Novel Coronavirus Update

Aotearoa is currently at Alert Level 2 for Covid-19 (updated 28 May).

This means that all businesses are able to operate if they can do so while observing limits on group size and following health guidelines. Domestic travel has also resumed, although physical distancing guidelines remain in place.

As at the higher levels, anyone who is sick is required to stay at home unless seeking medical treatment (and in that case, to seek phone advice first).

The following tips are not as crucial as they were during levels 4 and 3, but we’d advise considering your specific industry and the implications of Level 2 before deciding when to resume paid advertising.

There are also many groups across social media promoting local businesses as we come out of lockdown, and these may be worth joining for the immediate term if you are ready to operate and looking for clients.

Tips for Level 4

Internet access is designated one of the essential services people need to remain informed and in social contact during this time, and while our in-person business arm will be closed, we will be available to provide remote support and phone assistance to anyone struggling to stay connected during this time.

We would recommend that retail and for-profit clients in non-essential sectors using paid search services suspend these at this time to reduce overheads. In addition, those using PPC to accumulate data are going to see misleading results in the coming weeks and months.

Useful apps for staying connected during this time include Zoom, Duo, Meet, FaceTime, Skype and WhatsApp.

There are reports of phishing scams during this crisis. These target vulnerable sectors of the population, especially those who might be motivated by threatening or apparently urgent messages from banks, government departments, or law enforcement. Please do not click on unexpected email links, and do not enter private data unless you are 100% certain of the provenance.

Official updates from the NZ Government can be found at health.govt.nz.

Kia kaha people, stay safe.

Photo by Alexander Igrevsky from Pexels