How To Corona-Proof Your Digital Marketing, (Paid Ads & SEO)

Whether you’re doing Google Ads or Facebook Ads, It’s no secret many businesses are choosing to simply Pause all campaigns. How about considering this…

Service based Businesses

If you provide Psychotherapist services, or a Yoga business, how about offering to provide the same service via a video link instead, using a software such as Zoom, or Skype? I’ve been doing martial arts for the last 5 years. As of this week, I have setup a Zoom account for my sensei and we now have our classes online. Not perfect yet, but hey, it’s a start! Might sound hard at first, but in practice, it’s quite simple to setup. You may just discover a completely new income stream to your business. What this now means is adapting Google Ads campaigns instead of Pausing it to help attract new customers. Take away or Pause keywords such as NEAR ME, or LOCAL and simply replace with ONLINE. Take away OPENING Times, as being Online, you can take Appointments any time and mutually decide what time the actual appointment will take place.

eCommerce Businesses

If you have an ecommerce business with traffic on your website, how about diversifying your product ranges to something which is currently in demand due to the lock-down we are all experiencing. New Niches to consider maybe

• Toys for your pets
• Selling Online training courses
• Air humidifiers, hygiene products
• Health & Wellbeing products
• Gardening

Just think, we are in a lockdown situation. What are the types of products people might want during this period for their health, mindset, children or pets? If you already have the traffic, and have an ecommerce facility to take payments, then capitalise on it! If You already have the Google Ads campaigns, just amend your Google Ads to cater for the new products you do have. Pause all campaigns for the products you may not wish to promote for now, and re-channel your money or budget into your new range  

The Opportunities are endless

  What you must do is start to think Outside the box What online course can you setup yourself to train people in your areas of expertise? Put yourself out of your comfort zone. To conclude, here’s a quick checklist, from purely a Google Ads campaign perspective, for things to think about. Think outside the box in terms of alternative or complimentary services you can provide Get specific about how to use your budget, how much you should allocate to each campaign. Pause various campaigns Allow campaigns to run only during certain hours of the day and times of the week? Change your Ads to reflect the new services When changing Ads, be sensitive to your TOV (Tone-Of-Voice) in your headlines & descriptions, the terminology you use. Create Promotion Extensions. It’s so simple to do this with Google Ads, and they are very effective. Update your shipping timescales/prices, whether your goods are available for in-store pickup, or delivery only, whether your services are Online Only. Just be very clear and concise. Have a think what offers you can create to incentivize people to book an appointment with you, or to buy from you. It doesn’t always have to be a discount It could be added value. For example,

• Free 20-minute consultation
• Book 2 appointments and get third one free
• Deferred Payments!
• Pay Monthly options

Be sensitive to the types of images / videos you use for Display Ads (i.e. maybe avoid images with large gatherings). Use tools such as Google Trends to pick up signals of what’s trending in your locality and   This brings us nicely onto SEO, (Search Engine Optimization) For those of you who don’t know, SEO is the process of getting your website ranked and listed within the organic section of a search engine, such as Google. With SEO, regardless of how many times people click on your links to visit your site, you never pay a penny to anyone. I’ll cover SEO in more detail in another episode, so feel free to Subscribe. SEO isn’t not always taken seriously enough by many businesses, as it’s a long-term strategy. But what they don’t always realize is time goes fast. Before you know it, months have gone by and then years. Had you started an SEO campaign some time ago, you stand a good chance of getting rankings for your keywords, and a constant stream of Leads & Sales from Organic traffic. If you have an SEO strategy in-place then: Consider redirecting some, or even all your PPC budget, toward an SEO strategy. Whilst your Google Ads may be down, or paused, take advantage of the time by speaking to your agency There’s has never been a better time to review your digital marketing strategy What this will mean is you’ll come out a lot stronger by the time the corona virus lockdown is over. Better rankings for existing keywords Discover new opportunities for keywords you may not currently be marketing. Now is the right time Have a listen to my episode 2, where I discuss conducting simple keyword research Maybe before you didn’t have the budget to target your SEO campaigns for some other keywords. Maybe before you didn’t have the budget to go stronger with your blogging, or your link building activities, or your content development strategies Why waste time? Now is the time  

On the other hand, if you don’t have an SEO strategy in place

There’s no better time to implement one NOW! “cash is king” as one of my colleagues sad to me. And I agree with him whole heartedly. But if finances allow, Do it With SEO you’re not 100% dependent on paid search In fact, your business should never ever be in a situation whereby you are dependent on just one channel of traffic. Think about it, by having a good distribution of channels, you’re reducing your dependency on any one of them. Do something and do something now. Get an SEO strategy developed now! Doesn’t have to be a major SEO campaign, but just do one Ensure your on-page optimization is done.

• Title Tag
• H Tags
• Sitemaps
• Site Content
• Implement link nurturing strategy
• If you have a paid search campaign, why not take intelligence from that and use it to your advantage within your SEO strategy

All things to think about So, on a closing note: Similar strategies can be applied to another other channel you are using whether it be Keep active in Social media, Facebook, twitter, Instagram, whatever you use. Keep up your engagements LinkedIn. Start connecting to your potential audience and start building relationships, offering value Email – As with LinkedIn, keep delivering Value. If you have a new product or service, especially one that can buy and utilize online, email them. Google My Business – Its Free and helps to generate a decent amount of traffic due to the way it emphasized on the Google SERPs page. It’s especially good if you have a business whereby you have premises like a Shop, a clinic, a car garage etc.  So, make sure you not only submit to it but ensure your GMB listings are constantly optimized. And so, on   Use this time to learn new skill sets.  

So, on a closing note

I’ll be placing some online courses on my website, PPCGuy.co.uk shortly which you can use to better understand digital marketing, as well as wellbeing courses, and new skillsets.

If you want to discuss any of the strategies I outlined in his episode, please get in touch via PPCGuy.co.uk/ppc-quote

Finally, I’d just like to say Thank you to our Hero’s, The NHS, our doctors around the world who are the front line, putting their own lives at risk in order to help us all. Goodbye, take care and please, be safe.