Tenacity Nets Ripest Fruit in Google Advertising

There’s a lot of talk lately about how much Google Adword marketing costs. Recent reports suggest that advertising behemoth WPP group spends nearly $900 million a year on client Google Adword campaigns. On a smaller scale, a friend of mine works for a very specialized software company that spends nearly $4000 a month.

While I’ll admit it isn’t cheap, some of it is wasteful spending on the part of those running the campaigns. Those that see things with a bit of an old school perspective have yet to grasp the use of real-time data and experimentation. It’s easy to get lost in the idea that success can only be found through the highest bid, which isn’t necessarily true.

We were recently asked to retool a client’s Adword campaign. In about a month, we managed to cut the budget by a third while seeing inquiries increase by 95%. Equally, the quality of the lead improved with about half of those inquiries actually becoming clients.

While some Google science is involved, the beginnings of a successful campaign combines tenacity and creative copy writing:

• Variations: Trying multiple ad variations will give you an idea of what works best
• Be specific: Create specific ads for niche markets and keywords as one size does not fit all
• Relevant Landing Page: Get past the idea that it’s like a newspaper ad where people pick up the phone and call. Getting them to click is half the battle but where they land after that still requires selling
• Monitoring the Incoming Results: People ignore the best data resource available—inquiries. Set up a system for monitoring inquiries, where they come from and what they search for.

I’ll admit that another large challenge is learning how to use all those Google tools to maximize results. That’s the portion that can take a campaign beyond the tipping point and can be overwhelming to those who are trying to “manage the shop” at the same time. However, the opportunity to reach the exact person looking for you is incredible.