How to Create Growth Marketing-Focused Google Adwords Campaigns
Google Ads can be a powerful platform for driving growth and success for a lot of businesses. However, getting the most out of it requires careful planning, execution, and ongoing optimization. To help you with this, this article provides tips and best practices for implementing growth marketing-focused campaigns using Google Ads.
While any channel can be a key driver for a growth marketing-centered organization or a marketing consultant for a growth-focused business, what makes Google Ads a channel that can help drive massive growth comes down to a couple of key factors. First, Google as a search engine is used by the vast majority (approximately 70%) of the world’s population as their search engine of choice on a daily basis. Secondly, the fact Google ads, when used correctly target those looking specifically for the products or services your business offers.
That being said Google ads are also a channel that can incur significant costs with very little tangible return when it is not applied in a meticulous manner. This is where a growth-marketing consulting agency such as eCommerce Made Simpler with a strong background in search engine marketing and Google Ads can be a tremendous asset to businesses.
Among the topics we will look into include setting goals and targeting the right audience, crafting compelling ad copy and design, choosing the right keywords for your campaign, optimizing your landing pages for conversions, A/B testing your ads for better performance, using remarketing to target previous visitors, maximizing your budget with bidding strategies, tracking and analyzing your campaign's performance, and staying up to date with Google Ads best practices.
We will also highlight common mistakes to look out for when running a Google Ads campaign, such as failing to set clear goals, targeting the wrong audience, poor ad copy and design, choosing the wrong keywords, neglecting landing page optimization, and failing to track and analyze performance.
By following these tips and best practices, you can optimize your Google Ads campaign for success and drive growth for your business. There's always room for improvement and ongoing optimization regardless of whether you are a seasoned Google Adwords veteran or a total novice.
In a sea of businesses, websites, and social media posts, how can you make sure your company stands out? That's where growth marketing through Google Ads comes in. With the right approach, you can use Google Ads to drive targeted traffic to your website and boost your bottom line. But with so many options and settings to consider, it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start. That's what this guide is for.
How to Set Up a Proper Growth Marketing Framework within Your Google Ads Campaign
Before we can get into what is needed as far as tactics that can help your business get an edge over your competitors, we need to make sure that your Google Adwords fundamentals are properly established. With that in mind here are some basics that need to be in place with regard to your Google ads campaigns (as well as your overall marketing strategy) before being able to fully benefit from any specific high-level Google Adwords tactics.
Basic Growth Marketing Fundamentals Required to Optimize Your Google Ads Campaigns
Understanding your business objectives and targeting the right audience
When it comes to instituting a growth marketing-focused approach with Google Ads, the first step is setting clear goals and identifying the right audience to target. Before you start creating your ads, take some time to think about what you want to achieve. Are you looking to drive traffic to your website, increase sales, or promote a new product or service? Your goals will shape the rest of your campaign, from the keywords you choose to the ad copy you write.
Once you have a clear idea of your business objectives, it's time to consider your audience. Who are the people you want to reach with your ads? What are their interests, needs, and pain points? The more you know about your target audience, the better you can tailor your ads to their needs and interests.
Google Ads provides a variety of targeting options to help you reach the right audience, such as location targeting, demographic targeting, and interest targeting. You can also create custom audiences based on factors like website visitors, email subscribers, or previous customers. By targeting your ads to the right audience, you can increase the chances of your ads being seen by people who are most likely to be interested in your products or services, or who have in fact expressed interest in what you offer.
Crafting compelling ad copy and design
Given that your ad text and banners are often the first contacts that prospective customers have with your business, this is of paramount importance. Crafting ad copy that is both clear and attention-grabbing can be a challenge, but there are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind. For example, it's important to include your most important selling points and benefits in the ad, as well as a strong call to action. Your ad should be easy to read and understand, and it should convey a sense of urgency or importance to encourage people to take action.
In terms of ad design, it's important to create a visual that is eye-catching and relevant to your brand. Your ad should feature high-quality images or graphics, as well as a clear and easy-to-read headline and text. The design should be consistent with your brand's look and feel and should create a positive impression in the minds of potential customers. By crafting compelling ad copy and design that meets Google's standards, you can increase the chances of your ads being seen by the right audience and generating clicks and conversions.
