1. What is my purpose?
Ask yourself: What do I want my customers to do? call me, visit my store or visit my website. This will help you decide where you want to be seen on Google Search, YouTube and the web. Regardless of your audience, 82% of SMB advertisers agree that digital advertising allows them to reach their target customers more effectively than traditional, offline advertising (such as TV, radio or newspaper advertising).
During the pandemic, inclusive footwear company BILLY Footwear has revealed its goal to raise awareness of their footwear internationally. They used Google Ads to reach buyers worldwide, increasing their website traffic by 35% and expanding their customer base to Europe, Asia and Canada.
To help you achieve your specific business goals, here are three types of Google Ads campaigns that can help you reach the right customers:
- Search campaigns. Usually in text form, these ads can be displayed on Google Search results pages when someone searches for a product or service similar to yours.
- Advertising of local services. local businesses such as a plumber or dentist can advertise their services and receive high-quality offers and bookings. Their ads appear at the top of the Google search results page, along with trusted badges to help them stand out.
- Maximum efficiency. this type allows advertisers to drive better results across all Google ad channels and inventory: Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps from a single campaign. Performance Max combines AI with your goals and investments to ensure your ads reach the right audience.
2. What is my budget?
Ask yourself: How much can I afford to spend on digital advertising? With Google Ads, you never pay more than your monthly budget limit. You only pay per click or call, and you can stop advertising at any time. Once you have your answer, you can choose the type of campaign that is best for you and your goals.
For example, small business Anthony’s Plumbing set their budget and chose a “maximize leads” bidding strategy in Local Services ads and were able to achieve over 85% booking rate and 500% ROI.
Maybe it’s not the right time to invest in Google Ads, in which case we offer free solutions to help your business stand out and reach new customers with free Business Profiles. Business profiles are free, easy, and personalized to help you turn new customers into people who find you on Google Search and Maps. Personalize your profile with photos, offers, posts and more.
3. How will I know my ads are effective?
Google Ads provides conversion tracking that is free to use on your website. Once you sign up and run the tool, you can see what happens after a customer interacts with your ad, whether they buy a product, sign up for your newsletter, call your business, or download your app.
When a customer takes an action that you’ve defined as valuable, this customer action is called a conversion. This helps you track the actions you want customers to take on your site, greatly improving your ad performance, reach, and your ability to evaluate overall campaigns.
Prados Beauty, a woman-owned indigenous beauty company, attributes 68% of its web traffic and over 40% of its revenue to Google Ads. After understanding these conversions, they realized the importance of running Google Ads daily.
Wondering how Google Ads can help your small business? Ready to start attracting new customers and expanding your reach and influence? Or maybe you’re thinking about changing your advertising strategy after reading this. Visit Google Ads to learn more and get started today.