Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is a powerful digital marketing tool for many financial firms. Indeed, many of the lead generation companies you might have spoken to are likely to focus heavily on using it, drawing enquiries into their central database before selling the data on.
The advantage of running your own pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, however, is that you benefit from setting up your own digital marketing infrastructure rather than relying on someone else’s. There is also the benefit of added trust with the prospect from the outset. The person clicking on your ad is exposed immediately to your brand; they can, therefore, get to know you immediately and not face all of the unknowns associated with going through a third party.
With this all said, it is also quite often difficult for financial services firms to get right. This is especially true for smaller businesses with limited experience using Google Ads. It’s also easy to waste a lot of money and pull in lots of irrelevant traffic if your campaigns are not set up correctly.
In this short guide, our team here at MarketingAdviser will be sharing 5 campaign ideas to consider incorporating into your financial marketing plan for Google Ads. If you have any questions or would like to discuss your own digital marketing strategy with us, please get in touch to book a free consultation.
#1 Branded campaign
Is it possible that your target audience is specifically looking for your business on Google Search, using keywords related to your brand? If so, then it can be worthwhile creating a dedicated search campaign intended to capture this specific traffic.
There are many advantages to doing this. First of all, keywords related to your company name are often lower in competition compared to other non-branded search terms. This typically results in a lower cost per click (CPC), whilst helping you capture traffic which has a very high search intent.
Secondly, such a campaign allows you to capture much more search engine “real estate”. Imagine a user types your company name into Google. Hopefully, your website address appears naturally at the top of the results, alongside your Google My Business profile on the right-hand side. If you also have your ads running at the top, then the user’s screen is going to be dominated by your brand (especially if they are using a mobile device), thus helping to prevent competitors from getting a look-in.
#2 Remarketing Campaign
If people have been visiting your website, then a great way to re-engage them is to try and pull these previous visitors back to your content using a specific “remarketing” campaign. You will have noticed these in your own internet browsing experience. You look at a pair of boots on Amazon, and all of a sudden you start seeing ads everywhere showing those very boots you almost bought!
This type of advertising can be creepy and annoying if done incorrectly. However, with a compelling offer and also with strategic targeting and timing, remarketing can be very effective. The CPC is also usually comparatively low, and the traffic is likely to be fairly qualified. After all, most people who have seen your brand before will only click on the ad if they were previously, truly interested.
#3 Display Outreach Campaign
This is similar to the remarketing campaign in the sense that your ads are shown across the internet, via the Google Display Network. However, rather than targeting previous website visitors, these ads target new prospects; many of whom will not have heard of your brand before.
These ads are typically cheaper to run than a search campaign (below) and it can be a great way to build brand awareness. Just don’t expect lots of leads to start banging the door down upon their first visit. People want the opportunity to get to know a brand and build trust. So consider using a softer call to action for these users, such as offering a free downloadable guide or resource.
#4 Search Campaign
This is the type of campaign you probably imagined when you first saw the title of this article! Here, you target specific keywords used by your audience to find services such as yours, using Google Search. For a financial adviser, for instance, they might target a phrase such as “financial advisor near me” and limit their ads to show for this phrase only if the user is within 20 miles of their offices.
This campaign can be expensive to run as bidding wars can get quite fierce. However, the user intent can often be very high, and if you regularly check for opportunities and monitor your campaign, there can be low hanging fruit to catch hold of. Perhaps a new keyword emerges, for instance, with a lower CPC and not much competition. Other, pricier keywords might be worth paying the money for if they demonstrate a strong conversion rate (CVR) and return on marketing investment (ROMI).
#5 YouTube Campaign
At the time of writing, many UK-based financial firms are still not leveraging video to its full potential within financial marketing. This could be a huge opportunity for you to exploit this gap by producing some excellent financial videos (e.g. animated or “talking head”), and promoting these to your audience via a dedicated Google Ads campaign.
This works similarly to a display campaign, except your videos are likely to be shown on YouTube (the world’s second-largest search engine in 2020, and also owned by Google). This can be especially useful for financial firms with a national reach, as it matters less where your audience is located in the country. However, bear in mind that this route does require putting effort into creating a compelling YouTube business profile and presence. This is where Google Ads starts to cross over into social media, which does make it a different tactic to the four others listed above. If you’re prepared to put in the effort, however, then the results can be very worthwhile!