Advertising either works or it doesn’t, there’s no middle ground. If an ad is going to work, it will work right away. To know whether an ad is working, it must be measurable. If results can’t be measured then the ad is a waste of time and money.
I’ve been using Google Adwords for just over three months and I was planning to use it for at least one year.
Quantity of Results
After three months of using Google Adwords:
• My ads have been served up about 2,300 times per month.
• The click-through rate is about 1% (21 to 25 clicks per month).
• Number of enquiries is 10% of the click-throughs (about 2 or 3 per month).
• Number of paying jobs is 0.
My editorial and corporate photography is only business-to-business so I expected a low number of click-throughs. If I was a wedding or portrait photographer, I would undoubtedly receive more clicks because those are the most-searched types of photography. If my ads used the magic word “Free” then I would probably get more clicks.
For many photographers including myself, the average response rate for mailers and e-mail marketing is usually in the 3% to 5% range. So the response rate to my Google Adwords campaign is lower than those other types of marketing. My own mailers and e-mail marketing are very precisely targeted. Google Adwords are sort-of, kind-of, somewhat targeted.
My Google Adwords ads click through to my web site so the number of enquiries received is dependent on the quality of my web site. As most website owners know, a site is never really ever finished; it’s always a work in progress. My website is no different and I’m planning changes to the text. A picture may be worth a thousand words but it’s the text on a web site that does the actual selling.
Quality of Results
The enquiries I’ve received as a result of Google Adwords have included:
• Family portraits and pictures of wannabe rock bands. (Not the type of photography I do.)
• A catalog shoot for a clothing manufacturer. (I sent an $8,400 quote but their budget was $2,000.)
• Twelve business portraits for one company. ($1,890 quote sent but their budget was “under $500.”)
• Individual business portraits. (One person was “hoping for something under $75.”)
I think many folks who respond to Adwords are shopping price first and foremost. It’s just the nature of the medium. Does cheap advertising bring in cheap customers?
All the enquiries, except for one, started with “How much does it cost for . . .”. The one exception started with “Can I have more information on how you photograph . . .”.
Adwords advertising might be somewhat worthwhile for wedding or portrait photographers but it would never be a major form of marketing. But I doubt that this is a worthwhile form of advertising for editorial photographers, corporate photographers, public relations photographers or other business-to-business photography services.
Also: I am receiving a lot of phone calls from Google’s “third-party affiliates.” That means telemarketers.
Added October 16, 2020: A US photographer writes about his experience with Yelp ads. He concludes that it’s just a scam.
