Chris Young
For the longest time, Google Ads have been the gold standard of pay-per-click advertising and, on average, generate $2 of revenue for every $1 spent.
One of the key disadvantages of using Google ads used to be the knowledge barrier to entry. Many users with minimal or no digital marketing experience can find themselves in a Google Ads interface and wonder how in the world they’re supposed to structure everything and not waste a bunch of time and money.
The Smart Campaigns helps to fix this valid concern by requiring minimal user input and using artificial intelligence to create Google Ads on behalf of the user. There are some obvious pros and cons to trusting this sort of technology and smart campaigns should be regarded as the first step rather than the destination. However, the results so far have yielded many positive outcomes and helped local businesses increase their revenue with PPC campaigns.
The new Smart Campaigns are Google’s attempt at reducing the barrier to entry into Google ads as much as humanly (or in this case, “artificially”) as possible. By using artificial intelligence, Google gives users with little or no PPC advertising experience the opportunity to leverage the power of Google ads. With this new offering, users are able to give information about their business combined with website information and Google Business profile information to automatically create paid advertisements. With this minimal amount of information, the smart campaigns algorithm can create unique campaigns for companies. After the campaigns are created and have run for a little while, the Smart Campaigns platform will also show the most relevant data generated by the campaign in an easily digestible format.
Google Smart Campaign technology was created, as a general rule, for smaller businesses that want to break into digital marketing and PPC advertisement but don’t have the marketing background. Unfortunately, one of the major barriers to traditional Google Ads is the amount of training needed to begin creating high-quality and high-converting campaigns. As a result, companies were faced with three options:
Many businesses, to their own detriment, opted for the third option, and this is the option that Google is targeting specifically with Google Smart Campaigns. These businesses mostly look like local small businesses with anywhere from 1 - 20 employees who render either goods or services directly to customers. Think of dentist offices, attorneys, accountants, specialty shops, restaurants, entertainment venues, and more. Basically any company that sees the value of Google Ads but lacks the skills or the time to set them up correctly may find extensive value in using Google Smart Campaigns.
All of the benefits notwithstanding, there are some disadvantages that come with using Smart Campaigns, although these are more applicable for professionals who have experience running large-scale PPC campaigns.
Setting up a Smart Campaign only takes a few minutes.
Step 1: In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon
Step 2: Click the “New Campaign”.
Step 3: Choose your campaign objective.
Step 4: Choose campaign type–Select “Smart” for Smart Campaigns.
Step 5: Continue through the prompts on the screen or call Google. If you select “Expert Mode,” you will not be able to create a smart campaign.
Step 6: Select your Google Business Profile, depending on your campaign goals.
Step 7: Select your website or landing page and remove the UTM code.
Step 8: Select your campaign goal.
Step 9: Link your campaign to Google Analytics
Step 10: Add in some header and description copy of your own. This may or may not be used by Google in the Smart Campaign.
Step 11: Add keyword themes.
Step 12: Enter your location targeting.
Step 13: Review campaign set-up.
Step 14: Select a budget or enter a custom budget.
Step 15: ????
Step 16: Profit.
Conversions tracking is a make-or-break part of Google ads to get good data. Users should be aware that conversion tracking can be tied to a number of different metrics with a range of utility. Some people (and underhanded agencies) use nearly meaningless metrics for conversions such as home page visits, which provide virtually no data as to whether or not a campaign is driving revenue. It is, therefore, important to ask the question–”What do we care the most about from this campaign?” For some e-commerce stores, this might be a sale. However, for other businesses, it might be form submissions or calls. Whatever a company considers to be a conversion, it should be reflective of an event that tracks the meaningful and purposeful action of a prospect.
One key consideration for smart campaigns is that they’re merely an entry point into PPC advertisements and were never intended to be the end-all-be-all. They are meant to be an entryway into more advanced (and frankly more effective) usage of all of the PPC features offered by Google.
Another important consideration for businesses who want to use Smart Campaigns is that it’s not a one-way ticket to endless revenue. Marketing is a full-time operation for all companies and over-reliance on a single channel (such as a Smart Campaign) is virtually never a good idea. There are some channels that will naturally work better than others. However, diversification in marketing is as important as diversification in an investment portfolio. In addition to running Smart Campaigns, businesses should also consider Meta advertising, content creation, email marketing, search engine optimization, and more. Diversifying the different marketing and advertising channels will give companies a full-orbed picture of who their audience is and what messaging they respond to. Additionally, in the event that one channel ceases to work or is no longer viable, there are still a half-dozen other channels that are mature enough to continue driving leads.
Google Smart Campaigns are an excellent solution for smaller local businesses who want to take advantage of PPC but don’t have the experience to run a traditional advertising campaign. The low barrier to entry, minimal financial risk, and large potential upside suggest that Smart Campaigns could be a good addition to most local businesses that aren’t currently running PPC ads.
It’s worth remembering that Smart Campaigns are only an entry-level strategy and may only convert a small number of the serviceable obtainable market (SOM). Working with a digital marketing agency like Be More Digital to increase marketing sophistication and create more dynamic and engaging campaigns is the next logical step to reaching the entire SOM. Get in touch with the expert team at Be More Digital for a PPC proposal or let us know if you simply have a question about the right strategy for your company. Additionally, you can view our case studies here to see our success stories with current and former clients. Our Customer Experience team is standing by waiting to hear from you!
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