Search ads such as Google Adwords and Microsoft Advertising (previously known as BING Ads) can be confusing. While they often make it "easy" through their wizard, it's also easy to get it wrong and find your marketing budget has disappeared with little to no return. We can confidently say it's likely that the people who saw your ads have just "skimming the funnel" which is not the interaction you want, especially when you're paying for every click.
Don't worry, you're not alone! We see it time and time again. Small businesses and large alike with search ads that are broad, far reaching and very general. They're created with the mindset of getting as many people to click on them as possible and hoping some will buy. While getting your brand out in front of thousands of people can't be a bad thing (especially if you have a limitless budget), getting the right people to reach you with finely tuned, well designed ads is significantly more effective. It's important to zoom in on the right person as they're more likely to act!
Your website and your search ads need to work together in tandem. When both are created correctly, your website goes from being a "business card" website to a genuine powerhouse of a sales engine.
This diagram illustrates how with broad advertisements, you'll have a lot of people viewing and clicking on your ad and entering your sales funnel. However, once in, after a quick look, for whatever reason, that person has decided you are not the right fit. That is ok! You can't do everything. But you've just had someone "skimming the funnel" which costs you and your business money!
It is critical that your ad is correctly targeted to the people who are searching for your services. We encourage you to consider who your customer is and what their profile might be. Be really critical while building this profile and put yourself in your clients' shoes. This will only help you target your ads effectively. A checklist of things to consider:
If you have a brick and mortar store, would someone travel 20km for your services? How about 10km? Or 5km? Often, we try to reach too large of an area with the likelihood of someone travelling to you decreasing exponentially the further they are to your shopfront.
Does my products or services appeal to a certain demography more than others? For example, if you have a product that appeals significantly more to a young people, why not filter other age groups away?
What would someone who is not in the industry type to search for you? What would you search? And what keywords would some people type that indicates to you that they are not likely to buy from you? Let's exclude those keywords and include the ones that make sense.
Is there any research or tools you can access that allows you to make more informed decisions? Use them!
What resonates with my target clients? Is the wording and imagery on my website going to resonate with someone once they've clicked on my ad?
Once you have that all nailed down, you can create ads that are targeted to the right audience who are the most likely to buy from you, increasing your ROI and minimising people "skimming the funnel" and ensuring leakage is kept to a minimum.
Identifying the correct audience to target can be a daunting task but incredibly effective and rewarding when done correctly. It ensure your marketing dollars go further!
We encourage you to look at your current conversion rate and figure out how you are tracking compared to the average Google Ads conversion rate of 4.4% (that is for every 100 people who click on your ads, 4.4% of people purchase or come to see you). By doing this, you can see how you are tracking and whether you can beat the trend!
If you don't want to do it yourself and would like our help, we can identify the correct audience not only for your business, but for each product or service you have! From there, we're able to create search ads that are incredibly effective! Through our effectively targeted ads, engineered journeys that captivate and messaging that resonates, our clients experience an average conversion rate of over 30%!
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