Are you a small business thinking about how Google Ads may work for you? There are lots of stories about ways Google Ads have produced 1:8 ROAS, as well as stories where a small business tries and fails to do Google Ads and wastes money.
So how do you know whether Google Ads will work for you? Generally, people who struggle with Google Ads aren’t always doing them right, or Google Ads don’t work for their industry.
We’ve also seen Google Ads become the main lead generator for businesses. Overall, Google Ads can work for your small business.
Let’s dive into when Google Ads might work for your small business.
Why Google Ads work for small Businesses
The short answer is yes, Google Ads work for most small businesses. The long answer is that it requires proper setups, campaign strategy, and consistent optimization. Google Ads can be a powerful tool to tailor your digital marketing for your small business.
Here’s what Google Ads can do for your small business:
1. Increase Visibility Immediately
If you’re struggling to gain outreach for your small business, to get your brand out to potential customers, Google Ads is one of the quickest ways to gain that visibility.
Methods like SEO, building out your website, and online presence are good ways to gain visibility over time. However, that requires lots of time and upkeep.
Google Ads is like a pay-to-win version of SEO, utilizing PPC advertising to reach the top of the SERP instantly.
For the best results, you should be utilizing both of these strategies together.
2. Focused Targeting
Rather than trying to use a catch-all SEO or other marketing strategies, you can focus on the exact type of customer you want coming to your business. Google Ads has extremely customizable filtering, such as location, device type, interests, and search intent.
There are tools such as Google Customer Match that allow targeting specific audiences as well as the ability to retarget site visitors.
3. Budget Control
One of the best parts of Google Ads is how you have full control of your campaign budget. From bid price, daily spending, and monthly spending, you can control the amount that you’re willing to put into Google Ads to stay within your small business’s budget.
There is a large degree of flexibility for small businesses to manage the costs and test different strategies.
Let’s look at another important question we’ve gotten about Google Ads:
How Long Does Google Ads Take To Work?
The amount of time it takes for Google Ads to start working depends on industry, budget, competition, and your specific campaign configuration.
There’s an important phase where the Google Ads Campaign spends time collecting data for proper optimization.
For more information on how Google Ads works, you may find our article on the topic helpful.
So, how much would this cost for your business?
How Much Do Google Ads Cost?
When setting up your campaign, you bid on keywords to display Google Ads for your business. Once someone searches for a keyword you’re bidding on, Google will compare your bid to others bidding on that keyword and display the ads it thinks people will be most likely to click on.
So you only pay when someone clicks on your Ad, but if you aren’t bidding high enough for your industry, then your ad may not display at all. So the cost of Google Ads varies across industries.
There are other factors in how much you have to bid to get to the top of the results. This would be ad relevance (based on keyword searches) and the quality score assigned to your advertisement by Google.
Depending on the industry and local targeting, bidding can cost as little as a few dollars per click, to more competitive industries and areas, around $20+ per click. However, you still control your spending and what you’re willing to put into it.
Are Google Ads Worth It for Your Small Businesses?
Overall, the short answer is yes, although Google Ads aren’t one size fits all. Google Ads are important for digital and multimedia marketing for your small business. When done right, it is definitely worth it for your business to use Google Ads.
However, it is important to note that Google Ads done right takes time. Taking the time to learn Google Ads and all of the intricacies and optimizations of Google Ads can be difficult and very time-consuming for a small business owner.
Especially as a small local business, we suggest using Local Google Ads Campaigns to help put you on the map for those searching locally.
Overall, Google Ads can work well for your Small Business to generate leads and conversions, whether it’s signing up for a newsletter, calling into your office, or signing up and paying for an appointment.
If you’re looking to expand visibility without generating clicks, display campaigns can be an effective way to generate outreach and boost brand visibility.