Well not quite 1999, but I bet many of you would love to go back to the prices of the mid-2000s for CPCs and CPMs on Facebook and Google.

Well, right now, we are seeing these incredibly low prices back again.

Since so many businesses have paused or withdrawn social and search campaigns the price of advertising on these platforms is lower than I’ve seen it in years.

Here’s a case study on current CPC and CPM in financial services:

Pre-COVID19 one finance sector client was paying around $2-$5 per click and around $80-$90 per conversion on Google. So we were already smashing industry benchmarks and the client was more than happy with the performance of their campaigns.

But in the last two weeks, we’ve seen their average CPC drop to $0.79 and their cost per conversion to a CRAZY $20.

And Facebook ad impressions are around 75% cheaper than a few weeks ago.

Where we had been paying $5 per 1000 impressions, they’re getting the same number of impressions right now for around $1.50.

Add to this, the fact that the entire world is stuck at home staring at their mobile phone, and you’ve got the world’s attention available at the cheapest price in over a decade.

But is now a good time to market?

Well according to Prof. Mark Ritson, those who advertise through a recession, come out with greater market share at the other end: The best marketers will be upping, not cutting, their budgets.

As far as inbound goes, this is the PERFECT time to be generating leads, ready to warm up as you get back to business, for three reasons:

• Cheaper CPCs and CPMs as noted above
• Demand for content is 5x the norm right now according to content guru, Brian Dean
• When we get back to business it's going to be a dog fight like you've never seen for your audiences attention - so the smart play is to capture it now.

And remember to think about the customer journey.

What can a lead or potential customer do at this time?

Can they buy from you? Maybe they can Pre-order? Have you got eCommerce set up for this?

If not, how can you capture and nurture them to win that business when things return to a new normal?

If you set your campaign up properly using the right tools, you could see an enormous rebound effect once lockdown ends.

In times of great challenge, there’s always enormous opportunity - you just need to think about your strategy.

Check out my blog post for further thoughts on marketing smarter before you market harder.