by Azhar Katib, founder of WebSell Solutions Ptd Ltd.
Leverage on the reach of internet to spread word around about your business. If you are a small business owner with limited budget then this should be your go to medium for marketing your product or service.
While the numerous online marketing methods offer are wide spread of options today, simple Pay-Per-Click Ads on search engines can deliver the best bang for your buck. In this post let me show you why and how by using this marketing channel one can generate leads and drive sales without spending an arm and a leg.
Why choose Search Engines for your marketing.
For a small- to medium-size business, Direct Response campaigns (as opposed to Branding and Awareness campaigns) are better suited for quick wins and delivering returns on the marketing spend. And marketing on search engines provide an effective means where one can be visible in front of a wanting audience that’s searching with a commercial intent. In today’s digital age the buyer’s buying journey would usually start with a search on Google to research, evaluate and compare the various options.
Being able to pitch to the right audience at the right time can thus prove to be a very effective method of advertising. In addition, you can target Ads by location and allocate a daily budget that you are comfortable with. This offers tremendous flexibility and control on your ad spend.
How to run advertising on a tight budget.
If it sounds convincing so far, then the next step would be to decide how best to execute your marketing campaign. Here are 3 possible ways in the order of cost effectiveness by which you can do this –
1. Do It Yourself.
Setting up and executing a Google Adwords Campaign is not rocket science. A line-up of short explainer videos in the Adwords Help Center are there for your assistance and they do a pretty good job in explaining the concept and finer details. And of course there’s Google Phone Support available for Adwords (unlike their other free services) to guide you through.
Typically the steps that you’ll need to take would be –
- Create an Adwords Account, which will be tied to your Gmail Account
- Choose the Account settings and organize your campaign based on how your product/service is organized, this involves grouping your closely related keywords (search terms) into common themes
- Write enticing Ad Copy for your Ads that makes the user click on your Ad
- Research, identify and bid for keywords (user search queries) that you want to target
- Review the setup and enter the billing info (your Credit Card)
After a behind the scene approval process, your Ads will begin to show up when users search. When they click your Ad, you pay the amount you have set for each click. When your daily budget is reached, your Ads stop. Simple, isn’t it!
2. Hire an Expert to Setup, then Manage Yourself.
Professional help is easily available and it may be a good idea to hire an Adwords Certified individual to do the initial setup. An Adwords expert can help you gain high Quality Score for the Ads, Optimize Bids with the right CPC, implement correct usage of Ad Extensions, etc. These factors can help you get the best returns on your spend.
Once setup and tweaked for optimal execution after a few runs you can take over and manage your campaigns by spending a few minutes weekly. Basic familiarity of the Adwords user interface is all that’s required to manage on an on-going basis.
3. Engage an Agency.
If you don’t have the time to learn and manage then simply get an agency to handle it for you. There are ample of Google Partner Agencies and Adwords certified individuals available locally who can setup and manage your Ad campaigns on an on-going basis. Agencies may charge a percentage of your total spend or on a time & material basis for their services.
Getting Started.
Before going ahead with Paid Search Engine advertising make sure that you are equipped with –
- A Website
- A Google Account
- Clear Idea of What, When and Where you wish to market
- Your Unique Selling Proposition and the Sales Pitch (for the Ad copy)
- The daily budget to spend for keywords that your Ads will show for
And to further build your confidence here’s a case study about how a Singapore-based cleaning services business achieved success with search engine PPC ads.
Azhar Katib is the founder of WebSell Solutions Ptd Ltd., a company specializing in online presence management – offering Internet marketing, web design & development services to small- and medium-sized businesses. He’s passionate about content based marketing using search & social media channels that empowers businesses with visibility on the internet. He has a background in IT with over 18 years in architecting systems, project management and application development.
