Let’s take a look at some trends we are observing in PPC and how we can minimize their impact on PPC campaigns.
Virus Search Trends
While we have seen some global epidemics in the 21st century, Coronavirus has caught more attention than any other epidemic. Swine Flu & Zika Virus caused ripples around the world in 2009 & 2016 respectively but did not leave a major impact across the search world.
Ebola had a death rate of 40%. It saw a sudden spike in interest in 2014. On the other hand, Coronavirus has substantially lower death of 2-3% and has seen a rapid & large increase in search, shockingly.
Cleaning Product Performance
While we have seen the damage, on the flip side Coronavirus brought a positive impact too. For example, search interest has dramatically increased for protective products as shown below.
It is very important to note here that only a handful of advertisers are likely to benefit from this.
Thus, if you are one of them – Congratulations, you will survive this pandemic.
What shall others do?
How to manage your PPC campaigns during COVID-19?
If your target location is a lockdown, then you can’t do anything but wait for the situation to get normal. However if your audience is only in a self-quarantine state, you may adopt the following strategy.
Google Shopping
Ecommerce retail advertisers can rejoice. There is also good news for them. Governments and health agencies have directed people to stay at home to avoid the spread of a virus or getting infected. These people are avoiding public stores by going self-quarantine. However, they still need their everyday products. This created a gap and online shopping is its answer. Google shopping and other e-commerce search campaigns are expected to see an increase in volume over the next few weeks or even months.
Put your maximum budget on Google shopping campaigns or any other e-commerce campaign. Don’t increase your product prices unless there is an actual need to do so.
Keyword Volume
Coronavirus search terms are likely to be infiltrating your search terms. While your business has nothing to do with Coronavirus related queries, it is still better to double or triple check search reports daily.
Just because you’re not seeing any virus related terms does not mean that your account may not be impacted. Let’s say for example – you’re a travel or event business. There are high chances that you may observe an increase in brand-related search terms. These brand searches might contain other qualifiers like “cancellation” or “refund”.
Conclusion
We are not sure when will this pandemic end…
…But we are pretty sure that it will shatter the world economy.
Many businesses will be shut. Many jobs will be lost.
For PPC advertisers & businesses dealing with digital marketing, it is important to take advantage of online media. It is better to increase your product length when you are not dealing with any e-commerce product at the moment.
Good news – Google has announced that it would credit round $340 million to small businesses.
Amol has helped catalyse business growth with his strategic & data-driven methodologies. With a decade of experience in the field of marketing, he has donned multiple hats, from channel optimization, data analytics and creative brand positioning to growth engineering and sales.
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