After a grueling meeting with your business partner, you finally decided that you need to market your product or service online. Your market research says that your target customers are techy savvy customers who spend a lot of their time on the Internet.
Problem is, you do not have a big budget like those corporations who spend millions of dollars on advertising cost.

So, what do you do?

Google AdWords may just be what your business needs. This is Google’s online advertising program which allows you to market your products and services online with a starting investment of 5 USD. Five (5) USD is the cost of creating an account with Google Adwords.

As per the actual cost of advertising using their platform, Adwords uses the pay-per-click model which means that you pay only when a potential customer clicks on your ad.

The next question is how you can compete with your competitors who may already be using the same service. What if you only have a maximum of $100 to spend on online advertising?

To resolve this dilemma, it is important to understand that the key to good advertising is to ensure that your campaign is highly focused on your target customers. Getting your product across to customers who are not likely to buy your product is a waste of your advertising budget unless your campaign is general brand awareness.

But still, even brand awareness uses some sort of targeting to showcase the brand. For instance, there are cultures wherein the wives still do most of the shopping and decision-making for products used at home, even for male products.

If your market research says that this applies to your product category, then your advertising should be targeted to the wives and not to the husbands even if the husbands are the consumers of your product.

Here are some tips on how you can maximize your tight budget while still using this revolutionary advertising service.

1. Google Search
Businesses with small advertising budgets should only advertise on Google Search. While Google Search Partner and Google Display Network can produce some leads for your business, they tend to be less qualified and less efficient than Google Search.

Therefore, we recommend you start with Google Search first

2. Keyword Selection

Since your competitors will most likely use the same general keywords you have in mind, it is important that you choose keywords that are specific to your brand or company.

Branded keywords include your company name, your brand and the product or service you offer. For instance, instead of using “auto repair shop” as your keyword, you can target your customers by using keywords such as “KlimischInc, “KlimischAutobody,” or “Klimisch auto repair shop.”

Since branded keywords are highly specific, you have less or zero competition for them. This will result in a low cost per click (CPC) and can drive the highest conversion rate.

A study by Google confirmed that you can still get 50% incremental clicks even if your company already has the #1 rank on the Google organic search.

The use of Long tail keywords is another strategy that you can employ. When selecting keywords, it is helpful that you put yourself in your target customers’ shoes. What keyword will you choose to search for the product that you want?

If you are based in a specific locality and are searching for a restaurant to eat at, you will most likely use long-tail keywords with the city or even the zip code of the place where you’re at as well as a slight description of the restaurant you want to try out.

Instead of using the generic term “restaurant,” you’ll probably use keywords such as “Japanese restaurant near 94305” or “Korean restaurant in Palo Alto” so you can narrow your search results and save time.

3. Geotargeting

This means that Google Adwords has the capability to show your PPC ads to users who are from a specific location. This can work both ways.

You can use this to limit your ad to potential customers who are in your area and you can also use this to advertise your business to an area where you want to expand your business to. If you are targeting people outside your business are, you may want to use ads which give them discounts or coupons as incentives for going out of their way to go to your area and try your product.

4. Dayparting

Dayparting allows you to target when your ads will appear. You can specify the time, day, and frequency of the appearance of your ads.

If your business hours are only from 9 am-9 pm, then you may want to turn off your ads during non-business hours. On the other hand, if your business has peak hours or days, you can use dayparting to drive more sales during the slow hours and days. For instance, if your business is related to travel, you would know that holidays like Christmas day and the summer season are peak days when customers use your service a lot. On the other hand, the rest of the year generates a very low sales.

You can use dayparting to advertise promos during off-peak days to drive sales during this time.

5. Device Targeting

Google Adwords allows you to advertise your business on different devices accordingly.

Again, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Why would you be using your phone to search for something? It could be something urgent. It could be something that you want to get at that specific moment.

If this is the case, then elaborate ads which are usually placed on desktop, laptops, and tablets may not work optimally on mobile phones. With Google Adwords, your mobile ads are created in a way that maximizes what information your customer can get out of the ad. It allows users to include addresses and telephone numbers on the ads so customers can call your business directly to buy your product or make a reservation.

Google AdWords is a great way to venture into online advertising without getting yourself locked on an expensive and fixed contract. With $100 and a highly targeted campaign, you can create your account and reach millions of potential customers on Google’s network each day.