Solved: Best Google Ads Setup for Local Pharmacy on a Budget

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your Google Ads setup for your local pharmacy. Sounds like you're on the right track thinking about how to get the most out of a limited budget. I've worked with plenty of businesses in a similar position, and I have a fair bit of experience with optimising ad campaigns to drive foot traffic.

I get that you want to drive foot traffic to the physical location and are on a limited budget of $15/day. You're debating on whether to go with Performance Max for Store Visits or a more traditional Search campaign targeting high-intent keywords. I'd steer you towards one of those options for now. Let's get started:

We'll need to look at the Performance Max...

While Performance Max (PMax) campaigns can be powerful, they might not be the best fit for a very limited budget like yours, especially if you're primarily focused on driving local foot traffic. PMax campaigns are designed to reach customers across all of Google's advertising channels (Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, etc.) using automated bidding and targeting. This can be great for maximizing reach and conversions, but it also means your budget is spread across multiple channels, some of which may not be as effective for driving local traffic to your pharmacy.

You see, with PMax, you'd need to make sure your website purchase conversion tracking is properly set up, which, as you rightly pointed out, would detract from the funds you need to drive local traffic. PMax is generally best suited for businesses with larger budgets and a strong online presence. It works well when you have enough data to feed the algorithm so it can learn and optimise effectively across all channels. With a small budget, it can be difficult to generate enough data to make PMax perform optimally, especially in the early stages of the campaign. So in your case, I wouldn't go with PMax for store visits.

I know it can be tricky to set up, but there are usually things you can do to make this work, and I can explain it in more detail if you wish. We've seen this situation quite a few times, and know what steps to take, and which mistakes to avoid.

I'd say you probably should focus on a Search Campaign...

I reckon a traditional Search campaign is probably the better option for your small, local pharmacy, given your limited budget and primary goal of driving foot traffic. Search campaigns allow you to target specific keywords that people are searching for when they need a pharmacy or related services in your area. This means you can focus your budget on reaching people who are actively looking for what you offer, which is a more efficient use of your ad spend.

The key here is to make sure you target high-intent keywords like "pharmacy near me", "[city] pharmacy", "flu shots [city]", "prescription refills [city]", etc. These keywords indicate that people are actively looking for a pharmacy in your area and are more likely to visit your physical location. Also, write ad copy that is clear, concise, and highlights what makes your pharmacy special. Do you offer fast service, hard-to-find medications, or a loyalty program? Make sure to mention these things in your ads to attract potential customers.

You'll also want to use location extensions to show your pharmacy's address and phone number in your ads. This makes it easy for people to find you and contact you. Make sure your Google Business Profile is up-to-date and accurate. This is what powers the location extensions, so it's important to keep it current. You could also enable call extensions so people can call you directly from your ads. If you can't take calls during the day, you can schedule the ads to only run when you are available. Another option is to add a callback widget to your website so people can leave their number and you can call them back when you are available.

You probably should implement dayparting...

Have a think about dayparting as well. Dayparting lets you schedule your ads to run only during specific times of the day or days of the week when you know you get the most foot traffic. You could bid higher during those hours to make sure you're showing up when people are most likely to visit. This can help you maximize your budget and get more people through your door. However, you need to consider your budget and ad spend here. If you spend your full $15 budget in just a few hours in the morning, you will not be able to show your ads for the rest of the day. It can be very tricky to balance, so it's worth bearing that in mind.

You'll need to keep an eye on your Search Terms Report...

It's really important to monitor your search terms report regularly. The search terms report shows you the actual search queries that people are using when they see and click on your ads. This is useful as it'll help you identify any irrelevant search queries that are eating up your budget and you can weed these out. You can then add these irrelevant terms as negative keywords to prevent your ads from showing for those searches in the future. This is a bit of a pain but well worth doing and will ensure that you only target people who are genuinely interested in your services.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

I've run quite a few campaigns for B2C services. For services, you'd usually want to reach people that are already looking for help. So in terms of online advertising, you'd want to go with Google Search Ads or Google Local Service Ads instead of social media. I remember running a campaign for a home cleaning company, and we managed to achieve a cost of £5 per lead using Google Ads. This shows the potential of targeted search campaigns for local service businesses.

Anyway, I hope this has been helpful. I understand that paid advertising can be a bit of a minefield, and it can sometimes be difficult to know where to start. If you would like to discuss this in more detail, or have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'd be happy to talk you through our approach and how we can help you achieve your advertising goals. We offer a free initial consultation where we review your strategy and account together which usually is super helpful and gives potential clients a taste of the expertise they'll see going into their project if they decide to work with us.

Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh