AdWords Loan Referral Programme

Many small or start-up businesses turn to their bank for a loan to get their business off of the ground. As we know, marketing is key to success, and as such a large portion of this is likely to be allocated to financing their advertising efforts.

Offering an alternative solution to the more traditional business loan, Google has recently partnered with Lending Club to offer select advertisers loans specifically for funding AdWords advertising campaigns.

Here’s a copy of the email, provided on Search Engine Land:

This service is not available to all advertisers and is a limited test, a spokesperson from Google stated:  “As part of our ongoing work to deliver solutions for advertisers, we’re running a small referral test on new potential payment options.”

So, who are Lending Club and how do advertisers receive the AdWords loan? A marketplace lender, Lending Club would facilitate funding for advertiser’s AdWords accounts directly, with Google simply being their referral partner. This isn’t the first time that Google have tested loans for advertisers, from 2012 – 2015 the AdWords Business Credit Card programme provided small businesses access to credit for the advertising campaigns. Perhaps the most recent testing with Lending Club could be rolled out as a more widespread financing possibility in the future?

The programme offers up to $120,000 for a one-year term which is a substantial loan for a small or start up business. Do you think it’s a good idea? Would you borrow money for your advertising? Let us know!