Choosing the right keywords for your campaign
Choosing the right keywords is a critical step in creating a successful Google Ads campaign. Keywords are the search terms that people enter into Google when they are looking for information or solutions related to your products or services. By targeting the right keywords, you can ensure that your ads are shown to the right people at the right time.
When choosing keywords, it's important to strike a balance between relevance and competition. Highly relevant keywords are likely to generate more clicks and conversions, but they may also be highly competitive and expensive to bid on. Less competitive keywords may be less expensive, but they may also generate less traffic.
By choosing the right keywords and using negative keywords effectively, you can create a targeted and effective Google Ads campaign that reaches the right audience and generates clicks and conversions.
Optimizing your landing pages for conversions
When someone clicks on your Google Ad, the landing page they are directed to can make all the difference in whether or not they convert into customers. Your landing page is the page on your website that a visitor lands on after clicking on your ad. Optimizing your landing pages for conversions is crucial for turning ad clicks into sales.
One of the most important things to keep in mind when optimizing your landing page is to ensure that it is relevant to the ad that the visitor clicked on. The landing page should be designed to match the ad in terms of messaging, offer, and design. This will help ensure that visitors feel they've landed in the right place and that they are more likely to take the desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.
Another important factor to consider when optimizing your landing page is the user experience. The landing page should be easy to navigate, with a clear and concise message that's easy to understand. It should be designed with the user in mind, with a layout that is visually appealing and easy to read. It's also important to ensure that your page loads quickly, as slow load times can drive visitors away.
Finally, make sure that your landing page has a clear and compelling call to action. This is the action you want visitors to take after they've landed on your page, such as "Buy Now" or "Sign Up." Make sure the call to action is prominently displayed, and that it's clear what the visitor will receive in return for taking action.
A/B testing your ads for better performance
When you create ads for your Google Ads campaign, it's important to know which ads are performing best. A/B testing is a method of comparing two different versions of an ad to see which one performs better. By using A/B testing, you can optimize your ads for better performance, which can lead to more clicks, more conversions, and ultimately, more revenue for your business.
To perform A/B testing, you create two different versions of an ad that are identical except for one variable, such as the headline or the call to action. You then run both ads simultaneously to see which one performs better. The ad that performs better is the one you keep, and you can then use it as a basis for creating future ads.
A/B testing can help you identify which elements of your ad are most effective at driving clicks and conversions. For example, you might find that a different headline or image leads to more clicks or that a specific call to action generates more conversions. By identifying these factors, you can optimize your ads for better performance, which can lead to higher ROI and more revenue for your business.
It's important to remember that A/B testing requires time and patience. You need to give each ad enough time to generate sufficient data before making any conclusions. It's also important to test only one variable at a time to get accurate results. By testing your ads regularly and making changes based on the results, you can continually optimize your Google Ads campaign for better performance and ultimately achieve your marketing goals.
Using remarketing to target previous visitors
Remarketing is a powerful tool in Google Ads that allows you to target people who have already interacted with your website or ads. By using remarketing, you can show your ads to people who have previously visited your website, which can help increase the chances of them coming back and making a purchase.
Remarketing works by placing a cookie on the visitor's computer or device when they visit your website. This cookie allows you to target them with ads as they browse other websites or use Google search. For example, if someone visits your website and looks at a specific product, you can show them an ad for that product later on when they are browsing other websites.
One of the biggest advantages of using remarketing is that you can target people who have already shown an interest in your products or services. These people are more likely to convert into customers than those who have never heard of your business before. Remarketing also allows you to create highly targeted ads based on the pages or products the visitor viewed on your website.
To use remarketing in Google Ads, you need to create a remarketing list and add the remarketing tag to your website. You can then create ad campaigns targeted at people on your remarketing list. You can also use dynamic remarketing to show ads with specific products or services the visitor viewed on your website.
By using remarketing, you can reach people who have already shown an interest in your business and products. This can help increase your brand awareness and boost your conversions and revenue. With the right targeting and messaging, remarketing can be a powerful tool in your Google Ads arsenal.
