Is Google Ads worth it for your small business? Signs that it could be
When most small businesses ask this what they actually want to know is "is Google Ads profitable". The answer in many cases is yes! 74% of brands said PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is "a huge driver for their business” in a recent survey by Hanapin Marketing, and 93% of the people surveyed said they used Google Ads.
Why is this? Let’s take a look at how Google Ads can help start-up, independent and SME businesses grow, and if advertising on this platform could be a good fit for your company.
Should I try Google Ads? 10 signs that it could be good for business.
It may be worth advertising your product or service on Google if:
You want to grow your business
You want your campaigns to be seen by more people
Customers find competitor sites instead of yours when they search for your products
You want to drive more quality traffic to your website
You want to drive non-converting traffic back to your site
Your SEO efforts aren't paying off (yet)
You want to be seen by people when they are actively searching for your products
You want a more targeted approach than traditional advertising can offer
You only want to pay when someone clicks on your ad
You want performance stats to see what's working and what isn’t
Sounds good? Great. Let's take a closer look to help you decide if you’re ready to try Google Ads.
How can Google Ads help SME businesses grow and expand?
It can be hard to get noticed if you're a start-up, independent or SME business that doesn't have the same resources as larger or more established competitors. Google Ads presents a great opportunity for smaller companies that don't have the resources to run traditional mass-targeted advertising campaigns to get noticed by potential customers.
It does this by allowing you to use a combination of targeting methods to reach customers at the exact moment when they are directly searching for products and as they browse websites or apps. Even if you don't have a huge advertising budget, you may still be able to use the platform to compete in your market thanks to its PPC model.
Google Ads lets business owners tap into the estimated 3.5 billion searches carried out on Google each day (WordStream) as well as the 2 million+ websites, videos, and apps in Google’s Display Network, (Google Ads), and send their ads directly to people as they search, shop, watch videos or use mobile apps.
Given that 35% of product searches start on Google (eMarketer), you can see why using Google Ads to reach those people could be a profitable opportunity for brands.
74% of brands said PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is "a huge driver for their business” in a recent survey.
Supporting your SEO with PPC advertising
Running ads on Google’s Search or Display networks can be a quick way to get discovered by potential customers and drive them to your website, even if they don't have prior knowledge of your brand.
Competing for visibility in Google’s Search or Shopping results can be a fierce battle. Hopefully, your site is fully SEO optimised and you have a solid ongoing SEO strategy in place. This will help but SEO is a long-term strategy, and it can take time to see the payoff and in until it does, having a website with no traffic is like shouting in an empty room.
You could wait until your website secures a prominent position on Google’s results pages or you could strategically run ads to give your website a fighting chance of grabbing people’s attention at key shopping moments.
Your SEO strategy can even be improved by using the data you receive from running Google Ads campaigns or using ad tools like the Keyword Planner.
Run always-on or campaign ads
You can easily turn campaigns on and off in the Google Ads interface. This gives you the power to decide if you want to run campaign-led ads at specific times of the year (for example, when you are running seasonal campaigns or having a sale), always-on brand-building ads, or like many companies, both.
If you’re considering experimenting with this platform for the first time, it’s a good idea to review your marketing calendar to see what events or key dates you have coming up that may benefit from being supported by an advertising campaign.
Remember that when you’re planning a marketing campaign, incorporating Google Ads into your multi-channel mix gives you another chance to get your message in front of valuable customers when they spend time online.
With today’s ever-growing number of digital spaces, it’s no surprise that multi-channel customers spend a reported three to four times more than single-channel customers (SAS). If you haven't considered using multiple touch points when you run campaigns, maybe it's time you did.
Only want to pay when someone clicks on your ad
Google Ads PPC model is appealing to small business owners and it’s easy to see why. You’re only charged when someone takes action and clicks on an ad. If you're someone who is concerned about making sure they get the most out of their advertising budget, this will probably pique your interest too.
How much you have to pay for clicks depends on a range of factors such as how competitive your industry is and how well run your account is. This is one of the reasons why businesses opt to work with a Google Ads expert who can make sure the account is set up correctly and optimised properly on an ongoing basis.
It's also easy to move your ad budget between campaigns too. If you're keeping an eye on your return on ad spend, you can see which campaigns are generating a solid return and allocate more of your budget to them. A lot of SME businesses that are new to Google ads start with a smaller budget as a way to lower the risk involved in testing the platform and increase it once they see results.
Get access to detailed performance stats
From how many people clicked on your ad to which ad creative generates the best return on ad spend, a big draw for small business owners is the performance data they can access with Google Ads. Instead of simply putting your ad out there and hoping it resonates with some of the people who see it, you can see detailed stats that prove what’s working.
Many SME businesses have tight marketing budgets and understandably, it’s important for them to make calculated decisions when picking marketing channels to spend it on. These stats can equip you with the insights needed to decide if Google Ads is a profitable platform for your business or if more needs to be done to get the most out of it.
Access to detailed performance data also creates new opportunities for ad testing that aren’t possible with some forms of traditional advertising. For example, you can quickly adjust creative in campaign ads and run the new version against existing imagery. Comparing metrics such as clicks, click-through rate, conversion rate or return on ad spend for the new vs. previous creative would let you discover if the new creative made your ads more impactful.
Remember: Google Ads isn't a set-and-forget platform
Once your ads are live, your Google Ads account will need to be tended to regularly to make sure you're maximising your return on ad spend. Small business owners tend to be spinning many plates at once, so before you get started, it's worth checking your schedule to see whether you can realistically set time aside on an ongoing basis to optimise your ads or if it makes more sense to outsource the work.
Your account will need more than a quick check-in to make sure it isn’t overspending. Ideally, you want to keep checking things like if the targeting is still working for you, ad placements and which keywords are triggering your ads, audience performance, budget optimisation, ad copy and creative performance, and so on. And that's on top of keeping an eye on performance tests you're running and keeping up to date with Google's latest platform updates and recommendations.
Even if you plan to take advantage of Google Ad's automated features, leaving it all up to Google’s AI to decide how to spend your money could be a risky move. You don't want your ad to end up on inappropriate websites or appear beside irrelevant searches. You also don't want to end up with auto-applied AI-generated ads that miss the mark. To avoid this, you’ll need to monitor the account, check the data and decide the best way to incorporate Google's AI in a strategic, controlled way.
Are you considering using Google Ads to give your business a boost? I've worked with B2C and B2B clients to help them achieve their goals using Google Ads. I can support you with account audits and strategies, or I can fully manage your ads account if you're looking to outsource it to an expert. Get in touch today for a chat to find out how I can help you.