COVID-19, most commonly known as the “coronavirus”, is negatively impacting the world of business. No one is safe from its effects, literally and figuratively. Even giants like Facebook and Google are losing in the billions, while airline, cruise, and travel companies continue to get pummelled as they reel off the effects of the pandemic.
With the global markets plunging, economic analysts are seeing a recession. Transport, e-commerce, food and lodging, online stores, and even coffee shops are taking a hit.
This leads to media outlets and publications saying that it’s a bad time for digital marketing
and advertising as sales keep plummeting and profits are down.
Obviously, we share a different opinion.
We believe that your business, however large or small, can capitalise on the next three
months to bolster your online presence, and create an uptick of activity while everyone else is taking the backseat.
Businesses are allocating their marketing and advertising budget to other essential components of their business. In fact, industry analysts say that most digital advertisers and business owners who highly depend on digital sales have decreased their budgets – some have even totally put their online ads on hold.
This may be a logical, short term move as the virus continues to spread. Large companies and multinational corporations such as banks, telecommunications, transportation, and IT are the biggest advertisers, and they’ll have to support their people before running a PR stunt or a global marketing campaign. Let’s face it: the marketing budget is the first to go.
Because of this, new brands and start-ups have the unique opportunity to jumpstart their brand recognition and awareness campaigns for a reasonably lower price.
Since big businesses are currently “down for the count”, and are not spending money on Facebook, Google, and other advertising platforms, you should take advantage of the lessened ad rates right now.
Let’s illustrate this change with Google Display Ads, currently being used by one of our clients.
On March 1, CPC (Cost Per Click) rate was $0.28
On March 5 CPC (Cost Per Click) dipped further to $0.08
On March 10 the CPC (Cost Per Click) plunged to the bottom with $0.01
We witnessed the same behavior in almost all of our clients using the most popular platforms for digital advertising.
One important thing that we’ve learned from our collective experience in the digital marketing industry is that, when there is an opportunity, you should seize it.
Although unfortunate, the global outbreak lends itself as a chance for smaller companies and startups to generate 10 to a hundred more hits for your website at a fraction of the cost of typical digital advertising rates.
While you won’t see this create an immediate impact to your revenue streams, you’ll definitely reap the benefits and the virus is, hopefully, cured and news fizzles out. When that happens, you’ve built a sturdy foundation for a great remarketing campaign, allowing you to reach tens, hundreds, or even thousands of prospective clients in the long run – all while only spending the same or even smaller amount of your marketing and advertising budget.
Another key thing that you should be looking at is the behaviour of your core customer segments during this outbreak. While consumer demand is down, it will never disappear, especially in this constantly connected world.
In countries like China, Italy, and South Korea, people have dramatically shifted their shopping activity online, including food delivery. Gaming consoles such as the Sony Playstation 4 and the Nintendo Switch are also seeing a rise in sales due to more people staying at home.
Thus, companies should invest online, not only as part of their service and product distribution, but also with their advertising and marketing efforts.
“If I have $1,000 allocated for ads in a month, I will split it 50/50 to spend on Google and Facebook. This is how 100,000 people will know about my business during the Coronavirus outbreak. If I have $1,000 more a month later, I will split it again 50/50 on the same platforms. This is how I can sustain the interest of 100,000 people, probably even more, who will have my business in mind after the Coronavirus outbreak.” – Nikolay Stoyanov, Founder & CEO of Influence Vibes.”
