Some conversations have come up here at OfficeClip regarding reaching local businesses. Since we are located in Atlanta, GA, we are keenly aware of how many great opportunities there could be to reach out to other companies to offer our product or simply share ideas.The web is massive and sometimes leads and sales can come from companies that want to or are willing to support other small businesses in their community.
Geo-targeting is what it’s called when you do this with ad campaigns. I am not sure what it’s called when it’s a focus for social networking, like Twitter and Facebook…but I will lump it together for now.
My last post kind of hinted that Google has its faults (gasp!) and in this post, I am planning to return to that idea with this article, by Brian Carter of Fuel Interactive-a marketing agency in Myrtle Beach, SC and also offer some of my own thoughts on geo-targeting.
Mr. Carter’s article focuses on experiences he has had with Google Adwords and his geo-targeted campaigns. He gives the following example:
“Say I want to serve ads about Myrtle Beach Hotels only to people in North Carolina – I’m creating a campaign specifically for North Carolinians with ads about a gas credit to save money on the drive down to Myrtle Beach. With AdWords’ current set-up and the query parsing exception, if someone in California searches for one of my keywords, like “myrtle beach hotels”, AdWords may still show them that ad. This happens despite the fact that the ad is for a gas credit that no one in California would ever use. Ridiculous. “
And I will have to agree with him here. Ridiculous. He goes on to further express some things I occasionally think when using Google:
“If I’m smart enough (or have good data from my analytics) to geotarget more specifically for better results or for specific campaign goals, I should be able to do so. Google either thinks their algorithm is smarter – and clearly it’s not – or they care more about making money than about helping me reach my advertising goals, or this is an antiquated approach they need to update. “
Things are tough out there right now and from what I’ve been hearing on Twitter and in some LinkedIn groups, people seem very committed to helping out their local businesses. Geo-targeting lets us try to get in touch with one another. If I want everyone to see my ads, I will create a campaign for the whole USA. But if I also want to target the Atlanta metro area, to see if any businesses here need web timesheet software or a web contact manager, I will want to create a campaign to geo-target this area for OfficeClip. Why does Google Adwords get to decide differently? Isn’t it our money and our data? This is, for me, certainly an example that Google is too big and has too much control.
On another note, we have not implemented geo-targeting here at OfficeClip as of yet, but we are interested and engaged in our research. Any advice or comments…please post ’em as we would love to read ’em!
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