Google recently announced they would be handing out $340 million in ad credits to small- and medium-sized businesses to help them mitigate the impacts of COVID-19. While there’s no word yet on how much the credit will be (it’s supposed to vary from business to business based on location and past spend), the credits are supposed to start hitting accounts late May and will need to be used by the end of 2020.
Google will determine who is eligible for the credit based on two main spend requirements:
- Google Ads spend during at least 10 of the 12 months in 2019.
- Google Ads spend during January and/or February of this year.
Regardless of whether or not your organization gets a piece of the $340 million, now is probably a good time for you to start thinking about how you are going to ramp up your paid media campaigns as the industry starts to recover. Here are some ideas to get you going:
- If you’ve paused your paid media completely, start by focusing on brand terms first to draw visitors back into the funnel.
- Do you have a great video showcasing your destination? Run a YouTube campaign to inspire your visitors.
- What about your partners? They could probably use some extra exposure via listings from your site.
- Many are anticipating drive markets to be the first to bounce back. How will you speak to them and what can you offer to entice them to visit as soon as they’re able?
- If budget is an issue, focus on remarketing campaigns. Although website traffic is down significantly, there are still people visiting your website today and planning their next getaway - whenever that may be. Cookie all your website visitors, segment them into groups (converters, non-converters, foodies, etc.) and craft messages around the content they’re interested in to keep your destination top of mind.
If you have any questions or need help implementing one of these campaigns, please reach out to your account manager or digital media analyst for more details.
