“How much should I spend on Google AdWords?” is a question that this blog gets asked and this post is an attempt at a strategy answer. For if you searched online , using Google, Yahoo or any other search engine, you will find a whole lot of guidance about how to go about setting your daily budget in the Google AdWords platform and the mechanics of the software. This post tries to take a strategic marketing view about your budget for Google AdWords.
If you are a business or non-profit that needs to advertise you could be using a whole bunch of media like TV,Radio,Magazines,Newspapers,Internet,Outdoors and Direct Mail. Among these – although there have been huge declines in US Newspaper and Direct mail advertising they are still there and will be always there…
Within Internet you have Google AdWords and similar pay per click (PPC) offerings from Microsoft -Bing, Yahoo etc., Internet Banners and social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest etc. OK within Internet you can divide the market by those who access the Internet at kiosks (in many developing country markets), by cellphone, by tablets like iPads and via PC’s and Laptops.
Thus here are the strategy questions to ask about how much you should spend on Google AdWords:
- Does a segment of our prospective customers search online? The better your answer is to this question the better will be your AdWords spending strategy. If you have younger educated folks that are prospective customers- they do search online. On the other hand if some segments of your customers are non-Internet users, there is no point of search advertising or Internet advertising to that segment. Incidentally, estimates of non-Internet users in the US is about 13% (2014) according to Pew research.
- What words (keywords) do these folks put on the Google search bar for my business? You have to understand what your prospects search for to find your business/products. The Google Keyword tool is useful but the ideal situation is that your website has content that answers the search query and clickers of your Ad land on that relevant page. The better the link between the keywords- Your Ad Text – landing page the lesser you pay for the keywords, better your quality score and higher your Ad rank.
- You pay only if someone clicks on your Ad – most folks not involved in PPC advertising don’t seem to realize this. Unlike all traditional forms of advertising PPC is the only one that assures the advertiser that someone saw the Ad and landed on their website. This is amazing because you never know how many folks actually watched your TV ad or opened your Direct Mail piece. You pay for estimates of audience in TV and pay for the entire mailing and hope that your mailing list is a good one.
- Which Ad works better? The ability to learn this immediately and for free is another great thing about Google AdWords. You can actually track the visit by Ad and track those who converted by way of buying or say signing up for a newsletter. And this is free via Google Analytics.
- Go by what you can afford and track results if you just spend a few minutes every day on a campaign and its metrics you get to know what is working and not working. Set a daily budget that you can afford but track results every day. And tweak your campaign as required. There is no other advertising that can start any minimum amount you decide. OK if you spend a dollar a day you might not get many clicks- particularly if your competitors are paying more for the same keywords.
To summarize, if you have customers that search for your product/service online – keeping Google AdWords in your digital marketing mix is a must. About StratoServe Digital Marketing Services.