INTRODUCTION
For a business improvement district (BID), one of the ways you can support the businesses in your district is to generate awareness or drive foot traffic through marketing and promotional services.
Google Ads can be an effective way to keep your member businesses top-of-mind, attract visitors or promote events that showcase your members or your area as a whole.
Following are some tips on how your BID can use Google Ads to promote its businesses.
HOW TO LAUNCH GOOGLE SEARCH ADS FOR BID BUSINESSES
Google Search ads are a type of pull marketing that allows you to capture people actively searching for businesses that are similar to those in your BID. They work by leveraging keywords related to terms Google users include in their searches, making them ideal for driving awareness and foot traffic from visitors or locals looking for things to do in your area.
To create a Google Search ad, go to the Google Ads account for your BID and click the “+” symbol to start a new campaign. Next, select the objective (e.g., Website traffic) and the campaign type (e.g., Search). Then set up your location targeting. You can target by city or zip code(s) or set up a radius around your location to home in on areas that align with your BID or serve potential visitors. Select additional targeting parameters, or audience segments, as needed.
For example, you can target by affinities such as “shopping enthusiasts” or “foodies” or by in-market behaviors if relevant to your target audience(s).
Create different campaigns or ad groups for different types of businesses. For instance, if your BID has a significant number of restaurants, hotels and retail businesses, you should create separate campaigns or ad groups for each so you can optimize your targeting and keywords and tailor your destination URLs. Of note, all audience targeting takes place at the campaign level, so you will need to create separate campaigns to associate different affinities or behaviors with different ads.
A hotel campaign, for example, may include travel-related behaviors or affinities and keywords like “hotels in downtown [insert your city]” or “best hotels in [insert your neighborhood].” Meanwhile, a restaurant campaign could include food- or beverage-related behaviors or affinities and terms such as “dining in [insert your city]” or “[name of district/neighborhood] restaurants.”
Use Google’s keyword planner tool to research additional terms and phrases people are using in their searches and include relevant terms in your master keyword list(s).
Aim to include some of those keywords in the ads themselves to help make your campaign relevant to Google users. Your Google Search ad can have up to 15 headlines (max 30 characters each) and four descriptions (up to 90 characters each). Plus, you can add additional assets like your BID’s logo, sitelinks (e.g., URLs and brief descriptions of other pages on your site) or a phone number, among others. Google will then mix and match these assets to optimize them for specific searches.
You also should create separate landing pages (or destination URLs) on your BID’s website for different business categories to tailor content to the user’s search. For a retail campaign, that means including information about the shops and retail outlets in your BID instead of a complete list of every business you serve.
Once you create your ads, set your desired average daily budget and date range, review the campaign and launch.
Monitor performance and refresh your ad copy on a regular basis. When possible, align language with the season or timely happenings. For example, if your community holds an annual festival, you could consider creating a hospitality ad that includes the name of the festival in your ad copy and/or keywords to make your campaign more relevant to people searching for lodging for the event.
Of note, qualifying 501(c)(3) non-profits are eligible to receive up to $10,000 per month in Google Search ads through Google Ad Grants. You should coordinate with non-profits in your BID (e.g., a historical society) to maximize joint promotional opportunities.
HOW TO PROMOTE BID BUSINESS EVENTS WITH GOOGLE DISPLAY ADS
Google Display ads (soon to become Demand Gen ads) are another type of Google Ad that can be used to promote businesses in your BID. Unlike search ads, Google Display ads do not rely on specific keywords or search terms. Instead, they are an image- or video-first form of outbound/push marketing that is delivered directly to prospects where they spend time online. In other words, they appear on websites, apps and other locations (e.g., YouTube) across Google’s Display Network as people browse.
Use these types of ads to support BID events, such as night markets, holiday activities or other community happenings that incorporate your member businesses. This type of content tends to be timelier and is more likely to appeal to broader audiences, giving you the chance to showcase BID businesses regardless of whether people are searching for them.
To start a Google Display ad, go to your Google Ads account and click the “+” symbol like you would with a search campaign. Select your objective (e.g., website traffic to take people to an event-specific landing page) and the campaign type. This time, you will choose “Display.”
Setup for Display ads is similar to Google search ads. For example, you will still set a daily budget and campaign dates. In addition, you can still target by location and create audience segments that include specific affinities or in-market behaviors.
You can also target by demographics with Display ads, including age, gender, parental status and household income.
Parental status and age, in particular, can be helpful for targeting people likely to attend specific events. For instance, consider targeting parents if you are promoting a family-friendly event or age if you have an event tailored to young professionals in your area.
Add additional targeting, such as topics or relevant keywords, to help Google show display ads on more relevant sites. Of note, these keywords are not related to search behavior, but rather placement. For example, you could add family- or parent-related keywords to the campaign for your family-friendly event so they are more likely to appear on parenting sites.
Display ads can include a destination URL (e.g., the link to your landing page), up to 15 images, up to five headlines, a long headline and up to five descriptions. You also can add videos for YouTube placements if desired. Like Search ads, Google will mix-and-match the assets to optimize results.
Monitor and adjust ad and asset performance regularly and update or replace underperforming elements to optimize your campaign as it runs.