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13 Digital Marketing Tips – Google Partners Connect

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DaBrian Marketing Group recently hosted a Google Partners Connect event in which local business owners participated in a video-based seminar on effective practices of digital marketing. The video featured speakers that described important factors in constructing a business’ digital marketing presence.

Digital Marketing Strategies & Solutions

The speakers, Aditi Manwani and Frederick Vallaeys, listed thirteen goals that should be prioritized when developing a digital marketing campaign:

  1. Be There: Mobile interactions with digital media dominate the consumer’s world.  Businesses should be present at these moments to capture the attention of consumers.
  2. Be Useful:  Businesses should provide a use to consumers.  The content to which a consumer is exposed must be valuable to the person’s current situation – such as a How-To video when the person needs instructions on the completion of tasks.
  3. Be Accountable: Businesses should accompany consumers from the initial impression to the ultimate purchase through repeated exposure and interactions.  Businesses should continually expose their brand’s information to consumers to build familiarity and trust – an example is a business responding to negative reviews.
  4. Be Found on Google:  Before consumers become customers, they must have knowledge of a business’ existence through its presence on Google Maps.
  5. Make It Easy for Customers to Connect: Whether it is via a mobile device, email, or telephone, businesses should communicate their brands to consumers in ways that will create accurate expectations.
  6. Connect at Moments that Matter:  Searchers give clues to their intent through the words they use to search. Businesses should ensure that their content  is focused on the searcher’s intent to lead them to the most appropriate information – such as reviews, pricing, specific products/service offerings.
  7. Use Ad Extensions:  On the results page of a keyword search, subheadings under the main link of a business offer consumers further resources that may be helpful to their current situations.  This kind of ad extension is related to a 30% increase in the lead-generation for businesses.
  8. Manage Reviews: Businesses should respond to, and not delete or hide, negative reviews.  They should attend to concerns, fix problems, and grant consumers some kind of compensation for unsatisfactory experiences.
  9. Be Found Across the Internet:  Businesses should be accessible across different pages of different websites.  This is possible through advertising on the Google Display Network.
  10. Advertise When You Need It:  Research on the usage of a brand will give information as to when consumers most often use it.  With this knowledge businesses can better capitalize upon the current needs of consumers at any given moment.
  11. Be Found for Product Searches:  When consumers search the internet for retail-products, retail businesses should appear on the results page with Shopping Ads or Product Listing Ads that consist of images and price-related information.  
  12. Reconnect with Prospects:  Advertising to existing customers of a business and previous visitors to a business’ website encourages them to return to the site with which they are already familiar.
  13. Manage Targets: Businesses should ensure that their objectives are reasonable and measurable. Goals must align with the existing brand and be feasible according to the best practices of digital marketing.

Conclusion

The Google Partners Connect event at DaBrian Marketing Group succeeded in communicating valuable information about digital marketing to local business owners.  This information was presented by a trusted source – Google.  DaBrian Marketing Group’s status as a Google Partner allowed this event to benefit local businesses. 

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Google AdWords Event

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Discover the Advantages AdWords and Working With a Google Partner Agency Can Have On Your Business

DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC will hold a sponsored Google AdWords Event for businesses to discover the many benefits of Google AdWords and learn how working with a trusted Google Partner agency can help increase their leads and sales.The Google Event will be held on Wednesday, May 4th at 11:30 am at the DaBrian Marketing Group offices located at 500 Penn Street, Suite 201, Reading PA, 19602.

During this event, those attending will hear directly from Google on how to successfully grow their business online with the help of AdWords, followed by a Q&A session with the certified team at DaBrian Marketing Group. Also during this event, the team at DaBrian Marketing Group will provide a free AdWords audit on your current AdWords account, a competitive evaluation on your current competitors, and potentially provide an Adwords credit for your business. Refreshments and parking will also be provided at this FREE Google event.

DaBrian Marketing Group started utilizing Google’s services eight years ago through Google AdWords, Google Analytics, and more. DaBrian Marketing is one of the few certified Google Partners in the Greater Reading area, and as a Google Partner, we have the expertise and the resources to help businesses in the community connect with their customers online and help increase their Return on Investment.

