An effective Google Ads strategy can have massive impacts for a small business.
A few months ago, I launched a low-cost Google Ads strategy for a client targeting the branded keywords of their chief competitor. This competitor had dominated the area for so long that they didn’t care to invest in any paid advertising.
Big mistake.
It turns out no one was advertising on this competitor’s keywords. So my client took advantage of cheap ad space and had an ad every time someone looked up their competitor.
Some calls he got were accidental.
Some were curious.
Each time he answered the phone was an opportunity to sell, which he did very well. Two months after launching the strategy, he was booking an extra $30K of revenue each month.
His business profit tripled.
This strategy of advertising on competitor keywords, sometimes called conquesting, is easily defeated when the competitor puts just a little bit of money into advertising on their own keywords, but many companies are unaware or overly confident about their business and ignore Google Ads.
If you’re wondering if you’re missing out on opportunities through Google Ads, here are a few suggestions for seeing if Google Ads is the right opportunity for you.
1. Get a free analysis of your marketing opportunity
Most marketing agencies will analyze your business and marketing strategy for free if you’ll give them a chance to sell you on their services. Be careful who you choose, because many won’t do much analysis and just want to sell. So make sure to request analysis from 2–3 agencies so you can compare. Alternatively, you can ask me for a free analysis.
A decent marketing agency should be able to spot obvious issues like the one I described above, where a company was getting beaten by a small rival with a simple Google Ads strategy.
2. Identify if SEO is already doing the work for you
For some of my clients, their SEO is already doing the bulk of the work for them. For example, the company Dr. Roof is currently the top organic search result in Long Beach, Washington, but they’re also the top advertiser for Local Service Ads.
Now, there are scenarios where it makes sense to be the top advertiser and the top organic result (like the example I gave at the beginning of this post), but oftentimes this is an expensive way to get customers that you likely would’ve gotten without spending ad dollars. In this case, Dr. Roof is already dominating the organic rankings, where the highest volume and quality of leads go.
To see where you’re ranking organically, you can simply do searches for relevant keywords in your area, or you can use a tool like Local Falcon to do a quick scan for your business to see where you rank.
3. Target areas where you’re not getting leads organically
If you’re already ranking well organically in the areas close to you, the biggest bang for your buck with ads will likely come from areas where you’re not ranking well organically. Here’s an example from a rural area.
Bakeris Roofing is based in the small town of Runnells, Iowa. They have a strong brand and reputation in their area, but Runnells is small and, unfortunately, SEO in Google Maps usually struggles to perform well beyond 3–5 miles. To grow effectively, they need to advertise. Search for roofers in nearby Indianola and you’ll see a standard Google ad for Bakeris in the Google Maps results. It appears alongside the organic results and leverages Bakeris’s strong review history. This is likely an effective ad for people searching for roofers in Indianola.
A note about location strategy. The owners of Bakeris might have logically assumed that they should advertise in Des Moines, a large city with a lot of business for roofers. However, they decided to target small towns instead, which are less competitive than big cities and potentially closer to their rural area. Don't ignore rural towns in favor of the large, competitive cities.
Conclusion
Hopefully these tips on when to invest in Google Ads are helpful. These tips are just that: tips. Getting a real understanding of your opportunity to invest in Google Ads often requires analytical thinking and research about your particular business. If you need someone to advise you on these strategies, you can ask me or another reputable group for help.
