Summer time is officially here and that means we are already half-way through the year. Now is the perfect time to give your paid search campaigns a checkup. You most likely created a plan at the beginning of the year, but have you stuck with it? We’ve pulled together a 5 point checkup program that will help you diagnose the health of your campaigns. Once you’ve done your assessment you can implement a strategy that will ensure that your campaigns are in tip top shape to drive conversions and stay ahead of the competition.
1) Audience Assessment
Are you positioning your products for your target audience? Who is your target? What benefits or utility does your product provide them? What are their passion points?
Knowing who you are trying to reach is the essential starting point for writing ad copy and selecting images. Once you have identified who your target consumer is, create a profile to understand their interests, passion points and online behaviors. Then, you can figure out the best way to create ads that connect with your target consumers.
2) Consumer Connections
Are you connecting with consumers? Connecting with consumers is the key to getting them through the front door and to getting them to come back for more. This process begins with your ad copy. The consumer profile you create during the audience assessment phase will help you figure out the best way to create copy that results in stronger consumer connections.
What do we suggest?
Create a list of benefits and adjectives that describe your product. Then, create a list of what consumers would look for if they were searching for your product.
Next, create a table segmented by themes that appeals to your consumers. For example:
In addition, you will want to make sure that your ads are targeted on relevant sites.
3) Campaign Goals & Conversions
What is the goal of your campaign? Do you want to drive traffic to your site? Push a purchase of a product? Increase membership sign ups? Want consumers to read or watch something?
The copy of your ads should always relate to the specific goal of your campaign. For example, if you want consumers to buy your product, your ad copy should be product specific and highlight any sales associated with it.
4) Competitive Insights
What are your competitors up to? Competitor research is essential to developing a sound strategy for your marketing campaign and it should be conducted multiple times throughout the year. Start by doing a quick search of your competitors. Make a note of the language they are using in their ads and their promotions. You can take it a step further by creating a SWOT analysis. Once you’ve done that, create a few variations of your ad copy: one that is drastically different from the competition and the other that falls in line with the competition.
5) Effective Landing Pages
Are your landing pages effective? Ads are the entry point to your business and landing pages are the front door. If your ads are being clicked but your conversions are low, you might have a bigger problem; our guess is that your landing pages need a tune up.
There are a few basic rules that apply to building effective landing pages:
- Messaging should match your ad copy
- Call to action should be clearly stated
- Don’t clutter the page
- Use directional queues to drive action
- Give users a way to explore more on your site if they want
The first step to diagnosing the health of your ad campaigns is to start with a check-up. So, pull out your pen, pull up your ad campaigns, landing pages and your metrics to get started with this 5 point checklist. Once you've completed your assessment and made your diagnosis you can start to optimize your campaigns and tweak your strategy. Conducting this check up on a monthly basis is the key to maintaining good ad hygiene (plus you’ll be ahead of the game for the upcoming holidays).
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