Service Based Businesses: How Google Ads Can Help You Win New Customers
If you have a website, or you are thinking about getting started with a website and online advertising, you have likely heard about Google Ads. Many industries are very competitive and search engine optimization (SEO) is a long game. Getting to the first page of Google doesn’t happen overnight and ads provide a great option for getting people to your website. As such, running Google Ads has become an important part of the marketing mix for many businesses to drive targeted traffic and generate leads.
In this article I’ll break down why Google Ads can be highly effective for service-based businesses, along with examples of different use cases and describe how service based business can harness the power of Google Ads. Let’s jump in.
The high-margin advantage of google ads for service-based businesses
Service-based businesses, unlike product-based businesses, often have higher profit margins. This means they have more room to invest in advertising and customer acquisition costs. Take, for example, an accounting firm.
In my pervious roles as marketing strategist and marketing director I’ve managed some pretty lofty advertising budgets and have found that high margin items, be it product or service, can perform extremely well in Google Ads. That isn’t to say a product or service that’s $50 can’t perform well, but in a very saturated space, if you can consistently get a conversion for $30 on a $1000 item or service you are seeing much larger gains than seeing a conversion for $10 on a $50 item or service, especially when you account for margins. It’s important to remember, that if your product or services have low margins or operations costs baked in, you may not always be profiting, or certainly not profiting by much if your conversion costs are high.
Calculating the cost of conversion vs potential profit from acquiring new customers
When running ads, always think about the value of a conversion, and how much you are willing to spend per conversion. You may think "I don’t want to spend $300 a month on ads” however, if that $300 a month brought in $3000 of business you wouldn’t otherwise get with out the exposure, I think you may be more open to the investment in ads.
Let’s consider a quick example of an accounting firm running Google Ads for a service like tax consulting or financial planning. These keywords won’t be cheap, but you will see that they can very well be worth it. Let’s say for example, this accounting firm is able to acquire a new client for $150 through Google ads. That may seem expensive, but consider the lifetime value of the client is $3500. Now, if the firm was able to bring in 5 new clients at $150, they’ve spent $750 to acquire new clients, however, they were able to make $17,500.
Of course, like I mentioned above, you need to consider your overall costs to make this make sense for your marketing budget, but when Google ads is effective, it can be very effective.
If you aren’t sure if Google Ads are right for you, it can be helpful to do a digital marketing SWOT of sorts to better understand where you’d like to put your time, energy and money.
Now that we’ve covered that, let’s jump into popular ad types for service based businesses.
Leveraging search and display ads
Google Ads offers two primary ad formats: search ads and display ads. Search ads are based on search intent, targeting users actively searching for specific services. In contrast, display ads focus on branding and target users while they browse websites or watch videos. For service-based businesses, running a combination of both search and display ads can be highly effective.
Example: An accounting firm can use search ads to target keywords like "tax consultant in Vancouver or "financial planning services." This targets potential clients actively searching for accounting services.
Simultaneously, display ads can be used to reinforce brand visibility and reach a broader audience interested in finance-related topics.
By combining both types of ads, businesses can generate leads and improve brand recognition.
In the example below you can see a mockup for a display ad for a hypothetical accounting firm, along with a few examples of popular Google Ad sizes.
Best practices for service based businesses running Google ads
Utilizing Landing Pages: Instead of sending ads to the homepage, service-based businesses should create dedicated landing pages that align with the ad's messaging. These landing pages should have clear, compelling headlines, concise information about services, a narrow focus, and strong calls to action. This approach increases the chances of a conversion and delivers a higher return on ad spend.
I always like to present the case for landing pages using a bakery. Let’s say you are tasked with making sure you order a birthday cake for a friend, partner, or colleague, and it must be vegan. You make a quick search for vegan cakes in your area and you click on an ad. That ad takes you to a page specifically about vegan cakes and even throws in some nice pictures and options for delivery and a very clear form for ordering your vegan cake and getting it delivered on your desired date. Dreamy.
Let’s look at the exact same scenario, only you click on an ad and you are sent to the homepage of a website for a bakery that offers cronuts, donuts, cupcakes, catering, birthday cakes, gluten free options, vegan options and so on. Now, in the middle of your busy day, you are going to need to weed through this clunky website in order to find information specifically regarding this vegan cake. It’s a mess. You give up. Here, the ad worked. You clicked and you were ready to buy. The website experience let you down.
All this to say, when running paid ads, you don’t want to metaphorically fumble the ball after someone has made a great pass your way. Make sure you are sending your ads to individual and well considered landing pages.
Below I’ve added an example of what makes for a great landing page.
Now that we’ve discussed the importance of landing pages, let’s cover ad formats and campaign set-up.
Ad Formats: Google Ads offers various formats, including text ads, responsive ads, image ads, and video ads. Service-based businesses should test different ad formats to understand what resonates with their audience the most. Using compelling ad copy, relevant images, and strong CTAs can significantly impact click-through rates and conversions.
Campaign Set-Up and Bidding: When setting up Google Ads campaigns for service-based businesses, it's essential to focus on targeting the right keywords, locations, and demographics that align with the target market.
If for example you are a Canadian based firm and you only specialize in services for Canadians, definitley make sure that your geographic settings reflect this and you aren’t spending ad dollars advertising to people all over the world. Additionally, as another example, if you specialize in retirement planning it may be worthwhile to update your settings to have your ads show to a desired age demographic.
Make sure to regularly monitoring and adjust your ads to optimize performance. Another tip, set an end date for your campaigns. If you know you’ll get busy or you’re running a limited time promotion, it can offer great peace of mind to schedule an end date so your ads stop running end at the duration of your desired campaign period.
Driving brand awareness through google ads
We’ve talked a lot about the advantages of search based ads for an accounting firm. Let’s dig into another example for a service based business but with a greater emphasis on driving branding and awareness.
Example: A wellness centre specializing in holistic therapy runs display video ads focused on wellness-related services. By investing in compelling ad creatives, catchy headlines, and strong calls to action, their brand becomes synonymous with holistic wellness in the minds of their target audience. This strategy generates a steady stream of leads and consistently grows their customer base.
While performance based marketing is important so is brand. Investing in brand, visual identity, meaningful content and compelling video series can have a real impact on resonating with your target market. If you find that you are running ads and getting good quality clicks but not seeing the conversions you’d like, this is a great reminder to also consider the overall look, feel and usability of your website and consider how you can leave a good impression on potential clients.
Alternatively, if you aren’t seeing great click throughs on your ads, consider your creative and messaging and make sure you are communicating clearly and choosing imagery, video and content aligned with your target market.
Conclusion
Running Google Ads is a powerful tool for service-based businesses and a great option for businesses. With higher profit margins, service-based businesses can invest in advertising and acquire quality clients while maximizing their return on investment.
By leveraging search and display ads together, utilizing landing pages strategically, experimenting with different ad formats, and implementing best practices for campaign setup, service-based businesses can leverage Google Ads to drive targeted traffic, increase brand visibility, and grow their customer base 🎉
Related Marketing Strategy Articles