Maximizing your budget with bidding strategies
Maximizing your budget is a key concern when it comes to running a Google Ads campaign. Bidding strategies are a powerful tool that can help you get the most out of your budget. Bidding strategies allow you to set specific goals for your campaign and let Google's algorithms do the heavy lifting to help you achieve those goals.
There are many bidding strategies available in Google Ads, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The most popular bidding strategies include manual bidding, automated bidding, and enhanced CPC (cost per click) bidding. Manual bidding allows you to set your own bids for each ad group, while automated bidding uses Google's algorithms to automatically adjust bids based on a variety of factors, such as the time of day, the device being used, and the user's location.
Enhanced CPC bidding is a mix of manual and automated bidding. It allows you to set your own bids but also gives Google the ability to adjust those bids based on historical data and other factors. This strategy is particularly effective if you want to maximize your conversions while staying within a certain budget.
Regardless of which bidding strategy you choose, it's important to regularly monitor and adjust your bids to ensure that you're getting the most out of your budget. By regularly testing and optimizing your bidding strategies, you can find the approach that works best for your business and ensure that you're getting the most value from your Google Ads campaign.
Tracking and analyzing your campaign's performance
Tracking and analyzing your campaign's performance is crucial to understanding how your Google Ads campaign is performing and making informed decisions to optimize it. By tracking your campaign's performance, you can see which ads and keywords are driving the most clicks and conversions, and adjust your campaign accordingly to maximize its effectiveness.
To track your campaign's performance, Google Ads provides a wide range of metrics and analytics tools. Some of the key metrics that you'll want to track include CTR, conversion rate, cost per click (CPC), and cost per conversion. These metrics can give you valuable insights into how your ads are performing and where you can make adjustments to improve your campaign's effectiveness. Google Analytics allows you to see detailed data on how people are interacting with your website after clicking on your ads. You can use this data to identify which landing pages and content are performing well, and adjust your ads and targeting accordingly to optimize your conversion rates.
It's also important to regularly review and analyze your campaign's performance to ensure that it's meeting your business goals. You should review your campaign data on a regular basis, such as weekly or monthly, to identify any areas for improvement and make adjustments to your ads, targeting, or bidding strategies.
Staying up to date with Google Ads best practices
Google Ads is a powerful platform that can help you drive growth and success for your business. However, it's also a constantly evolving platform that requires you to stay up to date with the latest best practices and strategies to ensure that you're getting the most out of your campaigns.
Staying up to date with Google Ads' best practices means keeping up with the latest changes and updates to the platform, as well as following industry trends and best practices for digital advertising. This can involve reading industry blogs, attending conferences and events, and regularly reviewing the latest guides and resources provided by Google Ads.
By staying informed about the latest updates and strategies, and regularly testing and experimenting with new techniques, you can stay ahead of the curve and achieve better results with your campaigns.
Creating Growth Marketing Campaigns Using Google Ads
Essentially, a lot of what is involved in creating effective Google Ads campaigns involves having growth marketing fundamentals. Much of these involve following the framework for growth marketing outlined above.
Following these fundamentals can help you ensure that your Google Ads campaign is effective, efficient, and driving growth for your business. By following best practices, conducting thorough research, and ongoing optimization, you can achieve better results and maximize your return on investment.
Beyond this, however, there are certain tactics that growth-marketing-focused businesses can use in order to maximize their Google ad campaign performance and maximize the revenues that they generate. We will look at some of those tactics below.
8 Google Ads Tactics That Help to Enhance Your Growth Marketing Funnel
Now that we have established some proper fundamentals growth-focused organizations need to constantly keep in mind in order to get the most out of their Google Ads campaigns on a day-to-day basis, we will now focus on specific tactics and channels that if applied properly, will help to give your business better coverage on the Google Ads network, help to improve top of mind awareness and optimize advertising spend.
1. Youtube Video Ads
With over 3 billion searches per month, YouTube ranks as the world’s second-largest search engine (Google is still #1). Given consumers’ increasing demand for rich media and the platform’s growing popularity, video ads demonstrate more than ever for prospecting and acquisition.
For advertisers looking to increase full-funnel reach, there are a number of delivery options:
Skippable In-Stream Ads
30-second videos with the option to skip after 5 seconds; this campaign type is ideal for campaign goals focused on:
Sales
Leads
Traffic
Brand awareness
Product consideration
Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads
Videos that are 15 seconds in length are ideal for achieving brand awareness and reach goals.
