1.) How long will it take to get meaningful results?

Generally speaking, SEM is a way to accelerate lead flow and sales activity to your business at a faster rate than traditional organic methods. As with all marketing strategies, SEM campaign performance improves over time. In the Data Collection Phase (first 90 days), we'll learn the most about the campaign's effectiveness by meticulously monitoring performance metrics, fine-tuning strategies, and routinely looking for opportunities to improve outcomes. Ongoing optimization continues through the life of the campaign, ensuring your ads are always tuned for the best possible performance. 

2.) How much of my budget should be in Google Ads vs other strategies like blogging?

It depends on a number of factors. There are strategies that have the potential to make a more immediate impact on site traffic and lead generation. These strategies include SEM, social advertising, display ads and email marketing. Activating these strategies with a larger percentage of your budget should be done if you need more immediate results and are less focused on your marketing investment having a lasting impact on your online presence. Alternatively, web development, blogging and social platform growth are marketing strategies that will take longer to deliver a return on investment, but will generate benefits to your online presence long after the financial investment has been made. In most cases a balance of paid strategies and SEO focused strategies will be best and should be throttled based on the short term and long term goals for your business.

3.) How much should I spend on Google Ads?

It is possible to spend too little and thus not realize a return on investment for your marketing dollars. A smaller budget means your Ads will be shown to few people and there will be less data for our team to use for the ongoing optimization of your campaign. We recommend starting your Google Ads campaign with a minimum of $1,000/campaign. Ad spends should be increased once the campaign is converting leads at an acceptable cost/lead.

4.) What are the main differences between Google Ads and Facebook Advertising?

Both Facebook Advertising and Google Ads have Campaigns.  However, the audiences on these platforms are quite different, so campaigns on each platform have a different role.  It's the difference between what do I need right now vs what is the focus of my business for the coming year.

Facebook's campaigns are typically designed for short-term to medium-term objectives (get more likes, promote a new showroom opening, drive traffic to your website, etc.).  These campaigns can change regularly throughout the calendar year.  Generally speaking, these short-term objectives can work with smaller budgets as you pivot from one campaign to the next.

With Google Ads, campaigns are centered around a focus of your business growth, and could be summed up in a simple question: "where do you want to grow your business in the next 12 months?" If the answer is "I want more Security business" then that becomes a driving force behind the campaign and the underlying ads. And while campaigns will generate performance more quickly than organic strategies, the ongoing testing and measuring happens over time to optimize the performance. So unlike Facebook campaigns promoting a short-term objective, your Google Ads campaigns change less frequently. Unless there are fundamental changes to your business, these campaigns are set to achieve long-term objectives.

5.) If I’ve never done Google Ads, is now the time to start? 

It depends. What are the immediate needs for your business in terms of lead generation? What is the status of your marketing? What is the status of your website? We recommend that you meet with a member of our team for an initial discovery meeting so that we can evaluate the status of your business needs and marketing situation. Giving you an answer without knowing all of the facts would be like you going to your doctor and asking for a prescription before he knows what is ailing you. Once we have conducted a full diagnostic and fully understand your goals, we will be in a better position to make recommendations including possibly launching a Google Ads campaign.

6.) Why am I being charged a management fee on top of my ad spend?

The SEM management fee covers the time One Firefly will invest in the ongoing management and optimization of your Google Ads campaigns. You can expect that your campaigns will be actively managed, optimized and reported back to you at least monthly.

7.) What is the process to switch paid search services to One Firefly if I am currently using another vendor?

One Firefly will work with you to understand how your existing Google Ad account is being managed, if ownership can be transferred to you (if needed), and assist in any of the transition activities where needed.

8.) How would I calculate ROI for a paid search campaign?

The math is straightforward.  Take the revenue generated from the SEM campaign over time, minus the expense to run the campaign (your Google Ad spend + One Firefly management fees) over the same period.

Revenue - Costs = ROI

Ultimately, the impact on your bottom line will need to consider additional factors, such as your labor costs and expenses (COGS) or average profitability on projects.

9.) What is SEM?

SEM, or Search Engine Marketing, refers to paying a search engine like Google to show ads to interested searchers. By designing strategic ad campaigns around business growth goals, SEM can be highly effective in driving new, well-qualified traffic to a website.