COVID-19, also known as coronavirus, has upended life across the globe. Not only are millions of people staying home, but they’re significantly changing their shopping habits to reflect the new reality: an indefinite period of social distancing and isolation.

While our primary concern with the new coronavirus should always be for the public’s health and well-being, we also have to consider the economic impact of this virus. Businesses are struggling to find customers during the COVID-19 outbreak. These days, it’s not unheard-of for a small business to shutter its doors for good.

If you’ve also lost a swath of customers, you aren’t alone. But instead of closing your doors, now is the best time to promote yourself. It may require big changes for the business and a dash of creativity, but you can keep revenue coming into your business with the right marketing mix, even during a pandemic.

While many brands are pausing their Google Ads campaigns entirely to preserve their budget, that might not be the best move. Sure, there’s an undeniable drop in consumer interest in certain sectors, but your business can still run a PPC campaign during the coronavirus panic.

Strategies to try before pausing PPC

Don’t make hasty decisions based on financial panic. When you adjust your PPC offering the right way, you can get more online traffic and revenue during critical moments like this. In fact, with more advertisers pausing their campaigns, you stand to see improved CPCs as a result of less competition.

Follow these 5 tips to overhaul your PPC during COVID-19 before you pause your campaigns.

Change your offer

It’s no secret that marketing is the first thing to go when a business has a financial crisis. But right now isn’t the time to cut off your PPC: this strategy gives brands a much-needed lifeline to your customers right now.

If you’re in an industry like travel, events, or car sales, your business has likely been decimated by COVID-19, since people just aren’t leaving their houses. It might be time to adjust your business’s value proposition so you can still boost sales—digitally.

Yes, it’s possible to create a digital experience for just about any business, but it requires adjusting your business model. It’s going to feel disruptive, but disruption is what you need to financially survive coronavirus.

How can you take your business online? If you’re already online and need more sales, how can you change your offer and entice people to buy?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, that might look like:

Creating an experience: Creating a VR game where customers can test-drive your cars or visit an exotic travel location.
Selling more essential consumer products: If you can get into the toilet paper game right now, you’ll have no shortage of customers. The same goes for toiletries, soap, and medical equipment.
Switching to delivery-only: If you have a physical location, offer your products through delivery only. Make shipping or delivery free to encourage more orders.
Giving: Some brands are giving away a free roll of toilet paper with every online purchase. How can you fulfill customers’ pain points right now? This is how you deliver value and forge customer relationships.
Encouraging prepaid gift cards at a discount: Invite customers to pre-pay for gift cards and services right now, which they can use in a few months. Offer a small discount to encourage people to book now, putting more cash in your pocket when you need it most.

You can’t have a successful PPC campaign if your offer doesn’t click with the audience. That’s why it’s essential to brainstorm a new offer that’s more relevant to quarantined customers. It’s not easy, but if you can pivot your business, you’ll see more PPC success in the short-term to keep your business afloat.

Give discounts or specials

If it’s not possible to pivot your offering, or your offering is already optimized for digital, you can boost click-throughs with discounts. We aren’t saying you need to slash your prices by 80%, but that your PPC ads should give more incentives than usual to encourage gun-shy shoppers to pull the trigger.

However, you need to use discounting carefully. More often than not, customers associate cheaper products with lower quality.

When offering discounts or specials, try:

Offering free shipping. Customers expect free shipping today, especially during the coronavirus quarantine.
Selling a bonus pack or a collection of your most popular products.
Offering a BOGO deal.

Avoid discounting the cost of an actual product. Instead, offer value in other ways to your customers. This encourages them to convert without diluting your brand value.

Focus on eCommerce

The silver lining of the coronavirus epidemic is that eCommerce platforms, like Google Shopping, are performing very well. As more people hunker down at home, they rely on eCommerce to fulfill their needs.

Now’s the time to invest heavily in your product-related PPC on Amazon Ads and Google Shopping. However, watch which products you promote. Focus more heavily on essential home goods, pet food, medical supplies, and snacks. These are the products that convert better during COVID-19.

The bottom line

Current events have always affected PPC, but in the midst of a global pandemic, it’s hard to balance your PPC campaign budget. Normalcy will return, but in the meantime, don’t pause your PPC campaigns. Make these 5 adjustments first, measure the results, and then make rational decisions based on the data. Who knows? Your business might go from simply surviving to thriving during this dark time.

But you’d be hard-pressed to find a business that isn’t struggling right now. If you want to get more business during the coronavirus economic downturn, get in touch with Logical Media Group. We’ll help you get creative with your PPC, SEO, and website to keep revenue coming to your business.