Should I Be Advertising During A Pandemic?

This flowchart isn’t quite as fun as a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book, but hopefully it is helpful for advertisers out there who are hesitant to start ads or turn them back on. For most advertisers I’m working with in the small business category (under 500 employees), it is STILL worth it to advertise. For many local businesses (restaurants, massage therapists, dentists, chiropractic offices, elective and cosmetic surgeons, hair stylists...etc) it’s not worth it to continue advertising. 

For others, such as online retailers who saw a slight or drastic dip in sales at the beginning of the stay-at-home orders & school closures, they have seen revenue go back up slightly, or even are looking at conversion rates and ROI the same, if not better, than before the pandemic spending panic. For those individuals who are seeing the gradual climb in sales back to normal, (aka sales increased by at least 15% in the last 7-14 days) you should continue advertising. Right now, many industries and channels are seeing record low CPCs and record high clicks. Source This means, businesses will attain higher engagement rates at even lower cost because competition is low. If your conversion rate is increasing right now, your ROI should go UP for many industries! It may be the best time to advertise. Make sure to adjust your messaging so you don’t sound tone deaf to the pandemic

Lastly, you may be seeing decreases in conversion rate without any sort of increase or minimal gains in the last couple of weeks. That means your product, service or audience has drastically changed in today’s pandemic economy. Unless you want to burn cash, and INVEST in long-term branding gains and top-of-the-funnel awareness set advertising, you should pause all or most of your ads until the economy gets back to normal for your business. For the business who cannot sell in this environment currently, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. 

Look for ways to solve pandemic problems - how can your company help in some way? 

What are the problems your audience has or what product/solution can you manufacture to solve current day problems? 

For instance, if 80% of your business revenue comes from in-person consulting, you need to find out how to transition in-persons to online consulting or online trainings. Another example: if 80% of your revenue comes from selling to schools, what product or service can you transition to moms that are now the teachers? Finally, say 100% of your revenue is Brick & Mortar services (hairstyling, facials, dining, etc), find a way to serve your clients with pick-up or delivery options, DIY videos, Facetime or Zoom consultation calls, for instance. The point is to find that new need and see how you can fill it. Where there’s a will, there's a way! Best of luck, stay safe, and well, stay SANE!