GOOD to GREAT: Generating Leads With Google Ads

Mitch Earll

Account Analyst

It seems like nowadays, no matter what industry you’re working in, there is someone on the internet guaranteeing qualified leads for potential sales of a good or service you or your company offers. I know what you may be thinking -- if so many people are out there claiming to be “marketing experts” how hard can it be to generate solid leads by running digital ads? Doesn’t Google have an interface that makes it practically dummy-proof to make a mistake?

The Short Answer: Yes & No.

The Longer Answer: (Yes) Google has created an interface to run ads that is very user friendly and has lots of entry-level tools & resources that can make you feel like a marketing wizard after a few clicks and a couple of hours of educating yourself on the basics.

Long Answer Continued: (No) However, just because Google says that your account is in top gear peeling away into the sunset, doesn’t mean that it actually is. Your Digital Ad Account might be performing well, or even on par with industry average standards, but not great. There are numerous things that go into creating a pipeline of qualified leads from a Google Ads Campaign. SEO ranking, ad copy, Google Quality Score, Google My Business page ranking, the list goes on. To achieve great results you need to get a better idea of the whole scope of what you’re trying to accomplish and break it down into steps to help you better understand the entire picture. To do this, I like to use something we at HiFive call, Vision-Based Strategy Planning (VSP).

Vision-Based Strategy Planning involves 6 steps that range from broad brainstorm identification to implementation and optimization of strategies that you have created based on the primary goals you are trying to achieve.

Here are the 6 steps:

1. Identify Vision Statement (Desired End Goal Brainstorm)

2. Produce Your Vision Statement (Simplify Your End Goal into 1-2 sentences)

3. Establish Primary Goals & KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators)

4. Create Objectives & Strategy to Reach Each Goal

5. Implement Action Plan to Fulfill Each Strategy

6. Launch Campaign - Review Analytics - Optimize

Here is a recent example of a Vision-Based Strategy Plan I conducted for a client that wanted to move into paid digital advertising to drive leads for residential roof replacement in Central Florida.

As you can see above, performing a Vision-Based Strategy Plan (VSP) can be as general or specific as you want, depending on the information you have access to. I was able to conduct a fairly specific VSP based on information gathered from previous clients in the same industry. Although it might not seem like much of a game changer, a simple planning tool like a VSP allows you to grasp a clear breadth of view on your target objective, which in turn can be the difference between good and great results.