Google has just started rolling out a new AdWords advertising extension that will mean big opportunities for small businesses. AdWords Offer Extensions is a new ad extension that allows advertisers to add a discount offer or coupon to a standard Google search ad.
This is what an Offer Extension looks like:
You can look for Adwords Offer Extensions, along with a bunch of other updates, in your AdWords account today:
- If your account has been upgraded to support Enhanced Campaigns, then you’ll find the Offer Extension in your AdWords account under Ad Extensions -> Offer Extensions.
- Otherwise, all Google AdWords advertisers should have access to the new Offer Extensions by the end of February.
When users click your offer, they will be taken to a Google hosted landing page that shows your chosen offer details. From there, users can print the deal to use in-store or save it for later by sending it to their Google Offers account.
Small businesses in particular will benefit from this in-store redemption method, which provides local businesses with the ability to track and measure the impact of online advertising on in-store purchases – pretty awesome.
Benefits of Google Adwords Offer Extensions for Small Businesses
The Google Adwords Offer Extension has a lot of advantages for small businesses, such as:
- Cheaper than posting a deal on Groupon or similar deal sites.
- Advertisers maintain direct control over their deals.
- Easy to set up through the familiar AdWords format.
- Draw attention to an existing ad and features clickable buttons that encourage interaction.
- Improve conversion tracking for in-store purchases.
- Clicks on an offer cost the same as clicks on the regular ad.
What Kinds of Businesses Should Use AdWords Offer Extensions?
Any business or company that has used or considered using Groupon or Living Social in the past should use Offer Extensions. It’s a similar concept without the hassle and ridiculously high costs associated with daily deal sites.
For many local businesses, the in-store Offer Extensions will prove to be the most valuable since a big aspect of a local business’s value exists in their location in relation to the consumer.
Overall, I think this simple (and relatively cheap) ad extension has great potential to drive in-store traffic and is a far better deal for small businesses.
I would add that any business doing these promotions needs to be committed to tracking the results. It’s not hard to do, but you actually need to circle back, figure your ROI, and see how effective the offer was. Any business willing to track should have a good experience. Thanks Larry!
Ti Roberts
I agree; tracking is one of the most important things to do when doing online marketing yet some many businesses ignore/neglect it. Tracking is the biggest money saver.
David Rothwell
I’ve been writing for two years about how Google Offers spells “The Death of Groupon”.
http://www.davidnrothwell.com/google-offers-meant-death-groupon-years-9371/
As Robert said, the key is tracking. If you aren’t able to measure where your money is most effectively spent, you can’t begin to really be profitable. Enhanced Campaigns really maximizes the mobile channel, and makes it alot harder for the small business owner to know where their money is being spent (is it web, is it tablet, is it mobile???)
We’ve built a tool in free beta at http://www.Addion.com that is trying to bridge that divide by providing a dashboard to track, measure and tell you where your spend is working or not working. In the future it will broaden to include Facebook, organic search, etc. But for now, it might help on the paid search side.
thanks larry for the insight. was thinking of delving into pcc for my small electrician business in los angeles and have be researching as much as possible to get on right track right off the bat. i keep coming across articles written by you 🙂 these extensions tips sound great