Another Reason to Keep Marketing During Coronavirus
Summer 2020 Olympic Games: Postponed.
Major League Baseball: On hold.
Wimbledon Championships: Cancelled altogether.
Democratic National Convention: Pushed back.
COVID-19’s effects on big, important events certainly weren’t unexpected, with shelter-in-place and quarantine orders in place across the country and in most places in the world. After all, you can’t fill a stadium with fans – or have both offense and defense at a ball game – during this new normal.
What might have been slightly less predictable for those unfamiliar with the nuances of digital marketing is that coronavirus also set off a drop in the cost of advertising, not only on traditional media like television, but also advertising on digital channels, like social media ads and search ads.
Why Digital Ads Cost Less Now
Most people took a basic economics class in high school or college. In that class, you probably learned about supply and demand. If not, here’s a quick, oversimplified primer:
Supply and demand is a microeconomic model of price determination in a market. It says when demand for a good or service is high and inventory is low, the price of the item will be high. Conversely, when the demand is low, but inventory is normal or overstocked, the price will drop (or stay at regular market price).
If you need a tangible example, take gas prices. Unlike toilet paper, people are using less fuel for their vehicles because they’re staying home, requiring gas stations to fill their pumps less frequently. With a lower demand for fuel (among other factors, of course), gas prices have dropped to some of the lowest we’ve seen during the past several years.
Similarly, lots of advertisers, against most professional marketers’ advice, have pulled back on their ads, either to save money or because their non-essential businesses are temporarily closed. Advertising outlets, seeing a drop in sales, have subsequently lowered their fees in response to their low-demand product. With low demand and inexpensive prices, now is an incredible time to continue or start a digital marketing campaign on social media or search ad outlets.
What Happened in Social Media
Even though people are stuck at home and consuming more social media than ever before, companies advertising on Facebook pulled back their campaigns in response to the economic shock of the global pandemic.
In response, prices in Facebook’s ad auctions plunged between February and March, an observation we made here at iFocus Marketing, too. In March, the cost of a Facebook ad that reaches 1,000 users dropped 15 to 20 percent from February, making Facebook ads a veritable bargain compared to its rates from just the beginning of 2020. Instagram, too, became even more affordable. The cost of 1,000 impressions fell 22 percent. Google also saw a similar drop in pricing at the same time.
Then, there’s the big event lynchpin. Advertisers were prepared to drop millions, if not billions, of dollars in ad spend to promote their products and services during the Olympics, Major League Baseball, and even political campaigns. With these events not moving forward as planned and advertisers hitting the pause button on their efforts, digital outlets, like Facebook, are trying to persuade these companies to reallocate their budget to affordable digital advertising methods with even lower campaign costs.
Digital Ad Prices Regularly Change
Just as stock prices vary day-by-day, so, too, do the cost of impressions on social media and paid search. That is to say, just because Facebook ad prices are low today, does not mean that they will not be on the rise tomorrow.
And with Americans poised to receive stimulus checks to the tune of $1,200 per person, $2,400 for couples, and an additional $500 per child, businesses are hopeful consumers will turn to their favorite brands and companies to spend that money.
Because ad prices fluctuate, watching the market and capitalizing on low prices is a money-saving strategy for businesses needing to maintain their bottom line without losing out on lead generation and conversions via social media.
How Digital Advertising Can Help Your Business During the Pandemic
In March, Facebook reported a 50 percent increase in messaging, including video messaging, on its site as a result of stay-at-home orders in place around the world. That means more and more people are spending longer amounts of time on social media as a way to pass the hours and stay in contact with family and friends. They’re also engaging with the app, including through organic posts, and as an extension, paid ads, in seeking out normalcy of the way things were before COVID-19.
Now is the perfect time to target this captive audience with ads about your products and services, even if you have to keep your spend low. Today’s inexpensive ad costs maximize your results on minimum funding.
Our social media advertising experts at iFocus Marketing know how to hone in on your target audience, call them to action, get them thinking about your brand, and get you a return on your investment, even when you’re spending the bare bones of your budget on digital advertising.
Contact us today to keep your social media and paid search ads going strong, while digital ad rates are too good to pass up. We’re ready to help you improve your brand awareness and generate new customer leads.
