Ad Campaign Creation

This week we embark on the journey to create a real ad-campaign!  I decided to use Google Ads to run a legitimate ad campaign with the goal of pointing potential customers to my website, with the ultimate objective of generating leads.  The website was created to simulate a healthcare consulting company that I made up (ConsultingRx) as a simulation of something that interests me, is pertinent to my current career, combined with the marketing skill learned from this class.  While this company is not legitimate in the sense that I am currently able to evaluate and consult for large healthcare entities, the project is being completed as an experiment in hopes to understand these concepts and tools better, so that I may be able to indeed offer legitimate services in the future.

Let me walk you through my process so you can have a better understanding of just how accessible and practical this service really is!  Let's go through the step by step process for creating your own active ad campaign on the internet so you can leverage Google's targeted ad capabilities for your own business. 

 

1.  Determine your business name:

Simply enter your business name and we're on to the next step!  Google is going to use that in the published ads it creates so make sure that you're entering the name as you want it to appear on the web 

2.  Where does the ad take you viewers?:

The next two steps involve pointing your ad to your intended destination.  Determine where you want the ad to point your potential customers.  This can be your business website, blog, etc.  Once you've entered the destination's site address, a picture is provided to confirm that your link is the accurate destination for your intended audiences.

3.  Determine your marketing goals:

At this point you get to determine what your main goals are for your campaign so Google can align its strategies with your objectives and provide better analytics to help you successfully measure the effectiveness of your campaign.  Choose what your main goal is and then further guide Google to target increased 'Sales' or 'Leads'.  You can then further refine your respective goal with more detailed objectives.  Here, you can see that I chose receiving customer information through form completions on my site as the detailed goal of my campaign.

4.  Write your ad:

Now the fun begins!  Write your own ad, be creative, and employ all those marketing tactics you're learning!  Headlines are limited to only 30 characters max, including spaces, so be thoughtful and intentional with your efforts to grab customers' attention.  Add in your descriptions that appear below the headlines.  These have 90 character max to allow you to provide some greater detail but again, be thoughtful and deliberate with your advertising.

5.  Add keywords:

Google makes great suggestions and even has drop down selections that appear as you begin to type keywords that you want associated with your ad.  Choose wisely!  There are many options and you want to capture a wide range of audiences without losing credibility for being too wide.  Don't set yourself up to be another 'Click Bait' ad!

 6.  Select the location and range:

Continue by setting the location you're targeting for your advertisement.  You can expand or contract the range that you would like to cover so that your marketing is only targeting clients in your preferred area.  Do your research on your competition and opportunities to enter a market.  I chose a central location that was the highest density of outpatient healthcare clinics in the Chicagoland area.  Furthermore, I expanded my range to be both reasonable and encompassing the highest density of distributions of healthcare within the Chicago area suburbs and communities.

7.  Choose your budget:

Google offers the ability of small business, low budget, Guerrilla marketers to advertise on a budget!  You can choose your budget limitations, both small and large.  Google also provides a reference range of what competition in your industry is spending on Google Ads so that you have insight as to how much you can/should afford towards your marketing/advertising budget. 

8. Review your selections: 

        

Review a summary of your options and finalize your custom ad campaign.  If all looks good, continue to publish your newly created, customized ad!

As you can see, Google has the capabilities to make advertising smart, customized, and affordable.  This service is extremely user-friendly and simple to understand, create, and monitor with valuable analytics and graphics (more to come on that).  I hope that this has made you consider how Google Ads can help you achieve your own success and I truly hope that you are encouraged and motivated to give it a try for yourself.  Take a look at the video below for more tips on how to create an effective campaign using Google Ads.

Good luck on your quest to becoming a savvy marketer with the assistance of Google Ads!

Until next time,