For more information, contact DaBrian Marketing Group to find how they can help your business. RSVP for this event at https://partnersconnect.withgoogle.com/event/dabrian-marketing-group

Understand and Boost PPC ROI in 3 Steps

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Step 1: Understanding ROI of Your PPC

Return (or Value) on Investment (Cost) is easy enough to understand, but applying the concept to PPC can be tricky. Before going further, you MUST have Conversion Tracking setup on your PPC. Without tracking Conversions, there is no way to measure the Return (Value) of your PPC efforts. Once you have Conversion Tracking set up and have assigned a monetary Value per Conversion, measuring the value of your PPC becomes easy. As for Cost, it is already measured for you within AdWords.

Now that we have the Return (Value) and Investment (Cost), ROI is a simple division problem away. But, do you really understand how you earned the value and where the cost went? The next step is breaking down the components that contribute to the ROI equation.

Step 2: The Marginal Parts to Value and Cost

Cost is simply broken down into CPC or Cost per Click. While not every click is going to Cost the same, you will have an average CPC, which AdWords calculates for you, that can be used here. In a similar manner, Value can be broken down into Value per Conversion (from here on will be CV). This is very easy if you only have one Conversion type, but still doable with multiple Conversions (by using an average CV). When looking at the margin Cost and Value, we need a metric to tie the two together, which is where your Conversion Rate (CR), which is Conversions per Clicks, helps us.
At the breakeven point, your CPC = CV * CR. This also means that as long as CPC is less than CV * CR, you have a positive ROI. Below is a table illustrating the relationship of these metrics.

Examples to show that Comparing CPC to Conversion Rate times Conversion Value can determine ROI
Examples showing that using only marginal metrics works to determine a positive or negative ROI

Taking a deeper look at this table, one will notice that whenever the CR drops below 10% the Campaign is in the red, but a CR above 10% brings it into the black, and while the CR is exactly 10% the Campaign is at its breakeven point. The next table uses the same figures but only includes the CPC, CV * CR, and ROI columns.

Reveal ROI by Comparing CPC to Conversion Rate times Conversion Value

By looking at CPC and CV * CR, we can determine if a campaign has a positive ROI. Let us look at the final step, which is optimizing your Campaigns to boost your ROI.

Step 3: Boost PPC ROI

Since there are two sides to this equation, there are two methods to boosting ROI.

1) Reduce CPC
2) Increase CV and/or CR

CPC can be reduced a few different ways. The quickest is to lower bids or pause keywords with high CPCs. Of course, it’s best to keep the ones that are earning Conversions, because we do not want to lower the value side of the equation. Another method is to increase your Quality Score. A higher Quality Score allows you to pay less without losing Ad Rank (or Ad Position). Making sure that your Ad Copy and Landing Page content are relevant and even includes your top performing keywords will help boost your Quality Score.
Next is increasing CV and/or CR. Since Conversion Value is more often a fixed amount, I am going to focus on Conversion Rate. Begin by making sure your Landing Page clearly tells the visitor what the desire action (Conversion) is and the next step to take to accomplish it. Next, include a clear call to action within the Ad Copy (i.e. Buy Online, Sign Up or Register). Lastly, confirm that your keywords and other settings are reaching the right target audience. If you want people make a purchase, then people just looking for information are not within your target audience. Ensuring that you are getting your Ads in front of the right audience will help increase CR and boost ROI.

A Quick Recap

Just knowing the ROI percentage of your PPC, whether it is positive or negative, is not enough. You must really understand how and why your PPC earned (or failed to earn) its ROI. By breaking the equation down into the marginal metrics (CPC and CV) and tying the metrics together with Conversions Rate, you can tell if your ROI is positive or negative. Then, the next step is to improve it. Is your Cost side too high? Then start working on lowering the CPC. On the other hand, is your value lacking? Look at targeting settings, Ad Copy, and Landing Pages to make sure you are guiding the right audience all the way through your Conversions Funnel.

Now that you know how to give your PPC ROI a boost, share your success stories in the comments!

