If you still think the things you do online are a secret, think again. But there’s good news too. You can use this in your favour.
You are leisurely scrolling through your favourite website, and all of a sudden an ad for vacuum cleaners appears. You happen to be looking for a new vacuum.
‘How did they know?’ you think, and you click on the ad.
Google uses the browsing habits of their users to provide them with ads suited to their needs, and the benefits to advertisers are plentiful.
7 ways Google ads cater for your marketing needs
Google is a busy place, with a lot of people. In fact, over two million searches are performed on Google per second. Naturally you will want your business to be seen on a platform like this.
The means to do just that is available via Google Ads. Your product or service can end up right where you want it – on the screen of the person who is looking for it.
You can customise your Google Ad to suit your needs. Google offers you the following campaign types:
- Search campaigns
With this type of advertisement you can reach people who are searching Google for the product you are offering. Not only does this help you to get sales, but it’s great for driving traffic to your website.
- Display campaigns
This means that your ad takes the form of an image that appears on websites. It allows you to reach people with eye-catching images while they are browsing different websites.
Display campaigns are a handy way to expand the reach of your search campaigns.
- Video campaigns
Depending on how you approach it, video campaigns can either boost general awareness of your brand, or drive conversions or get people to buy from you.
Video ads appear both on YouTube and other websites.
- Shopping campaigns
These are tailor-made for retailers and appear in search results as well as the Google shopping tabs.
Shopping campaigns are well-suited to both online shops as well as physical locations.
- App campaigns
This is an ad that helps you find new users for your app, and increase sales within your app.
The focus is to get people to install, engage with and sign up for your app on their mobile devices.
- Local campaigns
If you do business in real life and not online, this kind of ad is for you. It is designed to bring people to your physical stores and events.
These ads guide customers to you by giving details about your address and hours of operation.
- Smart campaigns
These are automated ads, which means you let Google do the work for you. You simply enter your business info, create a few ads, and Google creates a campaign for you.
With this option you enjoy advanced optimisation, as Google optimises your ads and targeting for you.
How much do Google Ads cost?
Yes, you have to pay for your chosen campaign, so the Google ads budget you have allocated for marketing will be a deciding factor in whether Google Ads are for you.
On the plus side, the amount you have to spend is customisable. There is no set answer to the question of how much your Google campaign will cost, because this is influenced by certain variables.
Google claims that their advertisers make on average two dollars for every dollar they spend. This sounds great, but what are the factors that determine your Google Ads spend?
They include the following:
- Ad scheduling. This refers to how you can tell Google when you want your ads displayed to potential customers. You could, for example, choose to run your ad during your business hours.
You could also choose to let your ads run all day, but with increased visibility during certain hours as specified by you. You will then spend more on your ads during these hours.
- Geotargeting. This feature allows you to spend more of your budget on certain geographical areas. Your chosen area could be as small as a few blocks, or much larger.
- Device targeting. People go online all the time, using various devices. You can choose which of these you want to target with your ad campaign.
Did your market research show that your target market spends many hours browsing the internet on their phones? Then this is going to be where you spend more money for advertising.
Doing some homework before you start your Google Ad campaign is key. This will allow you to plan the most important things you should be spending your marketing budget on.
13 benefits of Google Ads
- The most obvious benefit, as already mentioned, is the sheer amount of people and who will potentially see your ad.
- Search campaigns are easy to set up by simply writing text ads and picking keywords.
- With search campaigns you can reach people who are searching specifically for the product you have on offer.
You are targeting people who actually want to see your ad, unlike on social media where we sometimes get bombarded with unwanted ads.
- App campaigns give you the opportunity to be widely visible.
One campaign will show your app over multiple channels, such as YouTube and Google Play, as well as having them included in search and display ads.
- With Google Ads there is no need to commit to a contract. You can pause or cancel your campaign at any time.
- Apart from being in complete control of how your money gets spent, there is no minimum spend, so you can work with what you have.
- Google provides you with thorough feedback on your campaign’s performance. You will be informed when someone clicked on your ad, and also when they did anything else, like purchase a product.
There is immense value in this, as in time you will learn what kind of advertising works best, allowing you to optimally spend your budget.
- Everyone wants their business to appear on top of the Google search results. Google Ads work faster than SEO (search engine optimisation) to help you get there.
SEO certainly has value, but is a long-term process that requires a great deal of effort, while ads give you instant visibility.
- Google Ads is efficient in creating brand awareness. Google states that search ads lift top-of-mind awareness by around 6.6%.
- Using Gmail ads you can reach people through their inboxes.
These ads appear on the promotion tab, and sometimes on the social tab. They run both on mobile and desktop, and are a bit cheaper than search ads.
- The remarketing feature of Google Ads allows you to follow up with customers who visited your website without making a purchase.
Now you can design your campaign in such a manner that they will see your ad again, keeping your business in the back of their minds.
- Google does not favour those who spend more money on their ad campaigns. It is Google’s business to give people what they search for.
This means that a quality ad that has its keywords in place will appear in a search, regardless of how much money you spent on it.
- A bit more advanced, this next one is a hidden gem. Google Ads lets you buy your own business name. This means that you will come up first when someone searches for your company by name.
Competitors with the same name will be left behind – not a bad deal at all.
Are Google ads a good fit for your business?
Not all businesses are the same, and therefore their marketing requirements will differ as well. Do not rush headfirst into a Google Ad campaign without determining first whether it will work for you.
Consider the following factors to determine whether Google Ads make sense for your business:
- Does your target market spend enough of their time online to notice your ads?
- Are people searching online looking for a business like yours? Google Ads has a keyword planner to help you see what keywords are being searched for as well as recommend related keywords to you.
A handy tip is to search for your keyword and see if relevant results appear.
- Are articles related to your industry being published online?
- Can your competitors be found online?
Conclusion
There is consensus among online sources that Google Ads are user-friendly, effective and not too expensive.
Getting started is a breeze, with Google taking you through the process step by step. If you still struggle, a phone line as well as a chat line is there to help you out.
If you know what you are doing and don’t have the patience for hand-holding, one click lets you switch to expert mode. But you already knew that.
