They say time is money, and running the perfect Google Ads campaign can eat up a lot of your precious time.

We want you to get the most out of your ads, find the right audiences, and ensure that your marketing dollars (and your time) are used as efficiently as possible. So we’ve compiled a list of our top targeting tips for Google Ads.

#1: Use Your Sales Funnel.

Your sales funnel is important. (We’ve mentioned it in other blogs, too.) At 9 Clouds, we split the sales funnel into top, middle and bottom.

• Top of Funnel: These users are your most broad audience. Use your top-of-funnel ads to give them information about your business. Craft messaging that emphasizes great reviews from satisfied customers and shows why new customers should buy from you.
• Middle of Funnel: These users are the people who know about you and are in the market to purchase a product like yours. Seize this opportunity to showcase your current promotions and reinforce the compelling “Why Buy” message from your top-of-funnel ad. 
• Bottom of Funnel: These users are the ones who have purchased from you previously and are most likely to repurchase from you consistently. Your ad messaging can focus on promotions that you’re running and available inventory. 

Aligning your Google Ads campaigns to specific parts of the funnel will help you create ads with intention and target the right audiences. 

Use your sales funnel to target the right audiences, choose the right campaign objectives and formats, and select the best content to use.

How Google Ads’ Automated Rules Can Save You Dough

#2: Use Contacts and CRM Data to Retarget.

Previous customers and new leads in your CRM are already familiar with your brand and your inventory, which means they’re also more likely to express interest in your ads and convert to sales. These are the people you want to retarget with your ads.

What does retargeting mean? Google defines retargeting as an ad targeted to a “group of users you want to re-engage because of their likelihood to convert.”

Generally, these are people who already know about your business, have been to your website, and are potentially in that bottom-of-the-funnel category.

With Google Ads specifically, you can upload customer lists into Google Ads, and you can connect your analytics so you target users previously on your site. You can even get really in the weeds and retarget people who’ve visited specific parts of your site (like people who visited your used inventory). 

Have a list of customers who have gotten an oil change in the past? Retarget them six months later, when they probably need another one soon.  

One caveat here: for search campaigns, your list needs to match 1,000 users before it can be used (300-500 for display campaigns).

Show Your Ads to People Who Want to See Them with Ad Retargeting

#3: Use Location Targeting. 

Research has shown that more than 50% of all sales come from customers located within 25 miles of a dealership. That means your focus should be on local customers.

Location targeting lets you focus on users searching for dealerships within your state, county, and city. Then pair this with ads that contain relevant keywords in your area, like the name of your city or county. 

Your location targeting can be different, depending on what your campaign is focused on. People will travel farther for a new vehicle than a used one, and similarly, vehicle sales will have wider location targeting than service, in general.

Note: Check your Location options to make sure you’re targeting people actually in your targeted location radius, and not people who are just interested in or have recently visited your location.

Geo-Targeting Google Ads if Multiple Dealerships are in the Same Area

#4: Use Performance Max Campaigns to Promote Your Inventory. 

Want to drive more sales with your inventory? One of Google’s newer campaign types are Performance Max campaigns — and when you incorporate your inventory feed into your ads, you can drive some real lead generation. 

The primary benefit of Performance Max campaigns are that your ads run across all of Google’s ad formats and platforms — Search, Maps, Display, Shopping, YouTube, Gmail, and Discovery networks — all within the one campaign.

Showcasing your actual available inventory to people searching for those vehicles can drive more sales for your dealership.

Performance Max campaigns pair perfectly with your other campaigns because they provide people shopping for vehicles with easy and low-effort access to your available inventory.

Unlock a Bigger (and Better) Advertising Strategy with Your Dealership’s Inventory Feed

Reach the Right Audiences with Google Ads

We’re passionate about developing ad strategies that are tailored to your unique business goals. Our expert team has more than a decade of managing automotive digital ad campaigns on Google, Microsoft Ads (Bing), YouTube and more.

If you’re ready to use Google Ads and other campaigns to achieve better results and work with a trusted digital marketing ally, get a custom digital marketing proposal for your dealership.

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