Managing Display ads during uncertain times

As people spend more time at home–browsing websites, watching YouTube videos, checking Gmail, and using mobile apps– it’s never been as important to deliver a message that’s helpful. Here are some tips and tools to ensure your Display campaigns get the best results.

Manage volatility and simplify your campaign management

• Use ad scheduling to control the days and times when your ads appear. Proactively communicate any business changes to your users–such as reduced hours of operation–by updating your Business Profile page.
• Use location targeting to focus on the areas where your business can help. This will make sure your ads aren’t showing up in locations where your supply chain is disrupted or you can’t currently do business.
• Monitor performance of your audience segments, and if you need to prioritize, focus on remarketing and Customer Match audiences to stay connected with your existing customers.
• Move unused budget to the ads that need it the most using the ‘Move Unused Budget’ recommendation. Expand campaigns with increased demand using the ‘Raise Budgets’ recommendation in campaigns that are performing the best. Repeat every 1-2 weeks to ensure budget allocations are updated.
• Avoid paying over your target CPA with pay for conversions billing and Target CPA bidding. This can help you respond to unexpected shifts in consumer behavior, as you only pay when someone converts on your website or app.

Note: Your account must have more than 100 conversions in the last 30 days to use pay for conversions billing. You’ll also need 90% of your conversions to occur less than 7 days after someone clicks your ad.

• Use Smart Bidding to control spend and drive efficiency, and automatically react to changes in the market. For Target CPA and Target ROAS bid strategies, adjust your CPA and ROAS targets as needed to manage spend and meet your goals.
• If you need to save time, find additional customers, or just streamline your workflow, consider Smart Display campaigns. They can help by automatically optimizing towards your goals, taking the guesswork out of targeting, bidding, and ad creation.

Adapt your creative to fit the moment

• Stay up to date on insights and trends. To identify real-time insights that are relevant to your business, use Google Trends to explore what’s top of mind for your customers and how you can adjust your ads to meet changing expectations.
• Adjust your strategy quickly with responsive display ads, delivering the right message in a rapidly changing market.
• Conduct a thorough creative review of your existing responsive display ads with the asset report. Rather than refreshing an entire ad, focus your creative optimization on “low” performing headlines, descriptions and images.

Let Google help you find more customers

• Use audience insights to find relevant new audiences based on your remarketing and Customer Match lists.
• Use custom intent, in-market and life events audiences to reach new customers with high purchase intent. If your focus is brand awareness, also consider using affinity, custom affinity & detailed demographics to expand reach.
• Use audience expansion to reach new users that are predicted to give you the same or better conversion rates. Use similar audiences if you want more control over budget and creatives while finding new customers based on your first-party audiences.
• Maximize performance within your budget with Maximize conversions or Maximize clicks bidding. Use the budget to indicate your new spend goals. These will automatically tailor bids for each and every auction.