After these last months, everyone knows that the Coronavirus pandemic has fundamentally changed the business world across the board.

We are all aware that hundreds of companies have shut down indefinitely—and some even permanently. Those lucky enough to switch paradigms and maintain open operations in a brand new climate are facing a ton of uncertainty as they try to keep things moving in the right direction. 

For these companies, there are only two options:

• Adapt, survive, maintain and potentially thrive
• Fall far behind those who have figured out how to navigate these uncertain waters and possibly never be able to reopen

The unfortunate truth is that many companies are succumbing to the latter route – especially when it comes to PPC advertising. Case in point, recent reports show that Facebook and Google stand to lose over $44 billion in ad revenue due to the global shutdown.

While this situation isn’t ideal for anyone, the silver lining is that those who adjust their PPC strategies strategically could be guaranteed to be spit out of it in pretty good shape.

Let’s dig into the many ways you can adjust your approach to better serve your target audience during these trying times.

PPC Tips During a Global Pandemic?

Before getting into more industry and situation-specific PPC tips, let’s discuss some essential adjustments all companies should be making during the Coronavirus shutdown.

Tip #1: Don’t delay – Make quick adjustments and take immediate action

During “normal” times, PPC best practices dictate that research for as much data as you can find so you can be very certain your next campaign will succeed.

During this uncharted territory for everyone, the clear certainty is uncertainty. Absolutely no one is really clear what will and won’t work with regard to PPC campaigns right now.

The only ones who will figure it out are those who jump in the deep end and immediately put their campaigns into action.

Of all the times to have an open mind, this is it.

• If you don’t try and educated guess, you’ll never know if it would have worked and you could fall even further behind your competitors
• If you try and fall short, you’ll have data on how to adjust your approach moving forward
• If you try and succeed…you can play all the cool songs you want and dance around the house while you celebrate and plan your next course of action

Now, as far as collecting performance data goes, you don’t have much time to spare. This is a rapid change time for data and companies need to make agile decisions regarding PPC campaigns.

The goal should be to get ultra-granular here, assessing your campaign performance by the hour and day.

Tip #2: Polish your messaging and be ultra-sensitive

Apply this to all PPC ads and any other content you create throughout the current pandemic:

Your messaging must be sensitive and empathetic to both your target audience and the world as a whole.

Failure to heed this advice – even semi-unintentionally – is guaranteed to lead to the backlash:

Or, your ad might not even be approved in the first place. Make sure any ad will not offend your audience – but will still do good for your company.

What you want to do is create ads that showcase the value of your product or service during the trying times your audience is currently experiencing.

As many brands have pulled off, this likely means focusing on how your brand fits into your audience’s new temporary way of life.

The PPC industry as a whole has changed entirely in the last couple of months and who knows what the market will bring over the next 3-12 months (or longer).

As companies adapt during these times and continue to grow, it will give employees some sense of security in a very uncertain world. Make a flexible framework on how to make these tough decisions and how to best adapt these challenging times.