With the world almost at a standstill because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, it can be tough to imagine how businesses can continue to operate. However, if all businesses would stop their operations, the economy will suffer, which means disaster for everyone.
It is therefore imperative that we all find a way to continue operating, but we must also be smart in doing so. Because many people are forced to stay at home, their only means of connection to the outside world is the internet.
We go online to search for news, to learn how to keep ourselves safe, and to purchase goods and services that we require for our everyday needs, and even to entertain ourselves. This means native ads can become your most powerful marketing tool (if done right). Follow these 6 steps:
Maximize the Use of Native Ads
Here are some tips to utilize native advertising to its fullest during a crisis like today:
1. Use your product or service as a solution to people’s woes.
You may think that the only things people need right now are food, hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and other important stuff. That’s not quite true. People may still be interested in buying from you, as long as you position your product properly.
Say, for instance, you are selling trinkets and small gifts. How can you entice people to purchase it? Why not market it as gifts to lighten people up? When forced to stay at home, people tend to get frustrated and gloomy. Small gifts can brighten up their days and keep them going. Have you noticed sales of board games, puzzles, and other traditional goods are skyrocketing?
2. Let your audience know that you are one with them in this fight.
Now is the time to let the people know that you are more than just a company that is making money off of them. Show them your company’s compassion by offering discounts and goodwill gifts. Not only will they appreciate even the little things; you may also build stronger relationships with your customers and strengthen their loyalty with you.
3. Observe the shift of your audience’s daily schedule.
It is likely that you have already discovered your best performing times for your campaigns. However, this must’ve all changed. People now check the internet throughout the day. Your dayparting schedule may perform differently now. Actually, there is a spike in activity in the evenings, so consider re-testing the best times of the day for your campaigns.
4. Manage your budget properly.
This may seem to be a typical piece of advice when running ads, but trust us when we say it’s different at a time like this when people are quarantined at home. Why? Because there is a surge in traffic, chances are your budget will be spent within the first half of the day. This means you won’t be able to reach your audience in the latter part of the day.
If you can, it would be best to increase your budget cap. If you have an elastic budget, you will benefit from this traffic surge even more.
Also, since some marketers’ budgets may not be as flexible as others, you can utilize the time by which their budgets cap out. When your competitors have reached their budget cap for the day, you will have fewer competitors to bid against, which equates to less advertising costs for you.
Here is where you can apply your new dayparting schedule. You can easily adjust the dayparting schedule of your campaigns within your Brax dashboard, as shown below.
So even if you have increased your budget, your average cost per click would still be lower. Click here to try Brax.io for free for 15 days.
5. Try other devices.
If you have focused your efforts on mobile devices, now may be the time to test desktop traffic. There is an increase in traffic from computers, probably because many people are now working from home. People can now browse for other things on their computers as they are not heavily monitored as they were at work (even the websites that are not safe for work)!
6. Be upfront with your offer.
While in the past, people are prone to impulse buying, we are seeing a shift in this behavior as well. People now have the luxury of time to research more information about your offer. This means you need to be upfront and honest about the products and services that you are marketing. The slightest misinformation can cause you to lose your customers.
For more ideas, check out our our tips on Native Advertising Best Practices for 2020.
Your business should not be put to a halt even when the physical shops are closing down. It’s time for you to maximize everything you’ve learned about internet marketing at this very moment when people’s eyes are almost always glued to the screen. Try to look at your product from a different angle in order to make it relevant at this very moment. Creativity is the key.
