How to Manage Your PPC During the COVID-19 Outbreak
The livelihoods of many businesses have been turned upside down almost instantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re seeing many businesses shut down across the U.S. and the world, with no real knowledge of when they’ll be open. This requires businesses to be patient yet creative with this ever-changing environment.
One of the questions we’re hearing from our clients is whether or not to continue their pay per click advertising campaigns. There is no simple answer we can give to everyone, as it depends on each business, the products they sell, the value of these products and their overall financial position.
However, we do have some helpful tips that all businesses can benefit from when it comes to PPC during COVID-19. Let’s review what these are.
Focus on valuable products and services.
If you can, we recommend shifting your focus to products and services that are valuable to people right now. Here are some of the main trends to consider:
- Social distancing
- Working from home
- Homeschooling
- Entertainment/streaming
- Essential and medical services
- Family togetherness
Consider how people are searching online.
Now that more people are isolating at home, they will continue to research and purchase products online. However, you can expect shoppers to be careful about the things they buy, as essential products and services are needed most.
Communicate about your services and how they can help people. Do you offer fast delivery? Curbside pickup? Bundled packages? Some of the most relevant keywords right now are:
- Corona/coronavirus
- Covid/Covid19
- Novel virus
- Pandemic
- Epidemic
- Vaccines
- Jobs/unemployment
- Homeschooling
Reevaluate your budget and ad spend.
Now is a good time to look at your budgets and how you plan to allocate them. You should probably shift your budget to the products and services that are more relevant during this time. You may also want to consider settings like lifetime spend or monthly spend limits instead of daily budgets. This will allow you to pace your campaigns accordingly.
On the other hand, if your competitors shrink their budgets, you may be able to get a better ad buy with your budget and increase market share.
Consider alternative channels.
People staying at home will be consuming more content. Not only do they have the time to do so, but also, they want to stay connected. In fact, Facebook has reported a 50% increase in messaging, with voice and video calling more than doubling on WhatsApp and Messenger.
Even though activity is increasing on some channels, things like messaging, groups and live streams are not monetized. Therefore, there is a decrease in ad revenue right now. For this reason, you may want to explore new opportunities like Google Display ads and YouTube and in-video ad placement options.
Make sure you send the right message.
Lastly, we want to remind businesses to assess their messages before sending them out, whether for ads, email or other marketing initiatives. People are scared right now. They won’t appreciate businesses who are trying to exploit the pandemic, selling on fear or being selfish.
Find ways to make your products and services relevant and helpful to people, and offer messages of hope and support. One day, this will be over, and you want customers to remember you for the right reasons.
To discuss your current pay per click advertising strategy amid the COVID-19 outbreak, contact WSI Star Web Solutions today. We are fortunate to be working remotely and providing the same great service to our customers.