Product-focused, keyword-only campaigns are a standard sort of marketing campaign utilized in Google Ads.
When you promote classic T-shirts for ladies, you may arrange standalone key phrase campaigns based mostly on the key phrase “classic T-shirts girls.”
For a lot of B2C retailers, this method works properly. However for others, product-based, keyword-focused campaigns aren’t essentially your finest technique.
We inherited the Google Ads account of a brand new B2B consumer, for instance and all of their campaigns had been product-focused, keyword-only campaigns.
However after assembly with the consumer and analyzing their account, we determined to take a unique method – one which’s outperforming their earlier technique, palms down.
On this article, I’ll clarify what we did – and use it for example why you may wish to transfer past keyword-only campaigns.
Begin with the enterprise objectives
We began this consumer engagement by sitting down with the consumer to grasp their enterprise objectives.
It’s an old-school advertising apply that appears fundamental however is just too typically neglected.
Once we talked to the consumer, we found a misalignment between their enterprise objectives and the construction of their Google Adverts account.
The account was arrange by area, and every advert group housed 1000’s of product-focused key phrases. Model and non-brand key phrases had been intermingled throughout the similar campaigns (one other technique I actually dislike).
Organizing the account by area may need made sense at one time. However the firm had modified. It had expanded the areas it served to embody a lot of the U.S., but all of its promoting centered on its “previous” territory.
Additional, the corporate had expanded its product line past farming and agriculture tools to incorporate development tools – and rising its market share within the development business was an essential enterprise aim for them.
You’ll be able to see the issue: the Google Adverts account construction we inherited made supporting the corporate’s objectives difficult as a result of we couldn’t goal and measure campaigns to these objectives.
For instance, we couldn’t evaluate essential metrics, resembling price per lead, for farming versus development key phrases. We couldn’t even evaluate how model versus non-brand key phrases had been performing for a similar marketing campaign simply. Every part was jumbled in.
I’m all the time somewhat shocked that extra consideration isn’t paid to Google Adverts account construction generally.
Google Adverts Assist, for instance, discusses the three layers of Google Ads and even gives steerage on how to structure your account to get the most out of AI.
Nonetheless, the significance of aligning account construction with enterprise objectives is lacking.
Dig deeper: 5 ways to align PPC campaigns with business objectives
Restructuring the account to help enterprise objectives
With these points and the objectives of the consumer in thoughts, we proceeded to restructure the account.
As a substitute of organizing campaigns by area, we organized them by product classes. We additionally separated model and non-brand campaigns.
With this reorganization, we may clearly see how campaigns in every sector had been performing and created particular methods for every one.
We additionally measured and in contrast essential metrics, resembling price per lead within the farming sector versus the development sector. The associated fee per lead was larger within the development sector, and that was OK.
The consumer understood the significance of launching (or relaunching) a brand new product class. It required funding and an unwavering deal with long-term objectives (versus short-term wins). This wasn’t the time to take our foot off the fuel.
Specializing in high-value key phrases
Along with restructuring the account, we additionally set about lowering the variety of key phrases in every advert group.
We eradicated 1000’s of key phrases, narrowing them right down to a handful of solely essentially the most high-value, top-converting ones. On this case, much less was extra.
With all of those account adjustments, we constructed a powerful basis from which we couldn’t solely launch and promote this new product class but additionally scale all product traces into the longer term.
Shifting to an audience-focused technique
Our subsequent step was to shift from product-focused, keyword-only campaigns to an audience-focused technique.
A disclaimer: I don’t imply to suggest that specializing in merchandise and concentrating on them through related key phrases is mistaken. Typically, that technique works simply high-quality. Nonetheless, on this case, I used to be assured we may do extra for this consumer by shifting our method.
How do you implement an audience-focused technique? We began with remarketing.
The consumer’s prior company had some remarketing campaigns in place, however the concentrating on was slender. They used product-specific URLs together with dynamic remarketing.
Because of this, the audiences had been small and impressions had been too low. It merely didn’t work.
As we began to higher perceive how patrons interacted with the consumer throughout their buyer journey, we examined remarketing to individuals who had visited the web site at totally different occasions. We examined individuals who had visited the web site inside:
- The final seven days.
- The final 14 days.
- The final 90 days.
- The final twelve months.
Word: You want to guarantee these durations of time don’t overlap with a view to draw comparisons. So, for instance, if you wish to decide if individuals who visited the positioning within the final 14 days transformed higher than those that visited the positioning within the final 90 days, you might want to exclude the 14-day individuals from the 90-day group.
Buyer lists
Along with remarketing, we additionally launched buyer lists. This consumer had a goldmine of first-party information for all previous farming and development tools purchases by product class.
This doesn’t occur all (and even most) of the time, so having this stage of first-party information was an actual bonus.
With this information, we may market to prior and current clients in a budget-friendly and focused method, going above and past what we may do with a standalone key phrase marketing campaign.
Dig deeper: How to combine Google Ads with other channels to retarget, nurture and convert
Obsess over your clients, not your merchandise
By revising the account construction, specializing in remarketing and leveraging buyer lists, we improved attain, conversions and income whereas staying throughout the consumer’s current promoting price range.
We’re additionally serving to the consumer future-proof their enterprise by giving them new insights into efficiency and purchaser habits and enabling us to push and pull totally different levers to scale up the enterprise when desired.
All of that is simpler mentioned than finished. As hinted at above, you could not have sufficient quantity for remarketing or entry to first-party information. In that case, you could have no alternative however to depend on keyword-only campaigns. There’s no disgrace in that.
However for those who do have the choice of shifting from keyword-only campaigns to an audience-focused technique. It’s one thing to think about and check.
Contributing authors are invited to create content material for Search Engine Land and are chosen for his or her experience and contribution to the search group. Our contributors work beneath the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for high quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they categorical are their very own.
