For businesses that rely on local footfall and enquiries, such as restaurants, hotels, pubs, or solicitors, dentists (the list goes on!) timing and targeting are everything. That’s where Google’s Performance Max (PMax) campaigns come in. 

These AI-powered campaigns bring together Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps to help businesses reach local customers, guests, and patients at exactly the right moment, without having to manage separate campaigns for each channel.

Unlike traditional Google Ads campaigns where you manually choose keywords, placements, and audiences, Performance Max uses machine learning to automatically serve your ads to high-intent users across all of Google’s networks. 

It optimises in real time, finding the best-performing combinations of creatives, messages, and placements to drive conversions, whether that’s a table booking, an enquiry form, or a phone call.

How Restaurants can Drive Midweek Bookings

Take the example of a restaurant in a busy town centre. Fridays and Saturdays and Key dates such as Valentine’s Day are often fully booked weeks in advance, but Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights often see tables left empty. 

Rather than manually creating a campaign for off-peak promotion, the restaurant can use Performance Max to focus ad spend on driving those midweek bookings and getting cover numbers up.

The campaign can be set up to track table reservations as a conversion goal, and the AI will automatically identify and serve ads to people nearby who are searching for phrases like “restaurants near me” or “last-minute dinner spots,” or who are watching dining-related content on YouTube. 

It can even take into account time of day, location, and device type to show ads at the exact moment someone is likely to make a decision. 

Using PMax to Promote Local Stays and Last-Minute Rooms

Hotels, pubs, and BnBs can also use Performance Max to respond to last-minute demand or promote local staycations. 

If a rural inn has empty rooms for an upcoming weekend, they can create a campaign focused on short-stay offers. The AI will serve ads to people in the local area browsing for weekend breaks, getaways, or events. 

With dynamic creative, users can be shown availability, pricing, photos, and reviews in a format that makes it easy to take action directly from Google Search or Maps.

By using Performance Max to push timely offers to people already nearby or within driving distance, businesses in the hospitality sector can make the most of underused capacity and turn quiet weekends into profitable ones.

Driving Urgent Local Enquiries for Professional Services

It’s not just hospitality businesses that benefit. 

Local professional services like solicitors and accountants are also seeing strong results.

Often, people seek legal advice during moments of stress or urgency. Someone might be looking for help with a sudden family issue, an unexpected employment dispute, or a recent accident. They don’t have the time or emotional bandwidth to sort through ten different firms, they want someone nearby who can help now.

A solicitor’s office we supported used PMax to generate enquiries from local people who needed quick, reliable support. 

The campaign focused on driving phone calls and website enquiries, and surfaced key trust-building messages like “Free initial consultation” and “No-win, no-fee.” 

The ads showed up across Search, Maps, and even YouTube pre-roll, ensuring the firm was top of mind wherever the customer was browsing. 

Within six weeks, the solicitor saw a 36% increase in local enquiries, with noticeable spikes in call volume during early mornings and lunchtime; times when users were likely to take action during the working day.

Why Performance Max Works so well for Local Services

Performance Max works so well for local services because it does the heavy lifting in targeting and optimisation. It takes into account dozens of real-time signals, like a user’s location, search history, device, time of day, and more, to decide who to show your ads to and where. 

It automatically adapts your headlines, images, and videos to suit different platforms and learns over time which combinations perform best.

Because it connects with your Google Business Profile, users also see up-to-date location information, reviews, and directions directly in the ad experience, making it as easy as possible for them to contact you or visit in person. The result is more qualified traffic, more enquiries, and a better return on ad spend, especially when demand is unpredictable or seasonal.

Is Performance Max for You?

For any business trying to drive more local bookings, visits, or enquiries, especially during slower periods, Performance Max can be a game changer. 

It helps you spend your budget where it matters most, putting your message in front of local customers at the right time, on the right channel, with minimal manual setup.

If you’re ready to test a smarter, more efficient way to reach people in your area, Performance Max is worth exploring. 

If you’d like to understand how this could work for your business, we’re happy to help.