Crafting effective Google Ads on a reasonable budget takes strategy and knowledge. Setting up Google ads usefully for small businesses can be complicated. Google has some simpler automated setup solutions, but they waste ad dollars. This is because they don’t give businesses the control to narrow the target audience and message enough to make the best use of limited ad budgets. I recommend doing your ad setup manually. Here is what I do to make that a success.
Correct Setup Includes
Customer Assessment
When I set up ads for clients I ask them about who their most desired customer is. A lot of people want to respond “the people who buy, of course!” and are very reluctant to limit their audience at all. It’s important to move through this, and learn to narrow focus. If you have unlimited ad budget you can keep it broad, but generally people need to see your ad a few times to make a decision, which means that it’s more cost effective to target a small number of people and have them see you a bunch of times, than to reach a large audience who each only see you once. A narrower focus on the best customer types will oddly help you reach all of your clients more effectivenly, and to bring in the customers that are the most profitable, or whom you enjoy helping the most.
Google ads has automated setup options that use AI, which I have to say, produce ineffective ads. They waste ad money, which suits Google just fine, but small businesses with limited budgets aren’t going to be competitive using those tools. We need a narrower focus that uses our intelligence to compete.
Create a marketing avatar
Think of demographic groups who fit the best – is it primarily women decision makers? or men? What age are they? What makes your product unique? What makes it a great fit for them? What words would they use to describe what they wanted if they didn’t know anything about your product yet, but it was what they needed? If your SEO provider hasn’t interviewed you or your sales staff about unique targets, they are missing important factors to aim your ads, and are wasting ad budget. For more on this see my article on creating a marketing avatar.
Optimize your website
Armed with those words and phrases, I then look at your website and whether it already carries those terms. I assess whether the design will appeal to and be usable by those key decision makers and make changes. I search on those keywords to find your search competitors, which might be different from your known competitors and look for your advantage. This is a part of search engine optimizaton (SEO) work that is often overlooked, as it relies on human intelligence rather than automation.
Google Ad Optimization
Google MarketplaceIntegration with Online Stores
If the client sells products online with a tool like woocommerce, I look into syncing some or all of those products automatically with google marketplace and then pointing ads at those items. Customers click on those items and go right to the product. This can be the right fit if your products are unique, and don’t need to compete with the big providers.
Picking the Right Locations and Times of Day to Display Ads
I analyse your customer’s buying habits and time of purchase can make sure your ads show at the right times and the right places to fit. For example, a service with virtual appointments available might market to other time zones to fill daytime spots with clients who prefer after hours appointments.
Ad Design
I choose headlines that appeal to the target customer. They won’t work if the people clicking on your ads are doing it for the wrong reason and aren’t there to buy what you offer. Rather than using the AI generated taglines and headlines that competitors may be saving time by choosing, your ads and headlines will feel authentic to your customers and speak to their needs if they are worded by someone grounded in your customer’s needs, and get good qualified clicks.
Tracking Results
What good are ads if you don’t know what the people who clicked on them did? Did they call, email, buy something, look at your employment page, fill out a contact or donation form, book an appointment? Wherever possible, I set up websites to both track these details and link it to your ad campaign so you can see results and fine tune them to keep them effective and narrowly focussed on the people who want to buy from you. To keep things running well, most of my clients keep me on to do a monthly or quarterly assessment to continually tighten focus, keep an eye on budgets and adjust when your competitors change their strategies to keep your ads effective. Google ads run on an auction system, so shifts in ad costs or display position happen. If ads are unattended too long, they get less effective over time.
Consider the Purchasing Power of Women Decision-Makers
Women are the key buying decision maker for most residential services and products, food items, counselling and other important products and services. It’s just a fact. Even things that are often seen as stereotypically male, like yard maintenance services or products, often have women in decision-making roles. Taking that into account is just smart.
Experience
I have been in business since 2000, and have specialized experience marketing to women, the LGTBQ communities and entrepreneurs and working with businesses in manufacturing, counselling and therapy services, and the non-profit sector, which have different styles and strategies that are most effective. Here is a description of all my web and marketing services.
Need Help Setting Up Your Google Ad Campaign?
Are you a business owner or a non-profit adminstrator? I’d be happy to speak with you over the phone or zoom for a free half hour consultation to discuss options, give you some free advice and if you like a proposal or quote. Contact Sophia Kelly at 604-813-7674 or
