Using Google Ads for SaaS companies is one of the best methods of increasing sales and brand visibility. Unlike some organic marketing tactics, PPC ads provide instantaneous results and require somewhat less strategizing. Then again, for you to achieve high conversions, you’ll still need to have a great website and landing pages.
However, this doesn’t mean every ad you run on Google will be a home run. You should always remember that other software agencies are also bidding for similar keywords as you, driving the advertising prices up. Many companies also struggle to convert all this incoming traffic, which can put a dent in their month-by-month revenues.
The good news is that you can improve your performance by learning some basics. If you have ever run any type of marketing campaign or used tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics, you’ll likely be able to create a winning strategy. Make sure to follow the tips in this article to boost your overall performance and ensure long-term brand growth!
1. Use Expert Mode
If you’re starting a brand new campaign, we suggest you use expert mode. All you need to do is go to the official Google Ads page and click on the button “Get Started.” While choosing marketing goals, you’ll notice a button at the bottom that says “Switch to Expert Mode.”
It’s worth mentioning that you actually don’t have to be an expert to use these settings. However, some of the features in this mode will make your life much easier.
2. Choose Campaign Type
Users can choose between all sorts of ad types, including search, video, display, shopping, local, discovery, app, and Performance Max. Each ad type serves a unique purpose, and some of them aren’t the best choice for SaaS businesses.
A good rule of thumb is to set your goals beforehand. After that, Google will suggest specific campaign types that are best suited for achieving those goals. So, you won’t have to worry too much about whether a specific ad is a good choice or not. When you get the hang of things, you might even run several campaigns concurrently by using various ad types.
3. Introduce General Settings
You’ll now be taken to the “General Settings” screen. This panel consists of two main sections: “Campaign Name” and “Networks.” You can also see your goals and campaign type on the top.
As you can see, setting a campaign name isn’t that important; it only helps you differentiate one project from another. Setting a network is more important. Here, you need to choose whether or not you’ll use Google Partner Networks. If you use the entire network, you’ll get much more reach, although you might have less focus on your goals.
4. Set Schedule
Like with any other marketing campaign, scheduling can make or break your ads. Ideally, you should only run ads when your target audience is awake and active on Google. Then again, by targeting off hours, you might be able to pitch users that other advertisers are overlooking.
In this panel, you can also choose how long a campaign will last and a few other features. It’s worth noting that the settings pertain to your time zone, which is a major consideration if you’re trying to pitch users in other countries and regions.
5. Choose Language and Location
Location and language settings are among the most important things you need to consider. Within this tab, you can choose whether to include all global locations, focus on North America, or enter a custom location. If you want to target specific areas, you’ll see how much reach you can achieve advertising at each location.
Here, you can also set up basic targeting parameters. You can focus on users based on their presence and interests, only presence, or only search interests. Marketers also have the option of avoiding certain users.
6. Determine Budget
Budgeting is one of the biggest concerns when running SaaS Google Ads. Determining the budget in advance will prevent you from overspending, which can be disastrous for young software agencies that just started doing marketing.
It’s worth mentioning that the budget is set on a daily basis. For example, if you have a monthly budget of $600, you should focus on $20 daily spending. We also need to mention that the spending might vary from day to day. Google might use up $15 one day and only $5 the next.
SaaS advertisers have to remain flexible when creating a budget, even if it means spending more money than they initially envisioned. You should track performance on a daily basis, reducing the budget for campaigns that are underperforming and vice versa.
7. Select Bid Strategy
Google can provide a lot of assistance when you’re choosing a bid strategy. First off, you need to tell the algorithm what you wish to focus on (click, impression, and more). After that, you can choose from a drop-down list of automatic (maximize clicks, maximize conversions, maximize conversion value, and target impression share) and manual (manual CPC) bidding strategies.
The great thing about automated bidding is that Google will select the right strategy to maximize certain goals. Although the algorithm might spend more than you expected, it will also reroute money towards best-performing ads. Manual strategies require much more work and give you more control over spending, but they can also limit your performance.
8. Find Keywords
Like with search engine optimization, keywords are the focal point of your PPC campaigns. At this point, you need to find the most relevant phrases for your marketing, that is, the ones that will ensure the highest conversions. A good rule to follow is assessing value by CPC; those that are worth less usually provide lower benefits.
When you reach the panel, you’ll notice several settings, including “Ad group name,” “Default bid,” and “Keywords.” The first option is just so you can differentiate your campaigns. The section option, “Default Bid,” allows you to set bids for your manual campaigns. Lastly, the area “Keywords” allows you to introduce various relevant phrases for your campaign.
Selecting the right keywords will be much easier if you previously ran SEO campaigns, as lucrative organic keywords will also be valuable for your paid ads. We suggest you use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Google Keyword Planner to find hidden gems for your campaigns.
Ideally, you should focus on commercial and transactional phrases that could lead to direct conversions, yet they aren’t too expensive to bid on. We also suggest you avoid low-volume variations of your primary keyword as they can quickly drain your budget with little to show for it.
9. Create Ad
Finally, it’s time to create your ad. As there are so many different formats, we won’t get into the nitty gritty for each one of them. However, we’ll share a few universal tips.
First off, make sure that your ad is highly related to the landing page. The last thing you need is to attract users and spend money on their clicks without expecting any conversions. Depending on the format, you should pay attention to its native conversion practices that provide the biggest engagement.
CTAs are another vital element in encouraging users to click on the link. Phrases like “Buy now” or “Limited offer” might increase urgency, thus increasing the click-through rates. At the same time, you need to sound official and authoritative to leave a better impression of your SaaS brand.
10. Modify Landing Page
In most cases, marketers use existing content on their website to create a landing page for their ads. In an ideal scenario, they will drive traffic to service pages, thus converting users as soon as they arrive on the platform. However, they can also use existing blog posts or articles they’ve made specifically for ad campaigns.
Your homepages have to be highly related to the ads. As one of the key elements of the buyer’s journey, they need to provide high retention and include relevant links to other content, most notably service pages. Make sure they load quickly and open properly on various devices. Furthermore, think about its structure and introduce various visual aids.
Conclusion
Running Google Ads campaigns for SaaS companies can be a breeze if you cover a few main points. First off, you need to establish your goals and how you’d like to reach them. After that, it won’t be hard to find a winning format and campaigns and to pinpoint the target audience for your posts.
