Google Ads as a method of marketing can be successful for many business however it is viewed as intimidating due to its complexity and the risk it holds with investing your money into it. To see positive results, in the form of the return you receive from your investment into the platform, laying the foundations with a detailed plan is crucial. Here at Framework, we can do the heavy lifting by taking these foundations and creating successful campaigns that closely align with your business and goals.
We have created this post and a Google Ads planning template to guide you through the planning process so you can plan for success in Google Ads.
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What to consider when planning the first steps of your Google Ads campaign...
Background
It is important to consider your businesses background in terms of what service/product you offer and how you stand out within your market. This will allow you to notice the unique selling points your business holds which can then be used as a selling point within your ad copy and landing pages of your advertisements. As well as this, if you have run advertisements using Google ads or any other platform such as Meta Ads or LinkedIn ads, it’s helpful to reflect on these experiences as this can be a great way to inform your strategy before starting Google ads. For example, you may have tried advertising a specific service/product and it didn’t perform, this means you might want to focus on a different product/service for your new campaigns.
Going through your background might feel like a pointless process as you will know your business and marketing strategy better than anyone. However, having high knowledge about your business and industry, may cause you to overlook the simple things that will contribute to the structure and success of your Google ads campaigns.
Objectives
A key aspect you should consider in every marketing plan, not just Google Ads campaigns, is your objectives. Your objectives outlines what you are aiming to achieve through using the Google Ads platform for your advertising. This could either be to generate leads, build brand awareness, increase sales, reach local customers or increase website traffic. Whatever your goal is, it should be relevant to your business and what you want to achieve, while also being measurable through Google Ads.
Deciding on your objective will help to shape the campaigns you run. This is because it will affect all aspects of the campaigns you plan such as the campaign type, optimisation of the account, conversion tracking and more. As well as this, knowing what your objectives are will help you as a business measure if Google ads is a marketing channel worth investing in, because you will know if your objective has been met or not over time.
Your Offer
Linking to your background, you also need to consider your offer. By this we mean the specific products/services that you offer within your industry. Breaking this down to what they are, their purpose and their average value in pricing terms, can help you with that all important decision of choosing what to advertise. Initially your thoughts may be to advertise all of your products/services, however depending on potential budget limitations and the demand for them, it is usually a wise decision to whittle this list down. For example, you could choose a product/service that has already proven to be successful for you and is of high value with good profit margins. You don’t have to over complicate what product/service you pick, just whatever works for your business. The most important thing is to not spreading your budget too thin so that you give Google ads the best chance of success.
Main Competitors
When building a campaign, it is always important to consider your competition and what they are doing. As a business you will know who your main competitors are, and will also potentially know if they currently run advertisements or not. When looking at competitors you should ask yourself these questions; Do my competitors run ads? What platforms do they use to run ads? Do I know if my competitors have had any success with their ads? Do I know what specific products/services they run their advertisements on?
If you have answers to these questions, it will give you a good idea of what might work for your business through comparison. It can also provide insight into how you can differ from your competition. For example you may have a discount or deal that none of your competitors are offering in their ads or you may offer a better version of their product/service that you can highlight within your advertisements. Being aware of your competitors can help to inform initial decisions for the Google ads campaigns but also shape your strategy in approaching Google ads for quicker success.
Target Audience
The most important aspect of Google ads is your target audience. Deciding who you are targeting through your advertisements, for your specific product/service will shape the messaging, structure and type of campaign you produce. For example if your business is a B2B business model, your ad messaging would be formal with technical language whereas this would differ if you were B2C.
Going deeper into this, you must consider your target customers behaviour. This refers to the action they would take to access your services/product. Do they call, fill in a form or do they directly purchase through the site. What time of year are they most likely to purchase and why? What locations would your target audience be in? Another useful practice when considering who you will target, is to recognise the common reasons a customer would require your product/service.
Considering all these different aspects can help you create informed decisions for the building blocks of your campaigns. It will help to decide on your calls to action, your budget, what locations you want to target and the messaging you want to push. This is crucial to making sure your campaigns are well targeted, so you can maximise your spend and get the best return for your money.
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