So you've launched your website for business, are blogging, sending out marketing materials, and posting on social media. Good Job! However, are you exploring all avenues to get the word out about your business? There are now several digital marketing platforms on which to do paid advertising. Google is one of them. They offer two types: Adwords - aimed at larger companies, with perhaps a national audience, or bigger spend budgets. Adwords Express - specifically aimed at small business owners, with local advertising.
We are going to focus on the most common one for small business owners- Google Adwords Express. The goal is to create an ad to an audience within a specific geographical area of your business, using search words that a typical customer might use when they are searching.
How it works:
You set a daily /monthly budget that you want to spend and compete against other businesses for your ad to show at times specified by you. You may go a little over or a little under your daily budget, but overall you will be very close to your monthly number. Most importantly you only pay when someone clicks on the ad, so if you get a lot of clicks in one day (resulting on more money being spent) then the next day your ad will show up less times, so you will get less clicks but averages out your daily spend budget. This is known as pay-per-click advertising or PPC. Many more people will see your ad, known asimpressions, than will click on your ad. Impressions are important because they help to get your brand in front of a potential audience.
When you create your ad, you set specific goals for an action upon the ad being clicked. This could be to call your business number or visit a specific page on your website. You will also think of some search phrases or keywords for your business- what would a customer be typing into that Google search bar?- and include them in the section that lists keywords. This helps Google to include your company in the search results.
What is a good $ amount to spend each day? Well that is the big question and will depend on your budget, how many competitors you have in your field and geographic location. If you have a business in a suburban or rural area that is common to many towns- e.g. a car wash, locksmith, grocery- you will spend less than the same business in a city where there might be much more competition. That is where your ad may need to become hyper localized so it appeals to specific potential customers in your neighborhood.
If you have a unique business, even if in a city, you will spend less because you are not competing against others in the same industry. Some businesses can spend $5-10 per day and get good results and others will need to spend more per day- it a trial and error process to see what works. Google will also indicate a range of what the competitors in your industry are spending.
Another way to think of it, is a small ad in a newspaper, versus a bigger ad in a newspaper- you are more likely to be seen with a bigger ad and get results. You also have to look at the return on your investment- if you are getting 5x more business revenue because of your ad then great! That is the key- the Return On your Investment (ROI). I'd recommend to give your campaign at least three months to see how the ROI is and to increase your company's visibility.
Interested in setting up a campaign? Contact me to find out more