Is Google AdWords Right For My Business in 2018?

This is a common question we get from prospective clients of ours constantly.

Is Google AdWords right for my business? Or should I be looking to Facebook or Video?”.

In this post, I’m going to answer that question of does Google AdWords work for small business, especially in 2018 and moving forward.

I’ll also concentrate on help you figure out if Google AdWords is right for your specific business because after all, that’s what you want to know.

Who Should Definitely Be Using Google Adwords?

Locally based service businesses, hands down, MUST try Google Adwords.

I’m talking about:

Health Services (Chiropractors, Physical therapists, Massage Therapy)
Home Services (HVAC, Roofing, Renovations, Moving Companies)
Professional Services (Accountants, Lawyers, Book Keepers, Mortgages, Real Estate)

Why do I say you MUST be using Adwords for your local business?

Because it’s where people go to find a solution to a problem or a service that fills a need they have.

Yes, people log on to Facebook dozens of times a day.

Yes, people spend hours losing themselves down the YouTube hole, bouncing from video to video.

When people NEED to find a solution or a service provider they almost ALWAYS turn to Google first. It used to be the Yellow Page, but who’s got one of those books anymore.

Don’t believe me. Here’s some PROOF for you of just a few industries we’ve done work in.

What’s the Google AdWords Potential of Your Industry and City

We consider these details below the “potential” of a market when someone asks us the question “Is Google AdWords, Right for My Business?”.

The numbers you see in the screenshot below is the average number of people who search for that exact key phrase each month.

I respect you may not be an accountant, massage therapist or chiropractor, but the concept is the exact same for any industry and in any city.

There is potential out there RIGHT now of possible new customer searching for a provider of your services

Want to know your potential?

Contact us today and tell us your industry and city and we’ll give you a detailed report of what the potential is for your industry and city. It’s the first step to deciding if Google AdWords is right for you or not.

What’s Your Average Customer Worth?

The next question to ask yourself when deciding if Google AdWords is Worth It For Your Business is, what’s your average new customer worth.

If every new customer you get generates a few hundred or even thousand dollars, then HECK YA Google AdWords is right for you.

Why? Becuase you can afford to spend a reasonable amount of money to acquire a new customer, and the business that can spend the most to acquire a new customer ALWAYS wins the new customer acquisition battle.

If you told me that you only make $15 bucks per new customer, well I’m probably gonna say AdWords is definitely not right for you.

What is a Conversion For You?

Above I said that if you own a service-based local business then you NEED to be doing Google AdWords. However, if you are a local business but you don’t generate leads in the form of inbound phone calls, web form submissions or online purchases, then AdWords can be harder to justify.

You need to be able to track conversions be it phone calls from your ads, email inquiries from your ads or purchases from your ads.

If you depend on foot traffic, then you need to come up with a way to acquire leads online with a form submission.

HINT HINT

If you do have a local business that revolves around foot traffic such as a retail store or restaurant then consider having an offer only available online that new customers MUST request, so you get their email. This way when someone comes in with that voucher or discount offer only available from the Ad you’ll know you had a conversion.

Do You Have a Budget To Test With

The final question we ask prospective clients when they are trying to decide if AdWords is for them or not is if they have a budget available to test the Google AdWords platform and see how things go.

You need to be willing and able to invest $500 – $1000 a month in ad spend to test Google AdWords to determine if it’s right for your business or not.

With that type of investment, knowing what an average customer is worth and also being able to track if a conversion (lead, call etc.) comes from your Google AdWords campaign, then you can quite easily guage how effective Adwords will be for your business within a couple of months.

While Facebook Ads and other platforms are all the rage right now, if you own a local service business don’t snub Google AdWords. It is for your business and it can drive measureable and verfiable results.

Want to talk more about how we can help you do that? Request our Google AdWords demo video and price guide below to get started.

Ian Henman

Ian is the Digital Marketing Strategist with Footpath Marketing, helping local businesses decide what online advertising platform is right for them and planning out campaigns. He's a self-proclaimed "all things marketing" geek and has been known to talk WAAAYYYY too fast when he gets excited about things!