Google Ads: Do They Work?

No, we aren’t on the Big G’s payroll—we just work with them a lot. And if you utilize Google Ads properly, they can absolutely drive revenue for your shop.

The key word here is “properly.”

It takes some work to really put Google to work for you. That’s why a lot of shop owners are hesitant to really test it out—crafting ads that give you a good ROI is an entirely different skill set, and one you may not be keen on mastering after a long day spent wrenching, managing, and generally running your business. And you’re paying for the ads as well. ‍

What if it doesn’t work?! Money and time down the drain.

We understand why you might be uneasy about Google Ads (or managed SEM in general). And Dieselmatic is here to help. Today we’re going to discuss some of the hesitancy you might have around Google Ads, as well as show you some numbers that might just convince you to give it a try. 

We sat down with PPC Specialists Khrystina Masych and Marina Kolesnikova, as well as Operations Manager Patti Moore, to learn more about why Google Ads are an important aspect of marketing and what goes into a good campaign.

WHY SHOULD I TRY GOOGLE ADS, ANYWAY?‍

Google Ads is always a hot topic amongst business owners. It’s referred to as paid search for a reason—you’re paying to get your name out there. You don’t have to pay a lot; we’ve heard of successful campaigns springboarding from $100 a month. But you do still have to pay. And yes, more money can mean more reach and more customers.

The key word is can.

If you have a properly researched and deployed Google Ads campaign, you can make your dollars go pretty far. 

Google Ads are an important component to a commercial repair shop’s marketing efforts because:

• You can really zero in on your ideal customers. Google’s targeting controls are *chef’s kiss*. That means the people you want to see you…will see you.
• You can track everything. Because it’s all through Google, you can see how your ads perform on a granular level. You can track how many calls, emails, clicks, submission forms, and more are coming in from each ad campaign. This level of tracking lets you adjust your campaigns on the fly. Something not working? Drop it. Something working like gangbusters? Keep it up!

And of course, ideal customers + well-organized campaigns = more revenue for you. 

(Pssst. Check out this case study for one of our clients—when we took over their paid search, they saw a 3,830% increase in calls from their website!)

WHOA, DO GOOGLE ADS REALLY GET RESULTS?‍

They actually do…but that might not always be the best thing for some shops.

You may be surprised to hear us admit this—we’re a little surprised ourselves—but too much success at once isn’t always a good thing.

“Sometimes, Google Ads can generate a lot of calls—but the shop isn’t ready to provide all this service because it doesn’t have enough mechanics,” Marina tells us. But a well-run paid search campaign will increase your service calls. So you’ve got to ask yourself: Are you ready for these additional calls?

Provided you have the technicians and space (and heck, administrative infrastructure) to keep up with more customers, you can, and probably should, get started on Google Ads and start growing your shop.

HOW DO I GET STARTED WITH GOOGLE ADS?‍

Google is quite proud of its automation efforts, and we’ve seen shop owners who went along with its suggestions. But Google, alas, is not all-knowing. 

Some of the things you need to keep in mind when crafting a solid campaign include:

• Turning on tracking and analytics for your Google Business profile, as well as your website (these things work together!). 
• Monitor general traffic in your area to see what heavy-duty services people are searching for (and conversely, what they aren’t). This helps you see what local demand is for specific services in your area. You don’t want to advertise winterizing if you are located in SoCal and only handle regional trucks, for example. 
• Using the right keywords to indicate your services. 
• Using negative keywords to indicate what you don’t do (aka avoid traffic you don’t want).
• Review performance daily to see what’s working and what isn’t.
• Tweak ads as necessary based on the daily reviews.
• Manage your budget. 

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot of customization you need to implement if you want that “Wowza”-inducing level of customer increase.

Brace yourselves. Here comes our plug!

HOW DIESELMATIC CAN HELP YOU‍

Maybe you’ve been hesitant about putting time and money toward Google Ads. Or maybe you tried them in the past but weren’t happy with the results. 

Let’s address that second concern. When we take a look at your previous efforts, we’ll work out why your previous campaigns may not have done all that well. We’ll explore any problems you ran into and make fixes. 

Here’s an example of the work we’ve done for one of our clients. Here’s a screencap of their Google Ads dashboard from May of 2021: 

And here’s how we helped them in May of 2022: 

You can see the cost and overall CPA (Cost Per Acquisition, which translates to “How much it costs you to get a customer who is paying for your services”) dropped, while the number of clicks and conversions increased. 

Need more convincing? Here’s another example of client success. First, take a look at their spending and results from July of 2022:

Now take a look at how they were doing in October: 

The conversion rate is up, the cost is way down, and our work led to more qualified calls.

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT WHEN YOU PARTNER WITH DIESELMATIC?‍

In our initial discussions, we’ll let you know what we’ll be doing and what kind of ROI you can expect. A lot of shop-specific strategy goes into each campaign. Are you offering new services you want to build on? Your PPC team can manage your budget and stretch it across multiple campaigns to help you reach potential customers—without giving up on services you want to highlight. 

We’ll keep you apprised, but we’ll do the work. It’s what we’re good at! We’ll polish the traffic your ads get and make sure you’re reaching the right customers and getting better results. 

“We’re on top of it,” Khrystyna says. 

In other words, you handle the wrenching, we’ll handle the marketing. 

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