Adjusting your Online Ad Campaigns during COVID-19

We all know now that the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted many businesses.  While some businesses are cutting back on marketing, that can work against them when things recover – and they will, though it probably won’t be completely back to “normal.” We’ve put this together to help you with one specific aspect of your marketing, so you can adapt to the changing market conditions and make more intelligent decisions. Here are a few tips for adjusting your online ad campaigns during COVID-19

Evaluate your online (and offline) ads to position your business for success despite this current environment. 

• Think about both the tone and context of your ads, paying attention to how particular words can make your target audience feel.  You’ll want to be aware of words with double meanings, like “checkup,” “protection,” “virus,” or “prevention.” Ad Campaigns during COVID-19 will generally need to be a little more sensitive to work effectively.
• If you’re running international ad campaigns during COVID-19, research locally-used terms that are used to refer to the coronavirus and how it’s disrupting various regions.
• Review your messaging – if you offer in-store or curbside pickup, or delivery services, make sure that’s clear to your audience. Keep in mind your capacity, shipping capabilities, and any delays to delivery time, to make sure it is accurate for your business.
• Re-evaluate your images and videos – crowds of people or close personal interaction won’t go over quite as well during this crisis as they might have before.  You might want to consider showing employees wearing masks to protect them against the virus and from spreading it.  Think about the tone of your written copy, headlines, and various landing pages. 
• Be proactive about communicating changes to your business, including hours of operation.  Be sure to update your Google My Business profile to reflect current changes, so that the accurate info is displayed in Maps, search results and more.  If you’re closed except for delivery, or whatever changes there might be to your business, make sure your target customers are aware of this. 

Market conditions are changing – you must adapt.

• Keep updated on local conditions where your clients are.  Tools such as Google Trends can help with understanding how things are and give you insights into the current mindset of your customers.
• Understand your performance metrics.  Be willing to make adjustments. If your conversion rates are changing dramatically, you should make adjustments to your Smart Bidding in your ad campaigns during COVID-19. 
• If needed, pause ad groups or specific ads.  Adjust ads for products and services, and if you’re not certain of inventory or restocking times, consider pausing those ads or mark them “out of stock.”
• Try tools to help you adapt more intelligently.  If you’re using Google Ads as part of your Ad Campaigns during COVID-19, they have a mobile app for both Apple and Android that can keep you connected to your ad campaigns.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin. 

Make sure your business is able to adapt to change so that you can emerge from this stronger and able to provide better service to your customers, and not have to spend months or even years recovering from the impact of this pandemic.