Jani KahukiwaAt Solutions 8, we are honest. Sometimes too honest for our own good. We do nothing but negative selling all the time, and people like it because it’s truthful. We might be one of the top Google Ads agencies on the planet but that doesn’t mean we can’t tell it like it is. So, whether you are a client or an agency, we want you to focus on these five things before running Google Ads.
What You Need To Know Before Running Google Ads
Zero Performance Guarantees
The people at Solutions 8 are good at what they do. This goes without saying. There’s another part of our winning formula, and that is the fact that we’ve done an excellent job with expectation management and letting people know this is what’s possible. We lay it all on the table: This is what you must be concerned with. This is what you should be afraid of. Here are the risks.
There are no performance guarantees. According to Google’s data, 50% of all Google ad campaigns fail in the first 90 days. There’s no way for you to know that a campaign is going to be successful. It’s irrelevant if you’ve already run that exact same type of campaign. If you run the exact same type of campaign in the exact same industry in the exact same place, there are still zero guarantees.
Any agency offering you a performance guarantee is either desperate or they don’t understand what they’re saying. It’s perfectly acceptable for an agency to say ‘If it doesn’t work, I’ll give you your money back’. That’s not a performance guarantee, that’s a risk assumption. Just remember, no agency can guarantee that a Google Ad campaign will function the day that they offer it to you. The influencing factors are just too dynamic.
It can only work if your business model works
Running Google Ads is a test, an experiment. So firstly, it’s near impossible for us to know your business better than you do. Some of you know Google Ads better than others. Solutions 8 cannot know the ins and outs of your industry. In a sense, we are trusting you. We have to believe that people are going to buy your product for a certain amount of money on these terms this way.
We must assume that you’ve done some level of market testing, anecdotal study, or proof of concept. However, if your business model is flawed, automation can’t fix inefficiency. Google Ads applied to an inefficient business model only amplifies the inefficiencies of that business.
An example might be a sales cycle that is flawed or too long or broken. Google Ads isn’t going to fix that for a client, and it’s going to reflect exactly that. And that by the way, is a huge value proposition.
Google Ads can improve the efficacy of your business if you’re willing to pay attention to what it teaches you. Your business model must be sound. A side note from a Google guy, we don’t think Google Ads is a great place to test a business model. That is unless you have a ton of money and not much time. Great. If you have more money than time, Google Ads is the best place to be. If you’re like most people and you’ve got more time than money, go make these mistakes in a far less expensive ecosystem.
Some key questions you should be asking yourself:
- How are you articulating your value proposition?
- What information needs to be shared before somebody buys?
- Are you sure you’re going after the right buyers?
- Are you sure this is the audience that resonates with this product or service?
- Do you have your products and services bundled properly and appropriately?
- Are you describing them the way they need to be described?
- Are you priced competitively?
Make sure your business model is sound. And we wouldn’t test that assumption inside of the paid traffic sphere.
It takes time and money
Number three, Google Ads takes time and it takes money. The more time you have, the less money it’s going to take. The more money you have, the less time it’s going to take.
Usually, it’s somewhere in the middle. If there’s an excess of money, you can speed it up to a degree. You know, you can’t accelerate it past a certain point, but if you have excess time, you can spend a little bit less.
If we had years, we could probably crack the code on Google ads for a dollar a day in some industries. However, this can no longer be proven because of Google’s minimum thresholds.
It is essential to have time and money. And those are the two things that a lot of businesses do not have. In that case, don’t run Google Ads. If you don’t have an adequate ad spend trying to shoestring Google Ads is, then a flawed model. And don’t spend money you don’t have. We don’t want your rent money. Only spend the money you’re willing to gamble because it’s educated guesswork in the first 90 days.
Google Ads changes the rules
It’s not gambling per se, but it’s damn close sometimes. Google Ads is going to change all the time. It’s possible they’re trying to kill standard shopping and because Standard Shopping is actually working, why wouldn’t they kill it? It is also possible they’re going to take away manual CPC. Once you crack the code inside Google Ads, it changes its parameters.
It’s a matter of knowing that as you go into it. What’s more, that’s why agencies exist. It would be easy to hire an agency like Solutions 8 and watch us crack the code and have the campaign perform. Clients could easily say, ‘All right, good job boys, we’ll take it from here’. And then they take the campaign internally.
This scenario happens occasionally, but as time has proven repeatedly, they usually come back to us. And never leave again.
Since our company has an overview of Google Ads, it stands to reason that we see all sorts of multi-variate ways in different environments and sectors. The big picture shows how this is being impacted and where.
We’d like to state here – because we’re honest – you don’t necessarily have to be with an agency long-term, by the way. You can have some solid internal resources or do it yourself, but for whatever it’s worth, come hire Solutions 8.
The most powerful advertising platform
And coming in at number five…
Google Ads is the most powerful advertising platform. That’s important to understand and here’s why we think it’s important to understand. You have to go into it knowing that it can work. With so many things in life, you can’t summit Kilimanjaro unless you believe it’s possible.
Google Ads is possible. Success is possible. You’ve seen it; you’ve seen it over and over again with other businesses, competitors, and collaborators.
It’s possible for you. You just gotta keep at it. So often, the people that are most successful in any industry are not always the best, the brightest, the smartest, or the best-funded. Quite often they are the ones that were obstinate enough to just stick around. It’s contagious and before you know it, you start to get that same feeling when you’re around them.
These are our top five things to know before running Google Ads. We hope you’ve appreciated this blog. Are our top five the same as your top five?
Related Blogs:
The Best Google Ads Agency: 8 Qualities You Should Expect
Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads: Which Is Right for Your Business?
