Small Business Marketing - Why Google AdWords Should Be Part of Your Small Business Marketing Plan
Small business owners often seem to be completely dazed and confused when it comes to marketing their business. They get caught up in the image based style of advertising that so many huge corporations do, not realizing that it is an almost guaranteed recipe for failure.
In short, small businesses need results-oriented, direct response style advertising if they want to get people through the door now. Throwing up cutesy, creative ads designed to make people think about you six months down the road when they may want what you sell is suicide for a small business. You need techniques and strategies that will get results now. There are scores of marketing strategies that can be a successful part of you small business marketing plan, but these days, Google AdWords just may be one of the best.
By now, everyone has seen Google AdWords at one time or another. They are the small ads that run down the right hand side of the search results page when you search for something on Google. They're also displayed on websites that contain content similar to what the ad is about.
There are many benefits to the small business owner starting a Google AdWords campaign:
Also known as cost-per-click, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
You can set a daily budget, and you'll never spend more than that amount
You can target geographically so your ads only show where you want them to
You send targeted traffic to your website
Think about it...you can spend $500, $1,000 or more on a simple ad in your local paper. The sales rep will tell you that so many thousands of people read that paper every week. But what percentage of those people would actually be considered as part of the target market for your business? In truth, most newspaper ads are a total waste in terms of driving traffic to your business.
To make a comparison with a $500 newspaper ad, let's say you're paying 25 cents per click for targeted keywords in your AdWords campaign. That would mean, your $500 would have sent two thousand targeted visits to your website. And by targeted I mean people who are already interested in what you are selling. How can any other form of advertising compare with that?
Of course, you'll have to be sure your website is full of relevant information and engaging to your visitors, and if you're short on time you may have to find someone to manage the campaign for you, but in terms of getting the most for your advertising dollar, there really is no comparison. If you are a small business owner, or any business owner, Google AdWords should definitely be a part of your marketing plan.