If you are considering spending any of your marketing budget on paid advertising, it’s important to spend it in the right place. Maybe, that place for your business is Google.
Google is the most widely used search engine in the world. According to Internet Live Stats, Google processes over 8.5 billion search queries every single day. Not only that, but Google Ads has been around for nearly twenty years, giving it some ascendancy in paid advertising.
What are Google Ads?
Google Ads fall under what’s known as the Pay Per Click marketing channel. They can be an effective way to drive prospects with a genuine need to your brand. Your business advert will appear on the search engine results page (SERP) at the very moment your ideal customers are looking for products or services like yours.
What else can Google Ads do for you? Well, they can boost your website traffic, your footfall and the number of phone calls you receive. Google Ads can also help your business show up for people searching for your competitors.
Are they right for your business?
Whether Google Ads are right for your business depends on several different factors. Let’s look at each of these in turn, so that you can make an informed decision.
Is your product or service right for Google Ads?
The first step to finding if Google Ads is right for your business is to find out if your product offering searchable online? Is it the type of product or service that people would type into Google to find it?
The way to do this is via keyword research. Keywords are the words or phrases that people type into a search engine to find what they’re looking for. Eg. If you want to find a podiatrist in your area, you might type in something like “podiatrist near me”. Even though this is a phrase, it’s still a keyword.
Keyword research will enable you to see how many people (if any) are searching for your product or service. If only 10 people are searching for your keywords every month, the time and effort required might not be worth the return on investment. If however your volumes are relatively high, it’s a good sign that users are actively searching for your product or service.
How much does it cost?
The amount of money you decide to spend on Google Ads totally depends on the size of your budget and the keywords you choose to target.
A business selling “handmade jewellery” can expect to pay a lower CPC (Cost per Click) than a business selling “property insurance”. Whilst competition for each can be equally tough, the value of acquiring that customer is much higher for the insurance company.
No matter the size of your business or your available resources, you can tailor your ads to suit your budget. You can be very precise with the geographical locations you wish to target, to ensure you only receive enquiries from a relevant audience.
It’s worth remembering that whilst you are only charged if a potential customer clicks on your ad, this doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll convert into a customer. Which brings us on to your next consideration.
Do Competitor Research
Competitor research is another good way to uncover if people are creating ads for your product or service.
Start off by typing in your product or service into Google. Let’s use the handmade jewellery example again. As you can see from the example below, the search has the word “Ad” next it – meaning it’s a Google Ad.
If your competitors are bidding on search terms, then chances are they are generating sales or leads.
Upkeep
Another thing to factor into your “worth it” calculation is upkeep. There will be start-up and maintenance costs. Whether those costs are financial or time, depends on how you decide to manage the account.
If you plan to run your Google Ads yourself, your start-up costs will be your time. A Google Ads campaign needs to be structured properly, with detailed keyword research. Once the campaign is set up you would need to put aside time every week to maintain your ad campaign as the data amasses (we recommend 3 months as a minimum to see the best results). Weekly maintenance involves amending keywords, adjusting bids and tweaking advert copy.
If you plan to use external help, you will need to invest in a marketing professional who is familiar with managing and maximising value from Google Ads. This is a worthwhile investment if you are completely new to Google Ads, as they will be able to set everything up faster and bring insights they have gained from other similar campaigns. You’ll then be able to spend your time doing the things you do best!
In Conclusion
Overall, there are a number of considerations that can determine if Google Ads is worth it for your business. We believe that the majority of organisations can get some form of benefit from the platform, but you need to fully understand all the components before you jump in and start spending your marketing budget.
If Google Ads doesn’t seem like the right fit for your business, there are other avenues you could explore. Paid Social, such as Facebook and/or Instagram Ads are a great way to raise awareness. If you’re targeting other businesses, then Linkedin Ads can be an invaluable tool to reach your target audience.
If you’re still not sure, get in touch with our team today. We're here to help.