If you’re a marketing manager or business owner, then you’ve likely made sure your ads are showing up on Facebook, Instagram, and maybe other social sites. Social media platforms are important to any company, but we’re betting you’re looking to do more than just hit the social media bubble. Although effective, social ads help users find businesses based on their online behavior and their interests. With Google Ads, the built-in search and display capabilities allow businesses to find new customers using keywords, remarketing, and interest targeting based on browser history. In conjunction with one another, implementing both search and paid social strategies are an effective method for increasing your business’ and brand’s online visibility. But, let’s focus on Google Ads . . . do you want to get started? Here are some things you should consider before jumping into a project.
What is Your Goal?
What are you looking at gaining from these ads? In other words, what is the goal? Is it conversions/sales, web traffic, leads, awareness, promotion, or product consideration? This goal is based on the action you wish the user to take. If you’re selling a product, you most likely want to gear your ad towards the conversions/sales goal. For up and coming events or special promotions, you’ll most likely gear your ad towards a promotional goal. Depending on the products or services you are looking to advertise, Google Ads offers a variety of goal-setting features for your campaign. Keep in mind, you can create multiple campaigns, each with different goals. For instance, if you are looking at promoting your business and selling a product, you may create two separate campaigns, one focusing on promotion and the other on conversions/sales. You have complete versatility when selecting goals for your business.
What is the Best Ad-Type for Your Business?
So, now you’re wondering, “what’s a campaign?” A campaign is the type of ad you’ll use to reach your customer; it also determines how your customer will be able to see your ad(s). These campaign types include the Search Network campaign, Display Network campaign, Shopping campaign, Video campaign, and App campaign. Here’s a breakdown of each campaign type:
- Search Network: These ads appear on search-related websites when a user searches with a relevant, related, or an exact match to the keywords in your ad. This campaign is best used for when you’re working with a smaller budget and/or you are advertising a service.
- Display Network: Attract the attention of your customer with creative display ads that use design and/or animation. These ads target specific audiences and are best used to gain brand awareness and product consideration.
- Shopping: If you’re a retailer, Shopping campaigns are the best way to drive sales for your online marketplace and/or local store. These ads feature product information that informs the buyer, thus increasing the potential for a qualified lead. Google offers three types of Shopping campaigns. For information on those, visit The Shopping Advertisement Assessment Guide.
- Video: Video campaigns are a simple way you can promote your business, product, or service through recorded or streamed video content.
- App: Do you have an app you’re looking to launch and need to gain users and/or sales? App campaigns are made for you. Create the content needed about your app, and Google does the rest, optimizing search so users can easily find you.
Whether you decide to start with one or more campaigns, be sure you think about the best way to connect with your user. You can also create multiple ads in each campaign to test ad copy, display images, and targeting.
How Much Are You Willing to Spend?
Next, you, your supervisor, or your CEO need to determine the ad budget. After all, it is a ‘paid’ search. At CQL, we use a helpful tool called SEMrush, which allows our marketing team to pull low-, medium-, and high-ranking keywords for various campaigns. These keywords can be used to help us determine the estimated Pay Per Click (PPC) value of any given keyword. There are other tools out there similar to SEMrush, which I would suggest using for insight not only into PPC but also competitive keyword details. Once you have determined the estimated cost of one or more campaigns, you can set your budget through the campaign setup phase. One of the great things about Google Ads is the ability to pause an ad or adjust ad details at any time to offset or increase ad spend.
How Do I Track Results?
Of course, you’re not running these ads for fun . . . you want results! A few easy ways to track your ad results without getting too technical is using your Google Ads account, linking your AdWords account to Google Analytics, or setting up a Google Data Studio account for all of your social, web, and paid search analytics. Using your Google Ads account will allow you to see data related specifically to your paid search ad/campaign. Google Analytics broadens those results by comparing paid search ads with website traffic and conversions. For optimal reporting and an easy-to-use results dashboard, Data Studio shows the full picture and impact of your advertising, organic, and social presence.
Go Ahead, Get Started
What do you think, are you ready? Of course, you are. Don’t hesitate on getting your business and brand noticed. In conjunction with paid social and the right SEO strategy, your Google Ads will have a leg-up on the competition.
Have questions? We have answers. For inquiries on Google Ads, SEO, or anything digital, the SEO and digital marketing experts at CQL are happy to assist. Interested in our services? We thought you would never ask. Call or connect with us today by clicking the button below.
