As a green tech start-up, if you’re overwhelmed with the hundreds of marketing tactics and strategies you can use to find customers remember this: search ads will be the fastest way to find green tech customers.

Here’s four reasons you should start running search ads today.

 

Searchers Are Looking For Answers

Unlike interruption marketing tactics, your ad only appears when someone has openly expressed an interest in your product or service (yes you can use search ads beyond your product/service but we will get to that later).

I’m sure we’ve all complained or heard others complain about ads interrupting their digital lives. Whether breaking up (or taking over!) your social media feed. Or blocking whole paragraphs you’re trying to read. Situations like these (and there are a million more examples) give interruption marketing (and the companies who use this tactic) a bad name.

But with search ads, you are responding to a stated need. Your ad, if it is truly an answer, is expected by the searcher. You are not interrupting them, you’re actually benefiting them.

 

Controlled Targeting Means Controlled Spend

With search ads, you target based on keywords. For example, “solar panels for my home,” or “sustainable clothing companies.” Inside Google Ads you set a daily budget and pay only when someone clicks on your ad (there are other bidding strategies but I won’t go through them here as they are not as common).

That may seem like an understatement, but it’s not. In fact, it can be argued that every click you don’t get is a free chance to make an impression.

Additionally, over time savvy marketers will learn the nuances in different keywords intent and conversion rates. By adjusting the campaigns based on live data, the cost can be controlled so that you bid aggressively for top-performing terms, but less-aggressively (think cheap) for low converting terms. This process is how you can squeeze extra ROI out of your search ad campaigns.

 

Easy To Get Started

No profile creation. No graphics needed. No need to get a few followers so your page looks legit. No debugging pixels.

Really the only thing you need to get started is your website, a Google Ads account, and a way to set up Google Ads conversion tracking. Once that is set, you can start bidding on whatever product or service you offer.

 

There is a catch, and that’s that because Google Ads is so easy to set up, a lot of businesses end up wasting money on Google Ads. Without understanding the nuances of the platform, conversions, keywords, and competition, you might find yourself struggling to make money. If that’s the case, I’d love to help. You can reach out to me here.

 

Strategize Against Your Competitors

With search ads, everything is on the SERPs (search engine results page) and their respective landing pages.

Want to see your competition? Google your product. Read their copy. Click the link (yes this costs them money so don’t abuse this! Seriously not cool lol). Discover how they are positioning their product. How do they talk to your customer? How could you improve upon it?

Use this information to give your ad and landing page creation a creative boost. Don’t start with a blank slate and don’t copy your competitors. Take what your competitors are doing well and improve where they are lacking. Create your ads with your competition in mind so that your ads stand out from the crowd. 

It’s not just competitors’ creative you can view. Maybe you’re curious about how much a click costs for that keyword. There are a variety of free tools that will estimate the cost per click. Once you start running ads you’re given even more information you can use to adjust your strategy such as impression share, outranking share, and more.

Remember, While I don’t believe in copying your competition. You should certainly create your ads with your competition in mind. You will want to craft a search ad that stands out from the crowd. 

With Google Ads it’s important to remember that Google wants high quality, highly-relevant ads so that the searcher can have the best experience possible. Therefore, the highest bid doesn’t always win the auction.

By creating a better ad and landing page experience for your prospects not only will you get more of them, you will pay less.

Finishing Up

Google Ads can be highly profitable for the right companies. They are easy to set up and easy to control.

However, this ease of use also contributes to the high level of competition in Google Ads. In some cases, Google Ads are extremely competitive. Generally speaking, the more lucrative the keyword, the higher the competition.

Based on your business, it’s possible that the CPC (cost-per-click) for your top keyword is too pricey when calculated against your profit margins. Every business is a case-by-case scenario.

That said, if you can make the numbers work, Google Ads is one of the best ways to spend marketing dollars at your green, clean, and or sustainable company.