Managing pay-per-click campaigns (be they search, social, or display based) usually becomes a series of habitual tasks.
While this allows for stability and scalability, sometimes it causes blind-spots in legacy accounts (working together more than a year).
Here are my favorite tactics to break the mold.
Tactic 1: A Single Long-Tail Broad Match Keyword, with Every Other Word Added As Negatives
If there’s one universal truth to PPC managers, it’s that we value control over everything.
Broad match is the antithesis of that control.
Broad match keywords become grounded in the actual syntax of the keyword chosen when they have at least 5 words.
Additionally, broad match opens up access to keyword concepts that would be too expensive to actively invest in.
When you adopt this strategy it’s crucial you take the following steps:
- Every keyword you’re actively targeting gets added as an exact match negative. This will ensure your broad match keyword can focus on new query ideas/one off searches, while your core campaigns can deliver leads/sales via proven keyword concepts.
- If an applicable in-market audience exists, layer it on the broad ad group/campaign so you can prequalify the data acquisition.
- Audit your queries regularly, and be open to swapping keyword concepts you’re actively targeting for ideas your broad match keyword secures (provided there’s enough volume/the business case is there).
- Campaigns should only have one broad match keyword (sequestered away in its own ad group). Any more than that, and the data acquisition will turn into waste.
Tactic 2: Lead with Display, Remarket with Search
Not every business hast the budget for Google search as the first touch with a prospect.
Display is here to bring the curated audience worth investing in.
The beauty of custom intent, custom affinity, and in-market audiences is that they represent prequalified leads another brand paid for.
Layering these audiences on a display campaign (where the cost-per-click are dramatically cheaper) allows your brand to curate a list of ideal prospects – ripe for the picking by branded search and/or RLSA.
All ad types should be aligned with the target audience, and display is no exception.
Display creative needs to be attention-grabbing, and can lean on image, text, or a hybrid approach.
Hybrid creative can look like this:
This ad achieves the following:
- Grabs the user’s attention with a bold statement with focusing images.
- Highlights the product with a strong call to action.
- Subtlety engages the user to think about their subscription model as opposed to a one-off purchase.
