Google Ads: Where Do You Begin?
When you think of digital advertising to market yourself to new fans, you probably think of just using Facebook or Instagram. Advertising your brand on social media is a great way to start, but if you're looking to widen your funnel, then you should consider looking into Google Ads. While Google Ads is a powerful tool to put in your marketing tool belt, it is not for the faint of heart. Today, I am going to give you an outline on Google Ads, and how to use it effectively to grow your fanbase.
What to Use it For
Depending on where you are in your career, there may be different objectives you wish to accomplish using Google Ads. For each objective, there are certain types of ads you'll want to use. Below are a few of the types of campaigns that you may find yourself using.
Search Campaigns - These types of ads are what you find when you look up something on Google or YouTube. For example, you might be looking for "Ariana Grande Tickets" or where she's going to stop next on her tour. You might look up Taylor Swift on YouTube and you might see text ads showing up in your YouTube search. I don't suggest artists starting out to use this feature, as you'll need an audience that's actively searching for you for it to work.
If you're already established in your career, you should go ahead and use these, especially if you're selling tickets for shows. A client of mine who is established has an issue with third-party ticketing platforms selling tickets to her show. We use search campaigns to not only lead people to her touring page but to help people steer clear from scalping sites so they don't risk getting ripped off.
Display Campaigns - These are the sort of ads you see show up as banners on websites, and sometimes on the side of YouTube videos. Like search campaigns, these are better suited for artists who are more established.
Video Campaigns - These are the ads that you not only see on YouTube before or during a video, but they can also show up on websites that participate in Google's Display Network. As I've mentioned previously in my Fans on a Budget Guide, this is great for any artist to use because video gives your potential audience the best first impression of you. If you're releasing a single, promoting a show, want to catch new viewers or subscribers to your YouTube channel, use video campaigns!
Google is a monster of a marketing tool, but if used correctly you can use it to your advantage. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and I will be covering future topics on Google Ads in the future.
If you have any topics or questions pertaining to Google Ads that you'd like for me to cover in future articles, let me know by emailing me at hello@rashaker.com.
