Why does Google Ad's fail to achieve desired results?

This is a question that may puzzle many businesses and marketers. While buying an advertisement may seem like an easy solution to marketing needs, there is no guarantee that it will achieve the desired results. It is important to understand that the effectiveness of advertising depends on various factors.

Advertising should be seen as part of content marketing and as one channel to increase traffic. If purchased advertising is the main driver of traffic to a company's website, then strategic and tactical choices have been made incorrectly. The initial costs, such as cost per click (CPC), may be reasonable, but the customer acquisition cost (CAC) and revenue  from closed deals can be disappointing.

Therefore, it is crucial to focus on targeting the right audience with advertisements. Even if an ad is visually appealing and contains an interesting message, it may not reach the intended target audience. The ad should be directed towards those individuals who have a genuine need or interest in the product or service. If the ad is shown to the wrong audience, it may go unnoticed or generate the wrong kind of interest.

Many make the mistake in Google Ad's advertising by letting automation decide the targeting. This can lead to an increase in budget and ads appearing on websites and places that are not thematically relevant to the company's services.

Especially in the reach phase, these mistakes are common. The execution becomes formulaic and the same for every customer. There is no understanding of the customer's goals, and instead, a model is launched to optimize work hours and profit.

Google Ad's advertising service providers justify the use of Google algorithms and the strong growth of impressions. As a HubSpot partner, I can say that this is not the right model. We want new prospects and leads, not just traces on a mosquito net.

Therefore, the focus should be on real results, such as how many new contacts and at what cost?

Ultimately, the evaluation of effectiveness comes through the revenue generated from closed deals. When the CAC:LTV and customer acquisition cost of customers from purchased advertising are known, one can discuss real results.

In my experience, few Google Ad's service providers can even answer this question. They know the click prices, but that's where the visibility ends. The rest is guesswork. Read my blog post about customer acquisition cost and how much the customer's buying journey costs.

Secondly, the message and content of the advertisement are crucial. The ad should be clear, informative, and enticing. If the ad does not convey enough information about the product or service, it may not generate interest or motivate people to take action. Additionally, the ad should speak to the target audience and evoke emotions or needs that make them want the product or service. The ad needs to have a hook that relates to the company's services and story.

When advertising is outsourced, there is a significant risk that the company's own voice becomes diluted or lost. The company's themes, keywords, and existing content may be left out of the advertising. This means that the ad texts do not convey the company's offering and the words become clichés and slogans.

A quick test of being on the same page as the advertising creator is to see how many monthly Google searches there are for the chosen keywords in one keyword campaign. This combined volume, along with the difficulty of the keywords (KD) and their intent, helps understand the service provider's expertise and goals.

Additionally, it is important to understand the competitive landscape and what existing content is most competitive or if landing pages need to be built specifically for advertising purposes.

Therefore, content marketing choices need to be integrated into advertising. The hook of the ad needs to be based on the company's story and offering. The click needs to align with the beginning of the buyer's journey. Advertising can also support different stages of the buyer's journey and remind them of the offering along the way.

Ideally, a customer relationship is formed from the first click. Wouldn't that be great?

Why do the results fall short?

The biggest bottleneck seems to be the capability of analytics and reporting. If a company is paying 26,000 EUR per year for Google Ad's advertising, what is the result? Service providers who swear by Google Analytics and do advertising are inherently prisoners of a narrow interpretation. Because true contacts and closed deals cannot be reported, analytics is incomplete. Note: e-commerce is not my focus; I am speaking more from the perspective of B2B companies.

The bottleneck seems to be the connection to content. The results fall short because the ad creator comes from outside the content and does not pay enough attention to themes and keyword competition. If the keyword difficulty (KD) is below 30, is search engine optimization or paid keyword advertising the right solution?

Routine is the worst. Google Ad's is a great addition at the right time, for the right themes, and selected seasons. Running the same campaigns every month with the same budget is, in my opinion, giving up.

Optimizing advertisements alone is not enough; landing pages and the customer journey must also be optimized. The goal of advertisements is to drive traffic to the right touchpoints, and only if the story resonates will success stories and opportunities for Growth arise.