Why A Low Quality Score Shouldn’t Get You Down

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Both Google AdWords and Bing Ads give a Quality Score out of ten (10) at the keyword level. These scores are primarily based on relevancy among your keyword, ad copy, landing page, and your competitiveness, which is mainly shown by your Click through Rate (CTR). There are huge differences in how these seemingly similar Quality Scores affect your PPC advertising. For instance, a low Quality Score could be costing you additional money per click, or it could be saving you money by preventing unwanted clicks.

A Low Quality Score Can Be Good?

For Google AdWords, there is no question that a low Quality Score equates to needing a higher bid in order to stay competitive. On Bing Ads however, a low Quality Score could save you money. Bing Ads will reduce your impressions share for low Quality Score keywords. This reduction of impressions will most likely cause two outcomes:

1) Increased Click through Rate (CTR)

2) Reduced Clicks

While this may initially seem like one positive and one negative, remember that you are charged for each click. This means that fewer clicks equates to fewer charges, or lower cost. If the impressions being prevented are less likely to obtain clicks and/or conversions, then the low Quality Score is actually helping you. Let’s look at some examples to clarify.

Google AdWords Low Quality Score

This table shows the real value (or cost) of Quality Score on AdWords. The numbers are based on keeping the same Ad Rank (value of 10), which is calculated by multiplying Bid and Quality Score.

The real cost of a low Quality Score on Google AdWords
The real value (or cost) of Quality Score on Google AdWords

Bing Ads Low Quality Score

There is no clear-cut formula (at least not one shared publicly) that determines how much impression share or how many impressions a low Quality Score keyword can/will receive. The numbers in the table below are entirely made up, but plausible and realistic.

Bing Ads Quality Score impacts impressions and impression share, but not Cost per Click (CPC)
Example of the possible savings from a low Quality Score on Bing Ads

Note: 7 – 10 are lumped together because Bing Ads does not lower impression share for these “good” Quality Scores.

The table above assumes that your CTR remains consistent despite the change in Quality Score, meaning that the number of clicks drops in proportion to the decrease in Impression Share. We are also assuming that your CPC does not change either. While these assumptions are unlikely to play out perfectly as depicted, the table still reveals how a low Quality Score could actually cause a decrease in cost. The real question is whether the value received from the acquired clicks drops as impression share and clicks decrease. If value is declining then the lower cost is not necessarily a good thing, but if value remains high while cost decreases, then your Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) will increase, which means your boss won’t worry about the low Quality Score.

Conclusion

Overall, Quality Score — whether on AdWords or Bing Ads — shows how relevant and competitive your PPC keywords, ad copy, and landing pages are. On Google AdWords, there is a clear path from Quality Score to impact on your bottom line. On Bing Ads, the path is not as clear, but Quality Score is still important. Remember, a low Quality Score is not always a bad thing on Bing Ads. Always track the value of conversions from PPC so that you know when/if a keyword is profitable despite its Quality Score.

We would love to hear about your low Quality Score keywords that are still profitable. Share your story in the comments!

Achieve PPC Success by Working Backward

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If you are measuring your PPC Campaigns to monitor their success, then you know that there are a lot of metrics to consider. There are the straightforward metrics (Impressions, Clicks, Cost, etc.), the calculated stats (Cost/Click = CPC, Click/Impressions = CTR, etc.), and now there are even assisted metrics (referring to Impressions and/or Clicks that eventually lead to a Conversion.) With so many different ways to measure your PPC, it is not realistic to attempt to be the best (whether that is highest or lowest) in every metric. Instead, you will need to focus on specific metrics and measure your success based upon your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs.) However, with so many metrics, which should be your KPIs? This question can easily be answered by determining your Goal, or purpose, for wanting to run PPC.

What’s Your PPC Goal & Strategy?

Before you start paying for and running your PPC ads, you should have a purpose, or goal that you want the ads to achieve. This purpose can range from increasing brand awareness, to generating leads, or driving more online/in-store sales. The fulfillment of this goal will determine if your PPC is a success or if it needs more work. Once you have chosen your PPC goal or purpose, the next step is to figure out a way (strategy) to accomplish it.

