What Google Can Do for Your Brand: Assessing the Current Moment

Let’s face it. The road ahead for businesses in 2022 is filled with challenges.

Consider this:

From eMarketer’s new report, The Era of Uncertainty: “Toward the end of 2021, the pandemic was finally easing as stock markets boomed; the digital acceleration brought about by the pandemic was moving forward. Fast forward just a few months and the future looks much less predictable. Mounting inflation, the threat of a recession, the war in Ukraine, and continued supply chain challenges have begun to plague consumers and businesses alike.”

Despite this, retail ecommerce sales are still expected to hit $1T. In fact, businesses that adopted or leaned into ecommerce have managed to fare well during these turbulent times. 

To quickly recap:

• • In 2022, U.S. retail ecommerce sales will surpass $1T for the first time, making up 15.2% of total retail sales (prior to the pandemic, ecommerce was not set to reach $1T until 2024)
  • Ecommerce sales grew 32.4% in 2020 and 14.5% in 2021; this rate will slow in 2022, to 14.1%

How consumers will react and how the economy will shift next are the big questions at hand; in a recent Stella Rising webinar, Google reported that there is approximately $5T up for grabs between online and offline retail. Google still expects strong ecommerce growth this year—particularly in apparel and beauty. They are well-positioned to think so: Google’s ads business, including Search, YouTube, and its various ad networks rose 22% YoY in Q1 2022, to $54.7B.

HOW DO GOOGLE ADS HELP BUSINESSES IN 2022?

Primarily, Google Ads empower businesses by increasing online visibility to qualified traffic, thus increasing their chances of landing sales and hitting their revenue goals.

It also helps that the breadth of Google Ads placements has never been stronger. The placement options are wide-ranging:

• • YouTube
  • Display
  • Search
  • Discover
  • Gmail
  • Maps

Here are five ways brands can use Google Ads to overcome this current uncertain moment and connect with consumers:

1. Measure visibility: Perform an audit and make sure your company has online visibility in all of Google Ads’ placements, especially if you notice your competitor advertising there, too.
2. Build connection: leverage upper funnel tactics with Google Display and Discovery to increase awareness and engagement.
3. Use automation intelligently: trust the algorithm—once the campaign has been properly optimized—to find more customers or leave money on the table.
4. Build a product feed: If you sell physical goods, make sure you are updating and optimizing your product feed often to fuel your ecommerce campaigns.
5. Build loyalty: craft special messages for returning customers to increase customer lifetime value.

These Google Ads tactics are working in 2022. We have the proof! As we approach Q3 2022, here are just some of our clients’ Google Ads success stories:

• • 47% YoY revenue increase for a B2B company
  • 14% YoY revenue increase for a second B2B client
  • 119% YoY revenue increase for a luxury consumer goods retailer

At Stella, we help our client brands reach extraordinary heights through a strong understanding of the consumer landscape and expert use of marketing tactics. Connect with us to start a conversation.

Additional Sources: The Verge, 2022