FREE Ad Credits for Businesses from Google and Facebook during COVID

My take on the Small Business Grant and the FREE ad credits for businesses from Facebook and Google:

If you’re a small business and have advertised on Google or Facebook in the past two years then you have a decent shot at getting ad credit (it’s their form of a grant) to advertise more on these platforms.

No. I don’t think either of these companies plan on just giving out money. I do believe that these grants will be approved in the form of ad credits for future advertising on both of their ad platforms.

Many popular articles have been released within the past 2-3 days talking about this, such as CNBC talking about Google’s announcement of the ad credits, and Facebook’s announcement talking about their small business grant program.

Neither Facebook or Google have officially released their applications, but I assume they will be available in the near future.

Google announced that they are pledging $800 Million. This is how that money will be allocated.

• $340 Million to Small Business Ad Grants if you have been using Google Ads since January 2019.
• A $200 million investment fund that will help NGOs and financial institutions provide small businesses with capital
• $250 million in advertising grants to help the World Health Organization and government agencies offer information on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19
• $20 million in Google Cloud credits for academic institutions and researchers
• Unspecified financial support to help increase production capacity for lifesaving equipment, including face masks and ventilators.

Facebook also announced that they are pledging $100 Million. This is how that money will be allocated.

• Facebook said the grants will be available for up to 30,000 eligible small businesses in over 30 countries. That would be an average of $3,333 per business.

So what does this mean for small businesses?

This means that if you have advertised on either of these ad platforms since 2019 that you should apply.

I would suggest reading all updates and articles and following these companies on Twitter for announcements.

You can read Google’s announcement from their CEO Sundar Pichai on their website or his Twitter @SundarPichai.

You can read Facebook’s announcement on their website talking about their grant policy where you can sign up for updates.

I don’t know when these will be approved and officially released online. All I do know is that you should take advantage of any offer of free money or ad credits during a time like this.

Here are some other thoughts on what you can do as a small business owner in terms of marketing and advertising moving forward during this crazy Coronavirus Crisis.

• Apply for any grants, 0% interest loans, ad credits and more.
  • Get money to help with cash flow to retain or attract new customers wherever possible.
• Take time to reflect on your business. Create a SWOT analysis.
  • What are you doing right and wrong? What can you improve. Now is the time to think and plan.
• Take action on the things you have needed to achieve or create in your business but never had time to.
  • This could be rebuilding your website, communicating with old customers, creating a new operational procedure, and more.
• Rebuild your website and online presence.
  • Fix your page speed, make it mobile-friendly, implement a better intake system.
• Focus on SEO.
  • Audit your search engine presence and start creating a plan of action by fixing your website and local SEO.
• Collect and review data.
  • Review your customer lists. Start segmenting customers and emails. Find out who your best customers are and how to get more of them.
• Review your team and HR process.
  • Are you hiring and training correctly. Do you have the proper paperwork and infrastructure?

Thanks so much for reading more about the Free Ad Credits for Businesses in this week’s Marketing Blog. This is a very difficult and stressful time for everyone right now. So many businesses are closing and filing for bankruptcy. If you have any questions about these ad grants and free money from Google and Facebook just comment below!

Don’t panic. Don’t give up. Now is the time to reflect, revise, and rebuild.

Thanks and Happy Monday!

Shop Small.