Let’s face it. Startups are not corporates. You can not afford to run a marketing campaign for $200 million. For that, ROI in Google Ads is critical for all startups. You know that if you see returns from Google ads for your startup, you will go all in.
It’s basic business math. If marketing brings you money, then the more spending on marketing (with a few smart campaigns), the more revenue you make.
We’ve tried on Albusi working with Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google ads. The results were sometimes as expected and underwhelming at other times. Hence, let us tell you our experience with Google ads for startups to ace it from the first time.
Before I begin, I’ve created a Youtube video explaining a phrase that our SEO advisor told us that is doing wonders for Albusi. Actually, it’s the reason why you’re reading this article. The advice was, “Write for humans.”
Check out the full video to understand more about how we got to where we are.
That being said, let’s dig into the perfect way to tackle google ads for startups.
What’s your target with this?
Firstly, you need to have a target and a budget. Do not go in with an open budget. You will be declaring bankruptcy faster than you think. You must be aware of the time you must stop if everything does not go according to plan.
After that, you must also be aware that your growth will eventually saturate. So even if Google ads are doing wonders for startups. There will come a moment when it won’t be anymore for you. It’ll need some creativity from your end and going back to the blackboard.
Many startups that I’ve worked with are interested in selling their companies or raising investments. For that, putting an initial growth rate target could be very helpful.
Generally, it helps the company understand its performance and track its progress over time. This information can be used to identify trends, set goals, and make informed decisions about the future of the business.
Additionally, investors and potential partners often use growth rate as a key metric when evaluating a startup’s potential, so accurately calculating and communicating this information is important for attracting investment and partnerships.
You’ve heard the terms “Hockey stick” and “Exponential” when it comes to growth. So, starting off with a target is very wise. Here’s a calculator that you can play with to determine your ultimate growth rate target.
Startup Growth Rate Calculator
This calculates the growth rate of a startup based on the initial amount of money and the number of years over which the growth rate is calculated.
Initial amount of money: $
Number of years:
The growth rate is: %
Google Ads vs. Others for startups
At the time of this writing, all other methods of advertisements are struggling.
- Meta and their ads are dropping.
- TikTok will saturate quite soon and has quite a niche target segment.
- LinkedIn ads are mostly B2B and quite expensive.
- Twitter ads are undergoing a catastrophe because of Elon’s takeover.
Hence, Google Ads is possibly the safest option for startups. We’re not monetizing by any affiliations or anything when we say that. It’s purely out of experience from our startup.
However, some people have Google ads making history for them, while others prefer Facebook ads. This all is based on one thing, which is our first advice–Experiment.
But don’t forget to give it time. Experimenting with Google Ads for a month might not be worth it. Yet, doing so for three to six months could make a lot of sense.
Step 1: Testing
Let’s get started with Google Ads. When I started some of the ads here in Switzerland, Google provided advertising credit of around $400 if you spent $400. This was quite a good deal. It might not be available in your location. But that’s your stage 0. You need to check if there’s anything promotional Google provides in your location.
Then you need to start testing. If a marketing campaign fails, there are multiple reasons for that:
- Bad targeting
- Bad writing
- Bad design
- Bad keyword research
- Bad product
You’re hoping it’s not the fifth one. However, if you keep running ads and trying all different variables, after a certain time, you might need to understand that your product is not the perfect one to promote on Google.
So test, test, and test. Try changing the keywords, the audience, the images, and anything else you feel like experimenting with.
Step 2: Hire a Google Ads expert for startups.
Sometimes you need an extra mind to help you. Hence, hiring expertise might be the best thing you do.
At Albusi, we do not provide that, unfortunately. Marketing is not our game. We focus on the big picture of your business. Surely, you’ll find some advisors or growth consultants on other freelancing websites who could very much help you.
However, you have to know one thing. They will probably want to charge you on monthly basis. Thereby, you really need to pick the right freelancer. It’s such a gamble because even with a freelance with a successful track record, you might not succeed.
At Albusi, we’ve done that before and spent over $6000 on an agency that resulted in almost $0 ROI. It wasn’t their fault. It was one of the above variables, and the 3 months time span was just too short to understand.
Google Ads won’t work for your startup without quality content.
Many startups just work hoping that a billboard on Google would let the users click and get convinced with your startup. You’ll get clicks with a successful Google ads campaign. But will you get sales or ROI?
This is another game. It’s like a food competition, and you just had your testers arrive at your front door. Thankfully, there are testers. But is the food good?
Hence, I’ll remind you of our SEO advisor’s words, “Write for humans.” Regardless of whether you’re doing ads or not, these ads, blogs, or websites will be read by another human. So do not sound promotional or robotic. Write it as if you’re chatting with your next customer.
Meet The Author Of This Article
I’m Al Anany, the founder and CEO of Albusi.
Writing in the business industry has shifted my mentality toward entrepreneurship. I started on Medium in 2021 and ended up being a Top Writer of more than 4 categories and had my content viewed more than 213k times.
I always have a single goal while writing: focus on entertaining while adding value.