The advent of the internet revolutionized the advertising industry. Suddenly, instead of hoping potential customers would drive past their billboards or catch their radio commercials, companies could target people searching for relevant terms online. What a game-changer! Who wouldn’t want to target potential new customers at the exact moment they were searching for a solution to their problem online? It seems obvious, yet many business owners still overlook the benefits of Google Ads. Are you one of them? If you still haven’t chosen to invest in search ads, let’s discuss why you’re making a big — nay, I say huge — mistake.
Why You Should Use Google Ads
Online advertising opens up a whole new world of opportunities. No matter who your audience is, whether your budget is big or small, you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish — and how quickly you can do it — with Google Ads, in particular. Let’s explore some of the key benefits of Google Ads.
Reach Your Target Audience
Using Google Ads, you can target people with specific interests and needs — your ideal audience. Several different methods are available, including targeting based on keywords (words or phrases relevant to your products and services), locations, ages, languages, dates/times, and devices. With Google’s massive reach, you can feel confident that your ads will reach your target audience, leading to high-quality leads and more conversions. You won’t waste your budget on the wrong crowd.
Not to mention the fact that Google Ads allows you to advertise to people who are actively looking for a solution to a problem! Unlike many other forms of advertising, in which you must bombard someone with an ad as they’re going about their everyday life, with Google Ads, you can connect someone with the exact product or service they were hoping to find. Instead of being annoyed that you interrupted their day, they might be grateful!
Get Results Fast
In a time crunch? No problem! After launching a new ad campaign, you can see next-day results. Of course, this will depend on several factors — your ad setup, your targeting methods, bidding, etc. — but this is a huge advantage for companies with no time to lose. It works much faster than an SEO campaign because you won’t be competing with organic search results: your ad will appear right at the top of the search results page.
Increase Brand Recognition
Google is the world’s most popular search engine, so snagging a bit of prime real estate on a results page can be enormously beneficial. Whether someone clicks on your ad or not, if they see it, you’re increasing their awareness and recognition of your brand. And if a viewer sees your ad multiple times, they’re even more likely to remember it. This can result in more leads and conversions over time.
Control Your Budget and Maximize ROI
One of the biggest benefits of Google Ads is that there is no minimum. You have control over how much you spend, and you can specify how much you want to spend per day, per month, and per ad. Plus, you’ll only pay when someone clicks on your ad, so you won’t waste money on people who simply scroll past it. To maximize your ROI, you can use different bidding strategies, including cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-impression (CPM), and cost-per-action (CTA). And, of course, you can use analytics to decide whether your ads are actually effective, allowing the numbers to guide how you tweak the campaign going forward.
Monitor Your Ads’ Performance
One of the most endlessly rewarding benefits of Google Ads is that you can meticulously measure your campaign’s success. When someone clicks on your ad, you’ll know. You can also track if they go on to purchase a product, give you a call, fill out a contact form, and more. If you’re a spreadsheet junkie, you’ll love the attention to detail. But even if you aren’t, you’ll quickly appreciate how this information allows you to tailor your ad campaign to your audience. You can track clicks, impressions, traffic, conversions, and on and on the list goes. Using that handy info, you can cut underperforming ads and invest more in those that succeed. Plus, you can even determine how much it costs for you to secure a lead or a conversion.
Reconnect with Potential Customers
Say someone clicks on your ad but doesn’t really interact with your website. Maybe they became distracted, accidentally clicked away, or simply decided they weren’t ready to make a purchasing decision. Using a Google Ads retargeting campaign, you can deliver advertisements (banner ads, video ads, text ads, and more) directly to these missed-opportunity leads. You can stay connected with these potential customers even if they’re no longer actively searching for your company or services. With a little time, this can lead to a conversion.
Easily Adjust Your Campaign
Google provides a seamless advertising experience. You can effortlessly view, monitor, and manage all your accounts and ad campaigns using the tools provided. You can also edit an ad or pause a campaign with minimal fuss. Plus, as we mentioned above, you can fine-tune your budget to maximize your reach without overspending.
Keep an Eye on Your Competitors
Give your competition a run for their money! Use auction insights to compare your performance with other advertisers participating in the same auctions as you. Not only can this tool help you determine who your competitors are and how often they’re bidding above or below you, but also you can use that information to reassess your bidding and budgeting tactics and pinpoint areas for improvement. With the right strategies, you can even steal your competitors’ traffic.
Boost Your SEO
There is growing evidence that quality traffic to a website improves its organic search engine rankings. If that’s true, paying for Google Ads should give your website an SEO boost. The ads will drive traffic to your website, and, as we mentioned above, this will be high-quality traffic because you’ll be targeting a specific subset of people that fit your target audience profile. So, instead of thinking of Google Ads and SEO as two separate marketing paths, you might wish to start seeing them as related strategies that influence one another and should ideally be used in tandem.
Types of Google Ads
Now that you understand the many benefits of Google Ads, are you ready to give them a try? There are several different types of ads available, but we’d like to make the case for three of them today.
The Benefits of a Brand Campaign
A brand campaign should be at the top of your list. Even if you choose to hold off on other types of ads, start running branded ads to get your toes wet. It just makes sense. If someone searches for your company, don’t you want them to see your website at the top of the page? After all, your competitors are able to bid on your brand keywords too. If you don’t bid on your brand name, they will, and their content will appear above yours. Plus, brand campaigns allow you to control the content your visitors see when they search for your name. Finally, a brand campaign will provide more data from assisted conversions. That valuable information will help you weigh the value of your keywords and refine your marketing strategies.
If you’re still not convinced, check out our blog post 5 Reasons You Need a Google Ads Brand Campaign.
The Benefits of Responsive Search Ads
A responsive search ad is an advertisement that adapts to show more relevant headlines and descriptions to your customers. You enter multiple headlines and descriptions, and Google Ads tests different combos to determine which performs best. If you’re targeting some coveted keywords, responsive search ads are a great option because they’re flexible, tailored to your audience, help you compete in more auctions, and allow you to match with more queries. Plus, you can quickly increase your engagement with well-crafted responsive search ads.
The Benefits of Responsive Display Ads
Similarly adaptable, responsive display ads automatically adjust their size, appearance, and format to fit the available ad space. Sometimes they’ll be quite large and include images and logos; other times, they’ll be brief and only include text. Not only do these ads save time by eliminating the need to create a new ad for every platform, but they also use advanced automation to ensure that the most relevant ads are shown to your potential customers. They help you reach a broader audience because they’re published across the Google Display Network, and they can even include videos. If you want to expand your reach beyond Google Search, responsive display ads are an excellent way to do it.
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Now that you understand the benefits of Google Ads, don’t waste another day! Invest in an online ad campaign now and see where it takes you.
When you’re ready to create an effective Google Ads campaign, contact 417 Marketing for help. Our team of knowledgeable, creative, and passionate professionals specializes in SEO, web design and maintenance, and Google Ads, and we have successfully completed over 700 websites since our inception in 2010. Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for your company.
