The Magic of Google Ads

Using Google Ads to Reach a Wider Audience

By: Kimberly Grant

Something happened to me in the middle of February this year.  Something almost magical.  Something that made me feel like the missing pieces in my marketing efforts floated toward me like an errant bubble.  No, I’m not talking about Valentine’s Day or President’s Day.  I’m talking about my entry into the world of Google Ads.

It began one Saturday when I decided to learn what Google Ads is really about.  Before this date, I had spent quite a few days banging my head, wondering what was next for me in marketing my novels.  I have eleven novels and two novellas that are in various stages of editing and being published.  I know my content is good.  So, why isn’t anyone clamoring to buy my work? 

Now, a narcissistic view would be that people aren’t just looking hard enough for my novels.  A more realistic way of looking at my situation is that I had not tapped into all of my available resources in marketing.  I had invested my low budget dollars in all types of ventures: Amazon impressions, a few paid partnership reviews, a trailer, and even an Instagram promotion.  All of these marketing channels had only proven to spend my hard-earned money and generate a few sales.  To be honest, the only promotion that seems to work for my novels is the Amazon free book promotion; for obvious reasons.

Who knew that the information Google Ads collects, analyzes, and monetizes could be beneficial to someone like me?  Since I like to test things out before I go full speed ahead, I posted a few test videos to see how Google succeeded or failed at marketing my content.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that Google Ads makes it easier to upload a video, select an audience, set a moderate budget that doesn’t break the bank, and a call-to-action button.

There were two types of videos uploaded: a music only ad and a voiceover ad.  I used my own voice in the voiceover ad because it didn’t cost me any money.  I ran my test ads for six days and the results were quite interesting.  I had a 71% view rate (which is respectable) for my music only ad that can be viewed on YouTube here. 

If I had to guess as to why this video did better than the voiceover, I would say it was the epic music that I had playing at the beginning of the video along with a black screen.  The negative space that I used in the first frame of the music only ad must have built anticipation in my audience and caused them to watch the video for longer than 30 seconds. If I were truly honest with myself, I could also say most people don’t like the sound of my voice.

With the above infographic, you can tell that my test was eye-opening.  It allowed me to see what content works best for a random sampling of individuals in six English speaking countries.  The good news is that the cost didn’t break the bank: $20 for six days of two videos with a total of 2,850 views. 

It feels like a whole new world has opened up to me.  I have given graphic artists and book readers my money to tell people they liked my novels or to give my novels some recommendations.  These efforts translated into a few books sold.  But there is a simple, more cost-effective way to achieve this.  And, as a gift from me to you, I’ll give you a pro-tip: in-stream videos usually gets more views than video discovery when you’re just starting your marketing efforts.

Knowing what I know now about Google Ads and how they analyze the data for me, I am definitely going to be using it to promote my latest novel release in March.  That way, the advertising magic via Google Ads can continue into the next month.