Winning at Adwords is simple:

– Do quick search for ‘Denver plumber’ in Google.

– Do the exact opposite of those ads and your PPC account will do exponentially better.   Easy-peasy.

Unfortunately the horrible ads in Adwords aren’t limited to plumbers in Denver.  They are everywhere…and that’s a good thing for the savvy marketer.

Why are they so bad you ask?  Let’s look at the highlight reel of adcopy:

Most plumber ads in Denver are espousing that they are:

  • “Local” – ½ the ads use valuable ad space to point out they are in fact local.  Well I’d hope you’re local!  I was just about to choose a non-local plumber and pay mileage from Phoenix…

 

  • “In  business since 19xx” –  So, the company that’s been in business since 1998 vs. 1996?  Is that extra two years going to make your broken toilet work better than the other?

 

  • “Always Fast & Friendly” –  as opposed to the slow & unfriendly of course….

 

  • “Experts” – vs.  the non-expert plumber you almost just hired!  Thank goodness you’ll now avoid that pesky amateur plumber trying to figure out how all these darn pipes in your basement work.

 

  • One ad has a $40 coupon, so what does their competitor do?  Offer a $50 coupon of course (literally)!  Can’t you just hear that online marketing consultant pitching their client: you need a $60 coupon!  That’ll beat em!

 

  • “Same day service” – Ugh, no thanks! Do you have anything next Tuesday instead?  I have a 2nd toilet I’d rather use until then.

 

  • “Quality work at honest prices” – What a relief.  If you were looking for shoddy work that is severely overpriced, this ad will set you straight.

 

  • “For plumbing repairs call us now” –  Oh gosh good, a plumbing company that does plumbing repairs!  What an amazing use of adcopy space.

 

PROBLEM:  Every ad is basically saying the same BLAHHHH.  Which makes one plumber virtually indistinguishable from the others.   Guess what that does (or doesn’t do) to click-thru rates, and more importantly ROI?
Which plumber would you choose out a group that all says the same stuff?

Why is this important to you?

When all the ads are the basically same, Adwords becomes a game of fighting over scraps vs. dominating a market.

You see, even if your company really IS the best, really IS fast & friendly – in a market full of slow jerks, it’s near impossible for your potential customer to get that in a sea of ads that are full of ‘me toos.’

There’s likely something you do, that competitors don’t, that truly makes you unique….but….your Google Adwords ads aren’t singing those praises….WHY?

If you’re tired of scrambling over the scraps of clicks via boring ads that look just like the next guy,  you need to figure out a REAL marketing strategy urgently if you want 2014 to be any different than 2013 when it comes to your bottom line.

How do you think and ad for a ‘no plumbers crack guarantee’ might do? That links to a page about your employee appearance guidelines and offers a $100 cash payment if you see a crack you shouldn’t?

Just an idea…but you get the point.

…and ah yes, this coming from a PPC management company that gives a three month no questions back management guarantee and a 6 month every penny back if you’re not happy with your SEO results.  So we do practice what we preach!