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Category: Digital

Meta vs Google Ads in 2025: Which One Drives Better ROI for Small(er) Brands?

by Michael Saulpaugh

The 2025 Paid Media Dilemma: Google or Meta?

If you’re a small to midsize brand with a performance budget, you’ve likely asked yourself the classic question:
Do we scale with Google or Meta Ads first?

The truth in 2025?
You need both — but how and when you use each depends on goals, offer type, and stage of growth.

At SnuggleMud, we’ve spent the last year managing campaigns for brands spending between $2K–$50K/month, and the patterns are clear: each platform plays a critical — but very different — role in performance marketing.

Google Ads: High Intent, Fast ROI

If your goal is qualified leads or purchase-ready traffic, Google is still king. Why? Because you’re meeting users at the exact moment they’re searching for a solution.

Case Study: Snoqualmie Casino

Through Google Ads, we drove huge volumes of search and conversion activity, including:

  • Gaming inquiries
  • Hotel bookings
  • Entertainment ticket sales
  • Dining reservations

We focused on high-intent keywords and conversion-specific landing pages. The result? Tens of thousands of highly qualified clicks, with strong ROI across multiple verticals inside the same business.

Meta Ads: Demand Generation + Storytelling at Scale

Where Google captures intent, Meta creates it. Meta Ads (Facebook + Instagram) are essential for building brand affinity, nurturing cold audiences, and retargeting with more emotion than a text ad can offer.

We’ve seen Meta thrive in:

  • Product drops and promotions
  • Visual services (weddings, beauty, events)
  • Building top-of-funnel awareness when brand equity is key

But for cold conversion without strong creative? Expect higher CPAs and slower returns.

When Both Platforms Win Together

Some of our best-performing accounts are omnichannel — using Meta to generate demand and Google to harvest it. This creates a powerful loop:

  1. Prospect on Meta with creative that speaks to pain points
  2. Retarget users across both platforms
  3. Capture conversions via high-intent search when users Google your brand

When done right, the two platforms build compounding efficiency — not competition.

Final Thought: Don’t Ask “Which One First?” — Ask “What’s the Right Role for Each?”

In 2025, the better question is:
How should we structure our media mix to get the most out of each platform?

If you’re trying to stretch $5K–$50K/month in media, the answer isn’t choosing sides — it’s architecting your funnel.

Want help building a strategy tailored to your goals and budget? Let’s connect — we’ll show you how we’ve scaled brands just like yours.

Performance Marketing Isn’t Just for Ecommerce: How Service Businesses Can Win Big with Paid Media

by Michael Saulpaugh

Why Service-Based Brands Are Often Overlooked in the Performance Marketing Conversation

Performance marketing is often synonymous with ecommerce. Scroll LinkedIn or Google “paid media case study,” and you’ll see countless ROAS screenshots from Shopify stores selling skincare or sneakers.

But what about service businesses — the medspas, senior living communities, law firms, and local service providers that don’t sell products online?

Here’s the truth: service-based businesses can thrive with performance marketing. In fact, SnuggleMud’s most efficient campaigns have come from lead-focused service businesses — not ecommerce.

Google Ads for Local and Service-Based Brands: The Hidden Opportunity

Let’s look at a few real-world cases:

The Ohio Eastern Star Home (Senior Living Community)

We run Google Ads targeting people seeking state-of-the-art independent living options. By restructuring campaign segmentation and improving landing page flow, we helped generate a 25% lift in lead volume, all while improving conversion efficiency.

Rejuvenate You (Hydration & Rejuvenation Center)

In Columbus, OH, we’re driving qualified leads for a client offering IV hydration therapy. With a relatively small budget, we scaled volume without sacrificing cost per lead — again, achieving a 25% lift in lead volume YoY through focused keyword and audience refinement.

Activate Law (Business Law Firm)

Here, conversion quality matters more than quantity. We leveraged keyword intent layers, excluded lower-quality searches, and drove significantly more qualified form submissions, helping the firm vet leads faster and close more business.

Why It Works: The Service Business Advantage in Paid Media

Performance marketing is not just clicks and conversions — it’s about aligning search intent with service value. Here’s what makes service campaigns especially effective when done right:

  • High-intent searches: People looking for “IV therapy near me” or “business lawyer in Columbus” are ready to act.
  • Fewer competitors advertising aggressively: Many local/regional service providers underinvest in paid media — leaving gaps for others to capitalize.
  • Offline value of a conversion: A single form submission could be worth $1,000+, making efficient ad spend wildly profitable.

Our 3-Step Playbook for Service Business Success

1. Nail the Intent:
Not all clicks are created equal. We use exact-match keyword builds and layered geo + demographic signals to isolate the right buyer behavior.

2. Optimize Landing Pages for Conversion, Not Fluff:
Remove distractions, push credibility (e.g. awards, testimonials), and prioritize phone/form actions above the fold.

3. Track What Matters:
Forget vanity metrics. We tie media performance to actual business outcomes — booked consultations, signed contracts, scheduled tours.

Let’s Redefine What Performance Marketing Means

If you’re a service business owner, marketer, or agency, it’s time to rethink what’s possible with paid media. Performance marketing isn’t reserved for product brands. With the right structure and testing approach, your business can scale — just like ecommerce, but with better margins and less competition.

Want to see what’s possible? Let’s talk — we’ll audit your current efforts and show you where the real opportunity lives.