Bumper Ads
6-second ads focused on reaching viewers with a short, memorable message and are perfect for advertisers looking to achieve brand awareness and reach.
Outstream Ads
Mobile-focused ads that allow users to engage with the ad by clicking into it to watch the full length, and are ideal for brand consideration goals.
Beyond ad type, advertisers can get fairly creative by leveraging different targeting options, such as:
Topic Targeting (ads targeted on videos that are contextually relevant)
Interest Targeting (targeting ads based on interest(s), such as lifestyle or cooking)
Keyword Targeting (targeting ads based on specific keyword searches)
Demographic Targeting (targeting ads based on on those that are of a certain age, gender, parental status, income, etc.)
Remarketing Audience Targeting (targeting those that visited your website or Youtube channel)
Retention Audience Targeting (targeting based on the percentage of your video your audience managed to watch)
2. Voice Search
Voice search is perhaps the most compelling “next-generation” opportunity for advertisers and consumers. The trend toward “semantic” search is being driven primarily by the adoption of “personal assistant” devices (e.g. Amazon Alexa, Google Home).
It is estimated that 22% of consumers who own a smart device have already purchased a product using voice search. In fact, voice shopping revenue is anticipated to grow to $40B in the US & UK by 2022 according to Tech Crunch.
Advertisers can capitalize on these compelling trends by experimenting with voice-specific campaigns. We recommend targeting semantic queries with the following optimizations:
Prioritize mobile devices – Both smartphones and speakers are the most popular devices for most voice assistant consumers, while computers and other devices are gaining in popularity, as well.
Incorporate long-tail keywords – When users are engaging with their voice assistants, they are often asking questions and/or searching as if they were speaking to another human, making long-tail keywords more ideal to capture the conversational nature of voice search.
3. Visual Online Shopping Experiences
In recent years, ad platforms like Google, Instagram, and Pinterest have responded to increased demand for visual media with a portfolio of innovative image and video-based ad formats.
These media are fundamentally changing how consumers research and shop. They have proven success at every stage of the funnel by aiding ad awareness and recall.
This trend represents a significant opportunity for advertisers; especially for those in the fashion, beauty, and home decor industries where “inspiration” influences purchase decisions.
Looking forward, we anticipate that Google will continue to experiment with image ad placements and new mobile formats. We recommend advertisers lean into the following Google offerings:
Image Extensions (beta) – Images selected by advertisers and shown alongside text ads; primarily mobile dominant, but are being tested on desktop.
Dynamic Image Extensions (beta) – Images that Google automatically pulls from the landing page and serves alongside text ads on the SERP.
Discovery Ads – A single image or swipeable carousel-based ad type that allows advertisers to showcase their products/services and is purely audience targeted, appearing across Gmail, Google Discover, and YouTube.
4) –Paying More Attention to Mobile-Specific PPC ads
Mobile-specific PPC ads are getting great attention. More than 60 percent of marketers are spending a huge budget on mobile-specific ads because they are getting considerable results from these ads.
Before investing your budget in these ads, ensure that your website is well-optimized for mobile users. If your website is taking too long to load on mobile devices, then it is better to resolve this issue and then proceed further with mobile PPC ads.
Best Practices For Mobile-Based PPC Ads
Work on your website first to deliver an outstanding mobile experience to your users.
Place ad extensions in your ads.
Use enticing keywords to help the user take decisions rapidly.
Add offers and incentives to your ads.
Optimize your ads according to the perfect day and time using the day-parting feature of ad words.
Include emojis in your ads to deliver your message instantly
5) Adding and Tracking Call Extensions
Speaking of additional mobile advertising targeted tactics, call extensions makes things easy for customers because it allows them to contact you right away after seeing your Ads. Including call extensions in your ads can have a positive impact on your click-through rates because the extra information that is listed with your ad provides additional information to the customers regarding your business.
It is one of the best PPC strategies for local businesses to maximize their conversions. According to an Ipsos survey commissioned by Ipsos, 70% of mobile searches make use of click to call feature.