Your PPC strategy is simply a more defined method of how to achieve your PPC goal. For instance, if your goal is brand awareness, then your strategy should be to expand the reach and increase the visibility of your brand. However, if your goal is to drive online sales, then you will want to focus and target your PPC efforts towards people who are ready to purchase your product/service online. And, of course, if your goal is lead generation, then your strategy will broadly target people interested in your product/service, as well as similar, related and connected products/services.

What are Your Key Performance Indicators?

Your goal and strategy are now in place, but you still need metrics to measure to ensure success. The best and easiest way to determine which metrics to monitor for success is to work backward from your goal. Ask yourself, “What does the user have to do or go through to accomplish my goal?” Using increasing online sales as an example, the user would have to:

  • Purchase online [Conversion]
  • Browse & Select a product/service
  • Arrive at your website [Visit]
  • Click on one of your Ads [Click]
  • See one of your Ads [Impression]
  • Conduct a search that would trigger one of your ads

As you read through this list, certain metrics, your KPIs, will begin to stand out. First, an Impression is needed, then a Click which leads to a Visit, and finally a sale (Conversion.) After figuring out the straightforward stats, look into the calculated stats that would help you achieve your goal. In this case, Click Thru Rate (CTR = Impressions/Clicks) would show that quality of your targeting efforts. A low CTR indicates that you are getting Impressions, but either to the wrong people, or your competitors are getting the Clicks rather than you. Another calculated metric (via analytics) that you will want to see is your Bounce Rate, which is the percentage of visits that leave your site after viewing only 1 page. Because online sales require visiting multiple pages, your Bounce Rate will reveal Visits that did not turn into sales.

After looking at those that did not make a purchase, look into your Conversion Rate (Conversions/Clicks.) This metric will, again, validate your targeting efforts and give you a success rate. Additionally, do not forget to watch your Cost. Keep track of Cost per Click (CPC) as well as Cost per Acquisition (CPA) – this is the same as Cost per Conversion, but CPC was already used. Lastly, you should also be tracking the value of your Conversions to compare it to your Cost and make sure that you are obtaining a positive ROI. This process will be different for each of your PPC goals, but is a crucial step to ensure that you are measuring the correct metrics towards your PPC success.

PPC Success – Backward is the Way Forward

PPC Strategy for Success

Success is no accident. It requires goals, strategy and KPIs measurements. For PPC, this requires starting with your goal and working backward through a user’s process to accomplish it. The important metrics, or your KPIs, will be clear once you determine the steps people have to go through to achieve your Goal. This process may seem tedious, but is absolutely mandatory to achieve success. Of course measuring is not the final step. If something isn’t working, adjustments need to be made, but without measuring (and measuring the correct metrics) you will never know why you did, or did not, achieve your goal.

Making a Smooth Transition to Mobile PPC

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If you are running Pay per Click ads using Google AdWords, you’ll need to be ready for your ads to start showing up on smartphones. Once yourLegacy Campaigns are upgraded to the Enhanced Campaigns, your ads will begin showing on mobile. Before this happens though, there are a few things that you can do to prepare.

Targeting Devices (or not)

First off, if you absolutely do not want to be advertising on mobile at all, there is a way to do so within Enhanced Campaigns. The Bid Adjustment feature allows you to target specific devices. By setting your bid adjustment to -100% for mobile devices, you will prevent your ads from being shown on phones. But with the noticeable rise in smartphone use, are you sure that is the best marketing decision?

Mobile-Optimized Ads

Another option is to prepare our ads accordingly. A great way to do this is to utilize the Call Extension. Although this extension can be used to target all devices, it is best suited for targeting mobile users. This extension will allow searchers on mobile devices to not only find you, but connect with you via a phone call with a single click. Another additional feature that comes with this Enhanced Campaigns extension is day parting. This means that the call functionality can be set to coincide with your business’s operating hours. On top of all that functionality, Google has also dropped the additional charge that formerly came with using a Google forwarding number.

Using the steps above, you can make sure that your PPC account is ready for the Enhanced Campaigns upgrade. These new features and extensions allow you to reach new customers no matter what device they’re using!

We’d love to hear which aspects of AdWords Enhanced Campaigns you’re using to improve your PPC ads. Let us know in the comments below!