Perhaps small advertisements in the local press have not brought the desired success. But what are the possibilities online? Doesn’t online advertising simply evaporate in the obscure Internet space? Would an online campaign be affordable at all? And who will help with the first steps? MK has taken up the topic of Google Ads for SMEs and newcomers and knocked on the experts’ door.
First we asked Stefan Vetter, CEO of the digital marketing agency Wortspiel GmbH. He goes on to say that a company that wants to advertise with Google Ads should first define goals: “They can be sales-oriented or geared to purchases or leads. Then the channel has to be evaluated. Google provides the search, but also display and Youtube advertising. All these three channels have their strengths and weaknesses.”
Search Advertising for Products Already in Demand
Advertising in the Google search is worthwhile if a company has a product that is already in demand. Potential customers can be reached efficiently with search. “The disadvantage is that the channel is already quite well booked by other advertisers. Prices are very high for many keywords. Then it becomes difficult to earn money at all – not like it was ten years ago.”
And he speaks of shark tanks and suppliers with very large budgets, if they are not in a niche space. For example, a single hotel could sing a song about it because it was outbid by giants like Booking.com.
Youtube for Branding
Youtube is exciting for branding. But not only – Vetter mentions the term “brandformance”, i.e. a mixture of branding and performance: “Youtube is suitable for campaigns that contribute to branding, but at the same time can also often produce more sales-relevant results than display advertising. Thanks to machine learning, it is always easier to identify the target audience. In addition, click prices are currently still significantly lower than with Google search.
When asked whether Youtube advertising for a bakery or a hairdresser’s salon was an option at all in terms of production costs – after all, it takes a video – the Wortspiel CEO says: “Regarding the creatives, Youtube is certainly the most expensive. But SMEs can benefit from two developments: The costs for film equipment are lower than ever before. A smartphone and a microphone are enough. Secondly, media usage has changed. It is completely okay if the Youtube video wobbles slightly, the quality of a TV spot is not expected by the Youtube user. What’s important is that the message is right and convincing.”
In the past, TV advertising was unattainable, but today there are signs of a democratization of TV advertising. “On Youtube, a specific target group can be reached with a small budget”. And currently, the Display and Youtube channels are still in the gold rush phase, and prices are not overheated compared to search.
What Does a New Customer Cost?
Lukas Nauer, founder of Netpulse.ch – the agency supports SMEs with Google Ads – underlines how important a concrete objective is: “Even before the start of the advertising campaign, you have to think about exactly what you want to achieve. Also a financial plan with the consideration, how much a new customer may cost, is important. It makes no sense to advertise in the blue.”
In his already published Google Ads Guide, Nauer also warns against general keywords: “The search for general keywords is usually used to obtain information. For example, when someone searches for the words ‘Hotel Spain’, they only think about where they might like to go. However, if the customer’s wish becomes more concrete, he searches more specifically. He then searches for ‘Youth Hostel Madrid’ or ‘Luxury Hotel Barcelona’, for example”. Therefore it is important to form keyword chains and not to leave the keywords too generic.
Narrow Search Terms
In his guidebook, however, the Netpulse owner also explains basic tips, such as the definition using parameters:
[Exact Match], the keywords must be enclosed in square brackets. The ads are only placed for the exactly stored search terms.
“Phrase Match”, the keywords must be enclosed in quotation marks. This means that the search word that is stored as a keyword in Google Ads must be entered in a specific order the search slot, but may be combined with any other terms.
+Broad +Match +Modifier, a plus is added before each keyword. This means that each keyword must appear in the search term, but the order and number of other words are irrelevant.
Another tip from Nauer is to place different ads that compete with each other: “This achieves the greatest possible variety. This follows the principle that a customer is more likely to place an order the second time he visits a website than the first. If one places now various advertisements, which always lead to the same page, one increases the possibility of a successful conclusion of a business.
Google Ads is certainly an efficient marketing instrument, says Nauer, as it can make small companies known and help large companies to achieve further success. It is worthwhile to deal with this topic. For this Google offers free training courses and on-line courses. Also Netpulse itself offers free seminars, under www.power-seminar.ch.
The First Steps
With an online course or a free seminar the first steps are made to get into the world of Google Ads. Under the link www.google.ch/ads all information is to be found.
“When advertising with Google Ads there is no minimum budget per day, month or campaign – therefore straight also smaller enterprises in their industry have the chance to play along in front , explain Google Switzerland speaker Samuel Leiser. Thanks to contextual advertising with self-defined keywords, even SMEs can address exactly those people who are looking for their own product or service on the Internet.
“There are numerous SMEs in Switzerland, from small ones like Linsenmax, Bike Adventure Tours and Carawero to medium-sized ones like Glice and larger ones like Zimmerli, some of which are winning new customers worldwide through Google Ads and thus successfully driving their business growth,” says Leiser.
Free Trainings
As early as 2012, Google Switzerland launched free training courses at the Google office in Zurich. Today, more than 10,000 people in Switzerland take part in the training courses every year as part of the “AtelierDigital.ch” programme.
“Atelier Digital” offers a wide range of online training courses in the three national languages German, French and Italian on a wide variety of digital topics (including 26 modules on online marketing including IAB Europe certification).
There are also face-to-face training sessions in the Zurich offices and in other Swiss cities such as Lausanne and Berne on topics such as “Search Engine Marketing With Google Ads – Basics / Advanced”, banner advertising, remarketing, Google Shopping or advertising with Youtube.
This free training offer from Google is particularly attractive for SMEs, as it is partly available online. Besides – as mentioned – also all training courses are free.
Stefan Vetter is CEO and founder at Wortspiel. He created his first website in 1999 and has been active in digital marketing ever since. Stefan is also the founder at Friendly, a Swiss provider of privacy-friendly marketing software.
