Jun 27

Jun 27 Strategies for Building Your Email List with the Google Ad Grant

Learn how to effectively utilize the Google Ad Grant to grow your email list and reach more potential donors and supporters.

Understanding the Google Ad Grant for Nonprofits

The Google Ad Grant program provides free advertising to eligible nonprofit organizations. It's a powerful tool that allows nonprofits to increase their visibility and connect with a broader audience, thus enhancing their outreach and influence.

While the grant is often misunderstood as a donation driver (it typically isn't—not directly, anyway), it can be a powerful tool that empowers nonprofit fundraising and marketing professionals to grow their email lists. Once a new supporter has given you their email, you have their permission to build your relationship and, eventually, invite them to donate.

Let's talk about how you can use the Google Ad Grant to help you attract new email subscribers and supporters.

Implementing Email Capture Forms on Landing Pages

After attracting visitors to your website through Google Ad campaigns, it's crucial to have effective email capture forms on your landing pages. These forms are the bridge between an interested click and a new email subscriber, making them essential for growing your list.

Make sure to strategically place your email capture forms on your landing pages, ensuring they are easily visible and accessible to visitors, such as in the page footer or along one side of the landing page. Keep the form fields simple, asking for minimal information like name and email address. The easier it is for visitors to fill out the form, the higher the chances of them subscribing to your email list. Consider using pop-up or slide-in forms to capture visitors' attention and encourage them to subscribe. These tactics are popular because they work. Ensure your form is mobile-friendly; otherwise, disable it for mobile visits.

Consider offering incentives or bonuses to encourage people to subscribe, such as a free resource or exclusive content. Clearly communicate the value and benefits of subscribing to your email list, like receiving updates about upcoming events, alerts for new reports, or a monthly recap of your activities. Ensure that the incentives are something your subscribers genuinely want to receive, not just something you feel obligated to provide (more on that below).

Implementing effective email capture forms on your landing pages will increase the number of subscribers to your email list and expand your reach. Always test different variations of your email capture forms to optimize their performance, using A/B testing to compare designs, form placements, and call-to-action buttons.

Optimizing Google Ad Campaigns for Email List Building

Now, let's talk about your Google Ads themselves. Nobody searches for 'email lists to subscribe to,' so your ads must focus on your landing pages. These are specific pages on your website, such as blog posts, reports (presented on web pages rather than just downloadable PDFs), 'About' sections, etc., designed to convert visitors into subscribers. At Good Dog Strategies, we create ads for every promotable page, which are pages that are focused, relevant to our client's work, have significant content, and a call to action (CTA).

For example, the Wildlife Conservation Society is interested in coral reef conservation, and its landing page is rich with information and content. You'll also note that the page includes additional CTAs, like diving deeper into relevant articles, spotlights on related news, and a newsletter sign-up box and donation button. 🧑‍🍳 💋

So we would build ads for this page, focusing on generic keywords (e.g., 'coral reef conservation'), problem-focused keywords (e.g., 'coral bleaching'), solution-focused keywords (e.g., 'coral reef conservation projects '), and more. Generic keywords are broad terms that relate to your cause, while problem-focused keywords address specific issues your nonprofit is tackling, and solution-focused keywords highlight the work your nonprofit is doing to solve those problems. The goal is to capture search traffic interested in coral reef conservation, get them onto that landing page, and then let the landing page do its job: educate, engage, and convert new supporters.

Creating Compelling Lead Magnets to Attract Subscribers

A lead magnet is your secret weapon for turning website visitors into engaged subscribers. It is a valuable resource or offer you provide for free in exchange for their email address. This simple exchange opens the door to building lasting relationships with potential supporters.

You might think, "My nonprofit doesn't sell products—what could we offer?" But every organization has unique assets that can be transformed into irresistible lead magnets. While some nonprofits offer merch (e.g., zoos and museums) or videos (e.g., PBS), others might have high-resolution images for device backgrounds (e.g., conservation groups, science organizations), checklists, templates, guides, reports, or other downloadable incentives.

Interactive lead magnets, like quizzes and scorecards, are incredibly engaging. Not only are they fun, but they also educate your audience and spark their interest in your cause. You've seen them before and maybe even taken some yourself (e.g., "Which Hogwarts House Are you? Find out!"). Nonprofits can use these tools to educate and convert their audience. Imagine a quiz like "How Green Are Your Habits? Test Your Eco-Knowledge!" for an environmental nonprofit or "Which Animal Are You Most Like?" for a wildlife conservation organization.

If you're struggling to come up with ideas, brainstorm with your team or use tools like Google Gemini, ChatGPT, or Scoreapp to spark your creativity.

Get More from Your Google Ad Grant with Good Dog Strategies

Feeling overwhelmed by the Google Ad Grant? Not sure how to create effective campaigns or craft those irresistible lead magnets? Good Dog Strategies is here to help, providing the support you need to navigate the grant effectively.

We're experts in helping nonprofits like yours maximize the impact of the Google Ad Grant. We take a personalized approach, tailoring our strategies to your unique mission and goals.

THE BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH US

Campaign Creation & Management: We'll handle the technical details, from keyword research to ad creation and optimization so that you can focus on your mission.
Performance Tracking & Analysis: We'll monitor your campaigns and provide regular reports so you can see the impact of your efforts.
Ongoing Support & Guidance: Besides regularly updating and improving your ad campaigns, we’re available to answer your questions and provide expert advice to improve your ad conversion or other opportunities to achieve your goals.