“I’ll Have What She’s Having”
That was what a new prospect who called us had just said on the phone. They had recently talked to one of our clients, got our phone number from them, and went on to say that the customer was sending them a “substantial amount of referral business” due to the marketing work we were doing for our client online. This prospect also said that since it was working so well for my client – they would also like “to do the exact same thing” our client was doing (albeit in a different geographical area). Once we confirmed with our client that this was true (and checked to make sure they had no conflicts) – our newest prospect became another PICS customer.
The last article written on our news blog talked about “Google Maps and ROI” but it’s not only Google Maps (now Google Plus) that can work wonders for a buisness online – it’s also Google Adwords, and your website – which combine to become what we refer here as “The three weapons” on an online marketing sensei (Maps, PPC, Website).
About 5 years ago, a business could rank high on Google Maps (now Google Plus or “Google +”) and not need Pay Per Click, or any decent organic search engine results. The “Google maps” were that powerful in returning phone calls and business. However, since 2009, Google has made it much more difficult for a business to rely on only “Google maps” or “organic”. If you’ve not noticed – Google has slowly, but diligently moved it’s “free” (aka “organic) search results further and further back in prominence on the search engine results pages (SERP’s). With Google commanding a near monopoly in online usage by web surfers (85% at last check) – businesses are now forced to “play ball” when it comes to Google’s Adwords or Pay Per Click (PPC).
Yep, you want results from the web these days – you gotta play “PPC” – and if you want to stay in business (and not give most of your profits to Google) – you better play PPC like a seasoned pro.
Remember those $100 in “Free Ad credit” thingamajigs you got in the mail? If you’re not going to use those credits like a pro – you might as well just write a check directly to Google (or your favorite charity) and save yourself some time. Most of the time a business owner does not have the time to properly manage their Google Adwords (PPC) accounts. This results in wasted time and money (and the desire that you’d have rather given all that money to something beneficial, like your favorite charity). The bottom line is that if you’re not managing your PPC (Google Adwords) properly, having someone who can manage it will usually save you more money that it costs for the management company to do it.
For example: 1) Customer opens their own Google Adwords account
2) Customer spends $25 and gets the “free $100 in ad credits”.
4) Customer then spends $200 per week on Google ads for two months and then quits when 500 clicks on their ads occur – but zero phone calls or sales are received.
5. Total investment was $1600 minus the “free $100 in ad credits” or $1500. The ROI for this investment is a 100% loss.
Now let’s look at if the same company had hired “PPC Pro’s” like us to manage their PPC account.
1) Customer pays setup fee (usually $699 one time), and PICS sets the account up.
2) Customer spends $25 and gets the “free $100 in ad credits”.
3) Customer then spends $200 per week on Google ads for two months and gets 150 clicks on their ads to occur. A total of 9 phone calls and 3 confirmed sales occur.
4) Total investment was $1600 plus $699 (PICS Setup cost), plus $100 per month management fee, and finally minus the “free $100 in ad credits”. Total investment was $2399, Total confirmed sales were $9,000 and Cost of Goods sold was $2,500.
5) Return on investment or “ROI” = (9000 in Gains – $4101 in Costs)/Cost = 1.19 or 119% return on the original investment. As you can see, even though it cost money to have a “PPC Pro” manage your Pay Per Click – it’s worth it when you compare results to DIY (doing it yourself).
Lastly, let’s take a good hard look at your website. Since you’re spending money on your marketing weapons – does it not make sense to invest in a website that maximizes phone calls and website form submissions (which naturally lead to sales)? Of course it does. So our advice has always been – if you’re investing in PPC, and Google Maps – you really should invest in a website that compliments and maximizes the return on investment for the two marketing efforts (PPC and Google Maps). If you can afford to use the “three weapons” (Optimized Website, PPC, and Google Maps) then you’ve got the best chance to succeed online.
