Why your Google Ads manager needs to understand your business

I ran Google Ads for an immigration consultancy that helped people move to New Zealand.

The ads did well. We generated plenty of qualified leads. The leads turned into clients.

Then COVID hit.

In March 2020, New Zealand closed its borders to most visitors. People couldn't get in to look for work or attend a job interview.

My client could still sign new clients and take an initial payment. But those clients couldn't make any progress, so my client didn't get any of the later payments.

The business kept signing new clients, expecting the borders to reopen.

At the time, that made perfect sense. New Zealand wanted the kind of immigrants my client worked with. And few people could have imagined that the borders would remain closed for more than two years.

But they did.

Some people gave up. Some people chose another country. Some got really frustrated, blamed my client and demanded their money back.

I didn't find any of this out till my client stopped paying me.

From my point of view, the ads were working. I had access to the CRM, so I could see that we were getting qualified leads and that they were signing up.

But I couldn't see what was happening to the business.

I don't know what I'd have recommended if they'd shared the problem with me. Pausing the ads would have stopped the initial payments, which were the only thing keeping the lights on.

But I think it'd have been useful because I was making advertising decisions not knowing that the business was in a fight for survival.

Another client had a different problem.

I ran ads for a waterproofing contractor during a drought.

Leads dried up.

There was nothing wrong with the ads, just no need for the service. We cut the budget and changed bidding strategy so Google didn't chase demand that wasn't there.

After a few tough months, it rained. We upped the spend and the client made hay while the sun didn't shine.

I had almost the opposite problem with an immigration law firm in the US.

Demand spiked when ICE started detaining more people. Leads flooded in and the cost per qualified lead dropped. We threw money at the campaign.

But after a couple of months, revenue dropped. This time for a different reason.

Changes to the rules meant that many detainees couldn't get a bond hearing. That was the firm's bread and butter, and these cases could often be handled in a few weeks.

After the change, the firm could still provide some services to detainees, but they were of lower value, or the cases took much longer.

Once I understood what was happening, we reduced the budget and what we were willing to pay for a lead.

What your Google Ads manager needs to know

From inside these ad accounts, you could see three different scenarios:

• Continued demand for New Zealand immigration.
• Reduced demand for waterproofing.
• Increased demand from detainees.

But that's not enough to make good decisions.

The more the person managing your ads understands what's happening in and around your business, the better their decisions will be.

So how do you give them that information without creating a load of extra work?

First, they need to know what happens to the leads they generate:

• Which ones are right for you.
• Which become customers.
• And what those customers are worth.

I've written about how to collect this feedback without creating extra work.

But lead feedback isn't enough.

Your CRM might show that the value of signed cases has dropped. It won't say that bond hearing rules have changed. And for waterproofing, unless the ad manager is local, they might not know it hasn't rained since Christmas.

If something important changes in or around your business, don't assume the ad manager knows about it.

Here's one thing you can do today.

• If you're a business owner and someone else manages your ads, ask them: "What could I tell you about my business that would help you make my advertising more profitable?"

• If you manage ads for clients, don't wait for them to ask. Find out what's happening in their business, not just what's happening in their Google Ads account.

If the way I think resonates with you I'd like to give you a free copy of my book Profitable Google Ads.

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