News from Google
Google Australia unveils small business stimulus
Announcement
SYDNEY, 23 April 2009: Google Australia today announced a business stimulus offer, to help Australia’s 1.88m small and medium enterprises speed up in the economic slowdown. Google is offering them a free $75 search marketing campaign, to help them to reach new customers and drive sales in tough times.
In the current economic climate, more Australians than ever before are heading online to research products and services, with search engines central to online navigation, research and comparison shopping (See the statistics on the growth in search queries, below).
Today’s announcement will help put Australia’s small businesses in front of potential customers at the precise moment that they’re looking for information.
Search marketing has become increasingly popular in Australia over the past 12 months, with thousands of businesses embracing the benefits of measurable, cost-effective and targeted advertising programs such as Google AdWords. Those who have not yet dipped their toes in the AdWords water can take advantage of Google’s $75 stimulus offer before 30 June 2009 at google.com.au/stimulus.
Julian Persaud, Google Australia’s Head of Online, said: "At Google, we want to help propel the Australian digital economy. The Internet drives efficiencies and opens new markets. Encouraging more Australian businesses to connect with customers online is a major part of that vision."
Jaye Radisich, Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Small Business of Australia, said: "COSBOA welcomes this initiative which will give many small businesses a kickstart in the important online environment and potentially put millions into the small business sector. We’d like to see more companies supporting Australian small business with creative offerings like this, as this will boost the overall economy and directly assist a sector that employs over four million Australians."
Both online and "bricks-and-mortar" businesses will benefit from the stimulus offer. Research shows that many Australians are doing their research online and then heading in-store to buy. Monash’s Australian Centre for Retail Studies has found that 50 per cent of Australian shoppers research their retail purchases online before they get to the store to buy. The same trend is evident for Australians researching holidays, and even businesses buying corporate supplies.
"In Australia, we’ve seen strong growth in search queries over the past 12 months. Australians are going online to research their purchases more carefully, whether it’s a new lamp, a restaurant booking or a business stationery supplier. Google is in a great position to help all Australian businesses capitalise on this increased activity," Persaud said.
Numerous businesses in all sectors of the economy are shifting their marketing budgets to search marketing and reaping the benefits:
- Adam Blake, chief executive of Kinder Caring Home Nursing, says: "In the 18 months Kinder Caring has been using AdWords, we have increased traffic to our website six-fold and reduced our marketing budget by 60%. Our business is growing 25% each year and AdWords is a key part of this."
- Owner of the mobile coffee cart business Cafe in a Box, Michael Wilcocks, says: "For every $1 I spend on Google AdWords I’ve received at least $50 in sales. It’s been the best investment I’ve made. My customer base has grown 85% due to online advertising."
- Vaughan Cooper, Manager of Taren Point custom furniture store CoopersStore says: "The traffic that AdWords is bringing to our website is double what we were getting last year, meaning that in this difficult financial climate our sales and leads are remaining strong."
While this stimulus offer is for businesses who are new to Google AdWords, Google is also offering existing advertisers two special master classes help them improve the performance of their search marketing campaigns. A select number of existing advertisers that attend the seminars will receive a free, tailored campaign "optimisation" from a Google expert to drive better results and increased sales.
Media Enquiries:
Amelia Robertson, Red Agency
Email: amelia.robertson@redagency.com.au
Ph: 02 9963 7703
Mob: 0421 773 930
About Google AdWords
Google AdWords is a program for advertisers that places ads against users’ search queries on Google search and also places ads on Google partner sites across the web. On Google search, AdWords are the brief, 4 line ads that show up as “Sponsored Links” at the top or right side of the page when you conduct a Google search. Advertisers choose the keywords they want ads to appear alongside, can choose what region to target, and only pay if a user clicks on the ad. Prices are determined through a keyword auction and can range from a few cents to a few dollars, depending on the keyword.
Australian search growth by the numbers
- According to Nielsen NetRatings, Australians spend 16.1 hours per week on the internet, more than any other media.
- Over 11.9 million Australians use Google each month.(Roy Morgan, 10 December 2008)
Retail
- Shopping-related queries were 22% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008
- Apparel-related queries were 34% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008
- Queries for Clothing labels and designers were 29% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008
Financial services
- Accounting and tax-related queries were 63% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008
- Credit card-related queries were 34% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008
- Investing-related queries were 26% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008
Travel
- Travel-related queries overall were 28% higher in March 2009, compared to March 2008
- Air travel queries were 38% higher in March 2009, compared to March 2008
- Hotel/accommodation queries were 24% higher in March 2009, compared to March 2008
- Cruise queries were 29% higher in March 2009, compared to March 2008
Real Estate and houses
- Real estate-related queries were 27% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008
- Gardening-related queries were 35% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008
- Home furnishing-related queries were 40% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008
Technology
- Mobile and wireless-related queries were 82% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008, most of this growth coming in the last three months.
- Laptop-related queries were 54% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008,
- Consumer Electronics-related queries were 54% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008,
- Internet Service Provider-related queries were 49% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008,
- Software-related queries were 39% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008,
Others
- Office supplies-related queries were 36% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008
- Pet food and pet supplies-related queries were 30% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008
- Restaurant-related queries were 40% higher in March 2009, compared with March 2008