3 Key PPC Marketing Strategy Elements for Successful Google Ads Campaigns

PPC marketing strategy initiatives in business start with a plan of action. Busy entrepreneurs are usually time-poor. Therefore, coming up with the right plan of action that will drive sustainable growth in the long run, can be tricky.

Many marketing briefs only outline the general goals (why) deliverables (what) and channels (how). Everything else is left unspecified and susceptible to taking a different direction and likely away from desired results.

Important marketing strategy elements find very little to no coverage at all. These include:

  • specific objectives for each channel
  • target audiences (with personas profiles)
  • user behaviour trends
  • detailed market research
  • supply and demand data
  • recent successes and current challenges
  • data driven budget allocations…

…the list goes on.

Add digital shift in the marketing landscape to the mix, plus the unpredictability of modern shoppers and there’s lots to think about before a campaign sees a green light to launch.

Whereas digital transformation can mean a long series of changes in many aspects of business operations, it also has a huge advantage too.

It is now much easier to access data, trends and insights about markets, consumers and competitors.

Google Ads as a PPC marketing strategy channel is the perfect example of the above. But, with all options available and without a very careful planning dedicated specifically to that channel alone, the results may be disappointing.

So, if you plan or already use PPC channel in your digital strategy, read on.

In this article we reveal 3 essential PPC Marketing Strategy Elements that you must pay attention to before you start advertising your business on Google Ads.

PPC marketing: Align Your Business Objectives with PPC Bidding Strategy

Google Ads as a PPC Marketing platform allows advertisers to be in control, be relevant and reap measurable results.

That’s if you know which marketing objective is best paired with what bidding strategy.

One thing that we always find in existing Google Ads accounts is persistent focus on one goal across all networks and all campaigns.

This approach may not be ideal, especially if you are a lead generation or an ecommerce business and you want to target users at any stage of their buying journey.

Full funnel coverage

In other words, to maximise engagement at all levels of a marketing funnel, you need to be using different business objectives at campaign level. This is vital to ensure your brand can reach users with various search intent with the right message.

So, for instance, in search campaigns, here are the goals and their bidding strategy best fit:

  1. To reach more people and grow brand awareness, choose Target impression share strategy
  2. For influence consideration, choose Maximise Clicks strategy
  3. To get conversions, choose Enhanced CPC, Maximise Conversions or Target CPA
  4. In order to focus on revenue, choose Target Return on Ad Spend

There are many ways to structure the account to make sure you are not missing out on valuable interactions.

Not always all about direct sales

You can be running campaigns dedicated to all goals simultaneously (for full funnel coverage).

Or, you can set those goals as a 9 to 12 month plan and focus on growing brand awareness for the first 3-6 months, then shift your focus towards influencing consideration and then switch to maximising conversions.

Either way, every goal is important. Even though you may think your ecommerce business goal is to generate more SALES, to achieve the desired sales, you need to first build brand trust. Or, position yourself amongst your competitors with a stand out incentive.

Without ticking these boxes first, it would take more time, more effort, more money etc. to sell your products.

Google Ads campaigns are a great tool to start implementing a holistic approach to ppc marketing strategy.

Contact Minty Digital Today to learn more

Make a Better Budget Allocation Decision

There is no greater glitch than a PPC Marketing Strategy with a budget allocated prior to research on industry benchmark Avg CPCs and Max CPCs for the keywords targeted.

We have seen briefs with monthly budgets of no more than £900 and their industry keywords at an average of £25 per click. Imagine you need to place just 10 high range keywords in your campaign. Depending on search volumes and other factors, your budget is not going to make much impact.

Of course, there are ways to bring CPC down and to run campaigns in a cost effective way. However, due to crowded markets in some sectors and Google Ads being a live auction, you must be prepared for a bidding battle.

Solutions?

With a budget limit on one hand and the profit expectations on the other, there is a method to understand what amount should be invested to get the results you need.

Use Google Ads Keyword Planner Tool.

Keyword Planner Tool is critical to make informed decisions about default Max CPCs, the use of match types and daily budgets.

More importantly though, Keyword Planner Tool gives you a clear idea about how far your budget can stretch in terms of your Key Performance Indicators.

You can forecast the following performance data:

  • Expected Conversions
  • Avg Cost-per-click
  • Expected CTR
  • Avg Target CPA

By tweaking your default Max CPCs, you can quickly identify the best campaign structure and allocate a more accurate monthly budget.

Create Dedicated Landing Pages

Single most overlooked reason why many PPC Marketing strategies for Google Ads fail, is the lack of PPC specific Landing Pages in place.

Accounts that use regular website pages or homepage in their ads as destination urls, almost always struggle with below average performance issues.

No business wants to spend money on bids, campaigns and ads that lead to a dead-end page that doesn’t convert and simply wastes budget.

Google Ads accounts that do serve PPC landing pages, enjoy much lower cost-per-clicks click, higher conversions rates and better return on investment.

Yet, brands chronically choose to ignore the fact that Google Ads advertising is all about relevance.

Ad relevance is one of the 3 Quality Score components that Google measures to decide which ad goes to the top of search results.

Note: Expected CTR and Landing Page Experience are the other 2 components that contribute to the Quality Score

Aim to deliver relevant experience by tightly matching your Google ad with a dedicated landing page. As a result, you will be beating your competition in live auction every time. This will mean more search impression share, more visibility, and – more customers.

As a quick assessment of your current ads destination urls, check out the following checklists:

3 elements of a weak PP Landing Page:

  • Website menu tabs (dilutes focus on a single page goal)
  • Many links leading to other pages (increases bounce rates)
  • No value proposition

6 elements of a strong PPC Landing Page:

  • A single goal i.e. Download Guide, or Subscribe to Webinar
  • A headline aligned with Ad headlines and Keywords
  • A Sub-headline
  • A clear call to action
  • Clear benefits of your offer
  • Customer testimonials and trust symbols

Make sure you have Included sufficient keyword research and PPC Landing Pages work in your PPC Marketing Strategy plan

Conclusion

Here they are, our 3 key elements that must go into your PPC Marketing Strategy plan for successful Google Ads campaigns.

If you think you are ready to add PPC channel to your marketing strategy, give Minty Digital Team a shout. Use our comment form below to submit your questions.

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