Google Ads vs Local Services Ads for small business marketing

01 What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is a strategic roadmap that lays out all relevant marketing activities and goals for your business along with an outline of how you’ll achieve those goals.

To start a marketing plan, you’ll need to:

• Set business goals: What are you trying to achieve? For example, your goal might be to increase online sales by 20% over six months, or get 30 new customer leads per month.
• Identify your target audience: Who are your ideal customers? If your business is home improvement services, for instance, you’re likely looking for local homeowners between 35 and 65 years old.
• Set a marketing budget: How much are you willing to spend on your small business advertising per month? This might be a flat dollar amount per month or a percentage of your projected revenue.
• Outline your marketing activities: How will you attract your customers’ attention? Some potential activities include using content marketing to attract site traffic, attending or hosting pop-up events in your community, or running paid ad campaigns.
• Define what success looks like: How is success defined and measured? Some common examples of trackable metrics include site traffic, leads generated, store visits, conversion rates , sales data, return on ad spend (ROAS), and more.

02 How to market your business

How you market your business will be highly dependent on your personal situation. For example, a personal trainer who loves to write might consider content marketing via a fitness blog, while cash-strapped startups might be entirely reliant on word-of-mouth.

There are two main ways to approach your small business marketing: physical and digital.

Physical marketing includes things like in-person events, print ads, local TV ads, and more. These approaches can be effective, but potentially also time-intensive and difficult to scale.

Digital marketing , on the other hand, uses online advertising, social media, and online content marketing. Compared to traditional advertising, it’s generally lower-touch and more scalable. The internet offers unparalleled reach and a variety of ways to connect with potential customers, right as they’re searching for a product or service. The right advertising platform can dramatically boost your efforts online, especially for businesses that need online visibility to translate directly into foot traffic and bookings.

03 Google Ads vs Local Services Ads for small business advertising

As you explore small business advertising ideas, you may want to consider Google’s two powerful digital marketing platforms: Google Ads and Local Services Ads.

Google Ads is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform, enabling you to reach audiences across Google’s extensive network, including Search, Display, YouTube, and Gmail. You create your ad copy, with quality being the key to success, and choose from various formats like text, image, and video. The platform requires keyword research to target specific terms, offering flexibility to capture “long-tail” keywords that automated systems might miss.

Local Services Ads is a more tailored solution for local service businesses, appearing at the top of the search results page. Instead of pay-per-click, Local Services Ads features a pay-per-lead (PPL) model. The ad creation process is simpler than Google Ads, using a “text-first” approach that pulls core details from your Google Business Profile to display in a text box. Additionally, there is no need to do keyword research as relevant keywords are automatically determined by Google. This helps simplify the process but offers less direct control over keyword targeting and ad copy.

Both platforms help small businesses succeed online, but each one works a little differently and caters to different needs. Let’s take a look at some essential differences:

04 How to choose a small business advertising platform

Choosing the right advertising platform for your small business involves carefully considering your business model alongside your marketing goals and needs.

When deciding between using Google Ads, Local Services Ads, or both, the following questions might help narrow things down:

• Are you a local service business? If your business provides eligible services directly to local customers in a specific area (such as electricians, dentists, tutors, etc.), Local Services Ads might be a solution for you.
• Should you target a specific geographic area? Local Services Ads were specifically designed to streamline local reach, putting you at the top of the results page when someone searches for relevant services in your area. That said, Google Ads also allows for geotargeting, from broad to precise, depending on your needs.
• How involved do you want to be in managing your campaigns? With Local Services Ads, simplicity and ease-of-use are key parts of the experience. It’s designed to be less hands-on and help you get seen in your area with minimal management once you’re set up. Google Ads lets you get extremely detailed with the adjustments you can make for some truly powerful results, but also requires more active management.
• Is a Google-backed guarantee important for your business? While Google Ads aim to serve up highly relevant ad content, a key feature of Local Services Ads is the Google Guarantee or Google Screened badges your business can receive. These badges indicate that your business, including relevant licenses and insurance, has been verified by Google. For businesses that offer in-person services, this extra layer of vetting can potentially make the difference in lead generation and conversion.
• What is your budget? Google Ads gives you a flexible pay-per-click model so you can control your spend based on clicks. Local Services Ads uses a pay-per-lead model where you only pay when customers contact you, which can be a more efficient way to budget ad spend for small businesses.
  

05 When to use pay per lead marketing

Pay-per-lead marketing is a smart choice for many small businesses, especially those in the services industries that need to generate one-on-one sales. With pay-per-lead, potential customers contact you directly through the ad via phone call, message, or booking request. So, if your business thrives on direct customer interaction, Local Services Ads and its pay-per-lead model can help you get in front of customers, and speak with them, quickly.

06 When to combine Google Ads and Local Services Ads

While Google Ads and Local Services Ads each have their unique advantages, using them together can create a more comprehensive advertising strategy that captures customers at every stage of their journey.

Here’s how using both together can help you maximize your visibility and lead generation:

• You can cover the full customer journey. Google Ads helps you build broad reach for initial brand awareness and a way to connect with customers in the research phase. This is where you can target informational keywords and queries like “how to fix a broken doorknob,” for example. At the same time, you can use Local Services Ads to capture high-intent customers ready to book a service when they search for things like “emergency locksmith near me.”
• You can build authority and signal credibility. By running both Google Ads and Local Services Ads campaigns, you can establish a stronger overall presence on the search results page. First, the Local Services Ad at the top of the results gives customers an immediate signal of credibility with a Google Guarantee , Google Screened , or License Verified by Google badge. Then, a traditional ad unit just below creates a second, complementary touchpoint where you can showcase your brand’s unique qualities, highlight special offers, or provide additional information.
• You can nurture leads with advanced remarketing. Google Ads can help you re-engage potential customers who clicked on your Local Services Ad. As they browse your profile, you can include a link to visit your website. Provided you obtained the necessary first-party consent required by Google’s Customer Match policy, you can also take the leads you receive from Local Services Ads and create “custom match” audiences in Google Ads to run targeted follow-up campaigns. These could be campaigns to encourage leads to complete a booking or remind them about relevant services.

07 Getting started with small business marketing

Small business marketing can be as simple as setting up a table in public and talking to people, but that’ll only go so far. Sustainable, long term growth comes from creating a solid marketing plan – one that makes the most of powerful digital advertising tools. With Google Ads and Local Services Ads, you’ve got two solid options to advertise your business online and get it in front of the right audiences. By running both, you cast a wider net and increase your chances of appearing for a greater variety of relevant searches, ensuring you don’t miss out on potential customers.

Get started with Google Ads and Local Services Ads .