You need to generate more leads!
Getting enough leads to grow your small business has always been an issue for budding entrepreneurs. For the majority of start-ups, this is the major issue that they face in building their business.
Many of the marketing methods that you would used previously like sending out direct mail pieces or using magazine advertising just don’t have the same impact these days. The unfortunate truth for small businesses is that if you don’t understand internet marketing then you are going to be left behind.
The Best Place To Start? Google Adwords
Google Adwords are the sponsored adverts that appear at the top and the right-hand side of your search in Google. The ads are paid ads and the way they work is something like an auction whereby you place bids on keywords and the business with the highest bid (taking into account many other factors) will generally rank number one.
Google Adwords is relatively easy to set up and allows you to target the key phrases that people are using to find businesses like yours in areas where you operate.
So What Are The Benefits?
There are lots of reasons. Here are a few of the bigger ones.
- You can switch it on or off whenever you want. If you have plenty of work then you can give your AdWords a rest for a while. If things are slow you can put them back on.
- Adwords gives you the option to target geographically. This way you only need to target those customers who can specifically use your services within your area.
- Google gives you the ability to target people who have a similar profile to your current customers. By using the remarketing aspect of Adwords you can target likely customers.
- Once you run your campaigns for some time you get some great data in terms of who is clicking and what they are doing after they click (if you set up conversion tracking). This then allows you to fine-tune your campaigns.
- If you are selling physical products then you can set up product adverts using Google Shopping to further boost your sales.
- With Google Adwords, you can see a real direct connection between the money that you are paying for advertising and the sales that you are generating.
In addition to Adwords, there are some other online marketing methods that you should potentially look into if you are keen to increase your leads and your sales.
Alternatives to Adwords
There are some potential alternatives to using Adwords. Unfortunately, on the search engine front, Google has around 90% of the market so they are the obvious choice in this area. You can however use other forms of online advertising like Facebook or Linkedin advertising to generate leads.
Facebook Advertising
LinkedIn Advertising
LinkedIn is another great way of targeting specific groups of customers. Being more of a business portal, LinkedIn is great for B2B businesses to target professional groups. LinkedIn also has a lot of demographic data on its customers and can do quite granular targeting.
Banner Advertising
Banner advertising is a great way to target broader sections of the online world. Banner space can either be sourced directly from website owners or can be booked through online booking firms.
