Hey Google, you’re a PITA (pain in the arse).
We get a client’s ads approved to run.
After a day Google stops the ads and flags the account.
Then we spend a week going back and forth with their call centers to get account reestablished.
Google green lights account, but ads aren’t running.
No explanation.
My team is back to making phone calls and online chats with Google.
After another 48 hours we are still waiting.
Finally this morning after almost 10 days and countless arguments with Google, my client gets a phone call from a Google rep apologizing for the shenanigans.
Unfortunately, that phone call didn’t result in the ads running.
Nope…more waiting.
More phone calls.
More online chats.
More frustration.
The ads were supposed to be generating sales for our client…instead no sales and lots of wasted time dealing with Google reps who didn’t know how to help.
Suffice it to say…our client wasn’t too thrilled with the run-a-round dealing with Google.
And with a week before their big event and no ads running the client was in full panic mode.
We had spent countless hours crafting the right messages, they were approved…and the 24 hours they did run, they pulled in sales.
And had they not been flagged by Google the client would probably be grinning ear to ear with a boat load of high ticket sales.
My team couldn’t believe the nonsense that the reps at Google were playing. And what’s worse, all the calls and chats were fielded by call centers outside of North America. And every time we initiated another call or chat we would have to rehash every little detail…and to be told “someone is handing it” or “one of our team members is working on it” was getting old.
A process that was supposed to take at max 3-5 days to clear up and be resolved (at least according to Google reps) was stretched out over 14 days and there was nothing we could do about it. We were at the mercy of Google.
Yup, we were playing in Google’s sandbox…by their rules…with their toys…and sadly, there wasn’t much we could do.
The client was depending on those ads to run.
Those ads needed to put butts in seats for an upcoming event.
The event was happening in a week.
And for the last two weeks nothing.
No ads. No ticket sales. No butts in seats.
We were hired to create the ads (which we did), get the ads running (which we did), track the ads (which we did for 24 hours), tweak the ads (which we started to) and create retargeting ads (which based on 24 hours of ads didn’t give us much to go on) yet, because the ads weren’t running it came down to us to fix the problem.
Sure, we weren’t getting paid to make calls or chats to Google. But my team took it to task and did it anyway. They knew the importance of getting those ads reactivated for the client.
So I want to commend my team for not giving up, and for keeping Google accountable to our clients.
The takeaway lesson learned through this situation is NOT to place all your ad dollars into one platform. Then to be depending on that platform to produce results. It doesn’t make sense. So instead of just Google Ads, make sure you are also utilizing Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and other traffic sources to showcase your message so that you’re continually attracting sales.
Rob is affectionately known as “Mr. Sarcasm” to his friends - to everyone else he’s a Certified Digital Marketing Strategist, a Foremost Expert On Specialized SEO, a Best Selling Author, Podcaster, Speaker and Authority Broadcaster who can help amplify YOU to your audience.
Rob has authored, coauthored or produced over 36 books covering social media, search engine optimization, podcasting, copywriting, personal injury law, weight loss, military law, life lessons, scams, sarcasm, customer service and more. His book clients include lawyers, speakers, doctors, real estate professionals and more.
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A good rule of thumb is to ensure that you do not have a single traffic source that gives you more than 25% of your traffic. That leaves you and your business vulnerable. Generate multiple sources of traffic as an entrepreneur would create multiple streams of income. That way if something happens to one traffic source, who cares, you can scale the other sources of traffic to make up the difference.
Wow.
Great article, and thanks for the heads-up!
We advise Google Ads as part of a campaign is when time is of the essence, like filling “empty legs” on charter flights or filling those last few seats at events.
If Google isn’t the best option for this use case, Facebook sometimes proves to be more reliable (as well as cheaper!)
Hate to rely on any one thing.