Google Ad Grants: What to know about the actual ads

To review: Google Ad Grants is a donation program that distributes free in-kind advertising. Nonprofits who apply and are eligible for the program will have access to up to $10,000 per month of in-kind advertising as a part of the Google Ad Words search engines. You can use your ad grant money on any advertising that is in compliance with Google. 

To apply, visit our post here to get a walkthrough of how to do so and if your organization qualifies. If you already know your organization qualifies, and just have questions about the ads themselves — you are in the right spot! 

Two of the biggest questions we get when organizations begin to think of their ads are the following: 

Who will see my ads and how do I know this is benefitting my organization? 

Who will see my ads?

Before running your ads you should conduct research on who your target audience is. It’s quite possible your target audience is your current constituent, or that you are looking to expand your reach. Either way, having a defined marketing avatar will help you build your audience. You marketing avatar and defined goals will help you control who sees your ads. 

If you choose to have us manage your Google Ad Grant, audience set up is one of our services and expertise. No matter who is running your ads, in the beginning don’t be alarmed if your ads are not getting the right people. Sometimes it takes a few tries, but that’s why research and marketing avatars are crucial. 

How do I know this is benefitting our organization?

To know if your grant money is benefiting your organization you will need to pay attention to the following: 

• Website Traffic: are you seeing increased visitors?
• Conversion Rates: are you seeing more volunteers fill out forms? More donations? 
• Click Through Rates (CTR): are your CTR’s increasing? 
• Cost Per Click (CPC): is your CPC justifying your ad spend (total amount)? We like to keep our CPC in the $.10-$1.00 range as a reference point. 

If you are not seeing great results here, it’s possible that you will need to go back to your audience set up and spend some time there. In addition, make sure that all parts of your ad are functioning. Be sure that forms on your site are live and without error, and that when someone is clicking on your ad, it’s taking them to where they actually need to be. 

All of this can get pretty complicated, but asking yourself these two questions and having answers, and if not answers, a starting point will be super helpful to you. If you need our assistance throughout the process, don’t hesitate to reach out. Our experts, well, they’re experts on helping with Google Ad Grants. Not to mention each month we break down your results and make them digestible for you.