Britain’s small businesses are being urged to cash in on Google’s free ad voucher scheme and take charge of their own campaigns rather than entrusting the health of their business to an external agency by one of the industry’s leading PPC experts.

Google Ads trainer Claire Jarrett says that in order to remain competitive and get a better ROI on their spend, small businesses feeling the pinch after the nationwide lockdown need to take back control by cutting the overhead of agency outsourcing. Manning a small business account internally is also a key step in increasing the effectiveness of Google Ads; something which has taken on new importance in the wake of COVID-19.

Research[1] suggests that advertising accounts for around 83.3% of all Google revenue, with the search engine handling 37.2%[2] of all online ad spend overall – so small businesses who have entrusted their account to Google itself need to ask themselves if their best interests are really being served. One agency[3] estimates that small business advertisers spend an average of £7446 per month on Google Ads before agency management fees are even factored in, making it a significant source of expenditure.

Having used Google Ads since 2007, Jarrett believes that it’s now more critical than ever for SMEs to take on the responsibility of running their account in order to reap the best rewards. She said, “SMEs that have allowed Google to create and manage their campaigns must remember that Google’s objective is to make money.  Those accounts are often “Smart” campaigns that aren’t very smart, and end up displaying ads across the web on random blogs and forums rather than in front of people actively searching for what the business actually sells – that means ad money is being wasted, rather than bringing in the sales needed to survive.
 

“SMEs who have been paying an agency to manage their account could easily have ended up in the hands of a junior PPC executive with less than six months experience and over 20 accounts to manage. They could be paying thousands of pounds each month for something that could be done in-house in just two or three hours each week.
 

“Most SMEs have a far better understanding of the type of client they want to attract than a third party manager, plus are best placed to monitor when the phone rings, meaning  they can quickly tell whether the advertising spend is actually working. It’s important to remember that we are facing one of the worst recessions in history which means every penny counts – yet online spend is actually booming so there is a huge opportunity to win business online. I urge all business owners to take Google’s free ad credit and take back responsibility for managing their own campaigns in order to streamline operations and work as leanly and smartly as possible.”
 

As a Google Ads coach, Jarrett has taught more than 45,000 business owners to run their own online advertising campaigns. She has been delivered face-to-face training sessions since 2008 and published her first book on Google Ads that same year. In 2012, she sold her own successful Bristol-based digital agency to focus on coaching.

To find out more, visit: https://www.clairejarrett.com.