6) Utilize Negative Keywords Wisely
Either you are expert in using Google Ads or a beginner; you must have definitely heard about the use of negative keywords in your ad campaigns. Well, no doubt that they play a major role in boosting the ROI of your ads. But, still, many advertisers ignore this technique and become the victim of driving an unsuccessful Google Ads Strategy.
So, what are negative keywords?
To keep things simple let’s consider that you are a PPC manager of a company that makes ready-made pierogies. The negative keywords, in that case, can be pierogi recipe, how to make pierogies, etc.
When you place those negative keywords in your ad campaign, it will block the visitors to come to your site who are typing those keywords. By doing this, you can easily control the quality of traffic to your website because you surely don’t feel happy with massive unwanted visitors having no interest in your business.
Use the Search Terms Report to Find Negative Keyword Ideas
Once you start getting campaign data, you can see the actual search terms that people use when they see your advertisements. By using the search terms report, you can exclude keywords from your campaigns and add them to your negative keyword list. This practice helps to ensure that only people who are interested in your products or services will see your Google Ads.
7) Remarketing
Remarketing has been one of the best strategies for Google Search Ads, Display Ads, and YouTube Ads. You can use retargeting audiences to reach people who have already visited your website and visited specific pages on your website.
You can create remarketing audiences through Google Ads or Google Analytics and use them for targeting in your campaigns. When people have been to your website already and haven’t converted yet, they have shown that they are interested in your products or services. Remarketing campaigns can play out in many ways, the major ones being listed below.
1)Display: Simply put, display remarketing involves serving banner ads reminding those who have previously visited the website of your products and services, while spurring them to make a reservation, book a demonstration or use a discount to make a purchase.
2)Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSAs): While standard remarketing delivers ads to users when they are browsing on the Google Display Network, RLSAs don’t just automatically show text ads to users just because they are on your remarketing list. The users still need to be actively searching on Google using the keywords you are bidding on within your search campaigns. With RLSAs, you can better tailor your search campaigns to target more qualified and valuable users who are already aware of your website. When used well, RLSAs can result in more efficient use of ad spend, better conversion rates, and ultimately, better ROI.
3) Affinity Targeting: You should consider targeting affinity audiences if you are interested in expanding your target audience to users more likely to convert based on their interests. For example: If your advertiser is a movie studio promoting the latest action flick, you could target the "action movie lovers" affinity audience.
4) In-Market Audiences: In-market audiences is a way to connect with consumers who are actively researching or comparing products and services across Google Display Network publisher and partner sites and YouTube. Very similar to affinity audiences, but a key difference is that in-market audiences are on the cusp of making a purchase. Affinity audiences have a general interest in a particular area but may not intend to make a purchase.
5)Custom-Intent Audiences: Custom-intent audiences are essentially In-Market audiences that you can create specifically for your business. You can enter search keywords that your audience is most likely to use and Google will create an audience that you can target for your Display and Video campaigns.
8) Landing Page Optimization
The goal here isn’t just creating an ad that someone clicks on. It’s to create an ad someone clicks on…and then actually finds the product or information they were looking for.
You may capture the attention of a parakeet fanatic with your “50% off bird shampoo!” Google Ad, but if they visit your site and only find conditioners for cockatoos, they’re gonna bounce.
Not only will that bait-and-switch affect your sales, but it will also affect your Google Ad Quality Score too, dropping you down the rankings.
Google Ads: An Powerful Part of A Growth Marketing Framework
Google Ads is a powerful platform for driving growth and success for your business, but it requires careful planning, execution, and ongoing optimization. To help you get the most out of your campaigns, this article provides tips and best practices for growth marketing through Google Ads.
By following these tips and best practices, you can optimize your Google Ads campaign for success and drive growth for your business. Whether you're new to the platform or a seasoned pro, there's always room for improvement and ongoing optimization.
If you believe that Google Ads can be a driver for your business, but don't feel sure about how to get started, please feel to reach out today to our Google Ads consultants for a free, no-obligation growth marketing consultation. Our growth marketing experts will sit down with you to not only learn more about your business and look over your existing campaigns, but also point out various messages that might resonate on Google Ads and help drive growth in your business. We look forward to meeting with you.