Coronavirus is affecting lives and business of all shapes and sizes. Whether your firm is online or a physical store, by now you would have felt the ramifications of the pandemic on the economy. In this T-Time video, our MD, Mark Tillison, shares his thoughts on how COVID-19 could be impacting your Google Ads campaigns and what you can do about it.
Step 1:
Show you are still open for business
(0:53) Continue to create confidence in customers who are looking to buy your products or services and show them you are still open for business; if you are able to continue trading throughout this time then you need to let people know. However, if you are not, then now is probably a good time to close or pause your Google Ads campaigns temporarily. The caveat to this is if you have a long sales funnel, you may need to consider leaving it on, at least in a reduced capacity.
Think of the long term
If you’re providing a service such as a wedding or an event that is months away, some of these steps are not critical, but if you are still serving customers right now, then Step 1 would be to add callout extensions to your ads:
- Go to your campaigns
- Extensions
- Add callout extensions
- Add “Business as usual” or something similar to show you are still providing a service
This will reassure people that you are still open for business.
Step 2:
Update your ad copy
(02:41) Revising your ad copy with statements like “we are open for business as usual” shows that you are still able to provide your product or service as normal.
Step 3:
Update your landing page
(03:08) When someone clicks on your ad and lands on your website, you want them to know right away that you are open for business. There are a number of ways to do this, and the most popular is by adding a banner on your landing page; the copy should be short and to the point, and perhaps link to a longer statement elsewhere on your site that gives more information on the situation.
Step 4:
Add a new page to your website outlining your efforts during the pandemic
(03:45) Create a helpful page to your website that customers can link to outlining the effect COVID-19 is having on your business and staff (if necessary). You can also use this opportunity to let customers know what you are doing to get things back to normal and what kind of service they can expect in the meantime. If delivery times or phone support are subject to change, this is the place to inform your client base.
Step 5:
Research what’s trending
(05:07) Use Google Trends to keep an eye on how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted your industry within the last 90 days. Monitoring these trends will give you a clearer picture of how this pandemic has impacted the amount of Google searches there are on your products or services. By keeping an eye on these, you will be able to make the best informed decisions for your business moving forward.
Following these five steps during these uncertain times should help your business and Google Ads campaigns be in the best possible place during and after COVID-19. There has never been a more important time to pay attention to your digital marketing strategy.
