.

Now, they’re closed, and we don’t know when they’ll open again.

I’ve used McDonald’s as an example, because their decision to close illustrates that we’re now living in a completely different age. And, from a marketing perspective, I think there are going to be some seismic changes.

Fake news won’t be as powerful

One thing is clear: fake news has played havoc with the public’s opinion of COVID-19.

We hear of different statistics, symptoms and coping mechanisms every day “from a friend of a friend”, but the fact remains: if it hasn’t been reported via a verified source (i.e. the BBC), it probably can’t be trusted.

I hope - beyond hope - that this will help people wake up and smell the coffee when it comes to fake news and therefore be far more suspicious of anything they read on Facebook.

In-house content will become more prevalent

At the time of writing, we’re seeing lots more in-house developed content, be it blog posts, video pieces or podcasts.

Businesses are having to get creative about the way they get messages out to clients, and I think that will put a far greater emphasis on the importance of in-house content going forward.

This is a good thing, trust me.

Working from home will be the default for many

The coronavirus has sent millions of people home to work, and for a great many of them, it’s an entirely new reality.

However, businesses may cotton onto the fact that, for some workers and departments (particularly marketing), working from home actually makes more sense.

It can lower costs, increase productivity and create a happier workforce. Those things might seem trivial now, but they’ll be vital when things return to normal.

Big, expensive systems will be tossed

If there’s going to be one business casualty during this crisis, it’ll be the prevalence of heavy-duty, on-premise software.

Expect that to be culled first, and then cloud-based software really will become the default for pretty much every industry. For marketing, this is great news, because cloud platforms are the tools we should all be relying on.

Direct business will be more important than ever

Getting leads via the company website has always been important for most businesses, but now, more than ever, that strategy is needed.

I expect companies across all sectors to begin looking at limiting the number of intermediaries in place to gain new leads and customers and instead focus on their own routes to market.

Why let others get in the way when you can extend the reach and influence of your own brand?

What next?

This weekend, I escaped into our garden with my wife and the kids. It was glorious, thanks to the weather, but the background hum of COVID-19 (you can almost hear it), was still present.

Home-schooling is difficult, but our kids are adjusting well. We all know this is temporary, but, equally, I don’t think any of us are under any illusion that things have changed forever.

I hope this results in a more considerate society that isn’t swayed by fake news and which works together, as one, to build a healthy, productive nation - no matter what the world throws at us.