Google Ads in times of crisis - how do you do that?

Guest blog by Marijn Quartel from Signable

The Corona era has had a significant impact on many organizations. Where some companies come to a complete standstill, other industries see enormous growth. For example, think of Zoom which 378% had more users compared to last year, but also think of the providers of electronic signatures which have also grown strongly.

Signable is one of these electronic signature providers, and in recent weeks they have seen growth in Google Ads of more than 100% for the number of trial subscriptions for their service.

Now the question is, how to advertise during a crisis, how do you do this? Everyone hates individuals and companies who aggressively take advantage of a situation like this. For example, consider Rumag which Lubach sharply denounced was asked. But of course you also have the companies that offer a product that helps other organizations very well. 

In this article I will take you through the advertisements we have placed as Signable and how we have worked in this time.

1. Clear rules in the team about the advertising style
   A subject like Corona can be sensitive and you don't want to be labeled as a profiteer. If you want to play it safe, you can choose not to mention the situation by its name, but to promote the benefits of your product.  

Take this ad from Microsoft Teams as an example. This came up in the search “work from home” and only lists the benefits of Microsoft teams that now apply. “Call from anywhere” & “Host meetings” are good examples of this.
We ran similar campaigns where we identified the benefits of electronic signatures such as “send contracts from anywhere” and “Let business go on”.

2. Create a new campaign in your Google Ads account

Why? Because you may want to turn off the campaign after a certain time. This campaign is now super relevant and that's where success will lie. Over time you will see that the clicks decrease and that the conversions also slow down or even drop.
In addition, it is important that your other campaigns continue as normal. For example, if you create a new ad group in an already existing campaign, you will see that the new ad group may already take the budget or that the other campaign will perform less well.

Make sure to set the bidding strategy to “Maximum clicks” with this new campaign. This will get the fastest results and get the most information.

3. Set your keywords
   We will now play with keywords. How to find the right keywords for your ad. A lot of blogs have already been written about this, but my personal tactic for these kinds of campaigns is to look at Google trends. You start by coming up with 7 to 10 keywords that your customers are now looking for. You can choose these keywords by feeling, but also take a look at your search console and the current advertisements on which you have been found in recent days.

In Google trends, you enter the keywords and see if there is a trend. Then choose the three that you have the most confidence in based on the collected data and put them in your campaign as Broad, [Exact] and “Phrase” keywords. With this you grab all possible variants of your keyword and you immediately know whether Google Ads also thinks there is enough interest. If you have found the three keywords, you will eventually have 9 different search keywords in your Google account.

4. Make the right ads

When creating the ads, it is recommended to make at least 1 text ad and 1 responsive ad. You prefer to add an extra text ad, so that Google has enough to test. You want the best in these Ads {keywords} use which make your ad even more relevant. This option ensures that the search query that someone is looking for ends up in your ad.
Imagine; you, I'm looking for "Home Work Software" and the ad has "the best {keyword} listed, then I'll see" The Best Home Work Software "in Google.

PAY ATTENTION! When creating your ad, pay particular attention to the ad style you chose in step 1 and stick to it. 

5. Refine, refine, refine

You now run the ad and every day you look at "search terms" here you can see exactly what people have searched. Have any keywords come up that you didn't have? Add them if they are relevant. If you are found on searches that are not relevant, use them as a negative keyword. Over time, your ad becomes more targeted and Google increasingly understands where the ad belongs. 

Do you notice that your ads are starting to run well and that you are getting more conversions? Great, convert your bid strategy now into maximum conversions or Target CPA if you are comfortable with this.

With these steps you are already well on your way with a strategy for your campaigns during crisis times. Do you want more tips about Google Ads? Then read also this article about optimizing Google Ads!