Google AdWords: The Ultimate Marketing Solution for Small Businesses

Just 16 years ago, Google launched the Self-Service Advertising Program, what would later be known as Google AdWords. Over the years, this online marketing strategy has experienced tremendous growth and today it serves as one of the widely used advertising platforms in the information era.

For those who might not be familiar with it, AdWords presents a unique platform for creating and managing one’s business advertisements. For small business owners who have embraced the use of appropriate keywords in optimising their AdWords campaigns, the journey has been characterized by tremendous success. At this point, you might probably be asking yourself the inevitable question; what are the reasons behind the success of this marketing platform? Why would small businesses embrace it? We have you covered.

Flexible Marketing Platform

There are innumerable reasons why digital marketing strategies have competitive edge over their traditional counterparts. One that clearly stands out is the flexibility guaranteed. More precisely, Google AdWords offers an extended level of flexibility when it comes to customising the ads to suit particular businesses. For instance:

• It gives provision for specific keyword match type. This way, it is possible for business owners to have their ads displayed for particular keyword searches. For instance, you can set up long tail keywords like Alabama Garage Door Repair instead of common searches like Alabama, Garage Door, and Repair.
• The Ad extensions feature enables display of additional marketing contents including links, product images, and even contact information.
• It presents you with the opportunity of narrowing your target audience based on location, time of the day, devices used and even languages.
• AdWords comes with seamless access to non-search sites including YouTube and Gmail, giving you a competitive advantage over your rival using other marketing techniques.
• There is the possibility of establishing brand awareness the easier way by leveraging the display network.

All these reasons and more make Google AdWords so flexible and preferable for small business advertisements.

Faster Results

Well, most people tend to lean on SEO when it comes to online marketing. The only problem is that it takes considerable time before any positive results are notable. That’s where Google AdWords come in. With this advertising strategy, results will be evident as soon as your advertisement goes live. You will be able to assess the increase in traffic due to efforts. Certainly, it guarantees quicker return on investments. Even more, it makes it easier for one to find out the effectiveness of used keywords because of the reliable speed. With this information, you can step up your search engine optimisation campaigns. In the end, you will have PPC getting you to the top of search engines faster than you might have expected.

Effective for Edging Competitors

Analysing the marketing trends of your fiercest rivals is one of the golden ways of strengthening your marketing campaigns. Taking a closer look, you will notice that most small businesses rely on SEO as their sole digital marketing strategy. With the speed and flexibility guaranteed by Google AdWords, you are more likely to have a competitive advantage when you opt for the latter. Even more, it is better when you integrate the two.

In a recent report, it was revealed that 80% of search results today have AdWords placement. More interestingly, 85% of the visible space above the SERPs is covered by such adverts. What does that mean for your business? Many people are gradually coming into terms with the inevitable need for PPC advertisements. If your competitors are among them, then you have even better reasons to embrace this advertisement platform.

On Top of Your Budget

Well, nothing comes easy, not even seamless advertisement strategies like Google AdWords. Allocating funds for your marketing campaign can turn out to be one of those stressful things everyone wants to avoid. Controlling your digital marketing budget can get even trickier. With Google AdWords, you can be certain of impressive results and still be in control of your marketing budget. It is like having your own cake and eating it.

This marketing strategy comes with the provision of setting the maximum advertisement cost per day. What is the maximum amount of money you are willing to spend on PPC advertisement on a daily basis? AdWords allows you to slot in answers for yourself. With this, you wouldn’t have to stress yourself about over budgeting.

To benefit from this scalability feature offered by AdWords, it is proper to segment your budget into different target areas:

• Display Network
• Google Search
• Mobile Search

More Engaging than Ever Before

Consumers have a soft spot for engaging content. Apparently, Google seems to share the same opinion. Over the years, this giant software firm has worked on improving AdWords by embracing product listing ads and in-videos ads on popular sources like YouTube. With enhanced new ad formats and extensions, this strategy has earned a deserving reception from target audience.

YouTube boasts of over 1 billion unique views every month. Who doesn’t want his ad to appear in such influential platforms? At the end of the day, all that matters is having your ads placed where many people and even more are, where they are likely to attract positive attention. For small businesses, embracing this marketing platform means widening your customer base.

Conclusion

All eyes are on various marketing platforms as the year comes to a close. In a year dominated by multiple SEO algorithm changes, Google AdWords seem to have carried the day when it comes to effective online marketing strategies. From advanced flexibility, enhanced efficacy, scalability among other reasons, it is easier understanding why Google AdWords was the marketing strategy to watch in 2016, especially for smaller businesses.

Author: Derek Iwasiuk runs a national digital search engine optimization firm headquartered in Minneapolis. He also spends a lot of his free time educating the minds of thousands of young SEOs and top agencies. To gain from his in-depth knowledge, you can visit Engage the Crowd Minneapolis website. You can also follow him on Twitter @Diwasiuk