Stay on top of the game by knowing what your marketers do
Not all marketers are the same and knowing who the right partner for you can be a tough choice to make. Unfortunately, having the wrong one may result in a chain reaction of bad outcomes for your business. This can lead to an incomplete advertising campaign set up that will end up costing you in the long run.
However, there are surefire ways to figure out who’s the right fit for you. And it’s not just about seeing who has a Google badge. These are a few tips to consider which Google partner will work best for your Google advertising campaign.
#1 – Having a Landing Page
Let’s start things off with something very basic that every Google partner should be discussing — landing pages. A Landing Page is a web page where you bring all your traffic to sell a specific product or service. Generally speaking, a landing page is essential to any campaign. There are two big reasons why: One deals with a concept called “quality score” and the second is ensuring that people are traveling through the sales funnel instead of leaving your site for another page.
Quality score is a scale that Google has created from 1-10 that grades you on how engaging all of the content in your campaign is. Rich content is really important to Google. So much so, that Google will move your ads closer to the top search result because you have executed a well-orchestrated campaign. This will result in more exposure and clicks to your content. Conversely, the less relevant your ads are will result in fewer people seeing your ad. Naturally, this makes it more difficult to reach your goals. Creating a stellar landing page is one more step in gaining a leg up on the competition.
The Sales Funnel
The second reason landing pages are important is for the sales funnel process. By implementing a Digital Advertising Strategy, you’re trying to create a pipeline of paying customers to your business. To illustrate this point let’s visualize a pipeline and imagine there are people coming in on one end, and paying customers coming out the other. Now imagine a giant hole towards the bottom allowing potential customers slip away. Having an ineffective landing page is the hole in this example.
Using other pages on your website like your homepage can result in people losing focus and moving on to the next rabbit hole. A good landing page is designed to make people take action and convert visitors to potential customers.
So effective landing pages are crucial to your campaign. They can save you money on your ad budget as well as prevent potential customers from slipping away. When you’re meeting with potential Google advertisers it is important to gauge whether or not your representative brings up landing pages during your meeting.
#2 – Proper Setup
Setting up a campaign takes a lot of time and effort. This can potentially be overwhelming at first. There are a variety of different factors to consider. You need the correct keywords, ad copy, negative keywords, tracking, audience targeting, conversion set-up, budgets, flight dates, ad scheduling, and the list goes on.
Not to mention, if any of these factors aren’t addressed, that can seriously cost you in the long run. Some of the negative impacts can be overspending what was budgeted, or poor targeting that might result in poor campaign performance.
The key to staying in the know is getting familiar with your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Whether you are managing your Google Analytics account or receiving monthly or weekly reports it’s important to understand what these numbers mean. Reputable resources like Emarketer, Wordstream, Seth Godin, and Moz are great resources to consider. Or, if you want to talk to a person, Mighty Fine is always willing to help.
#3 – Communicating With Your Google Partner Effectively
If you’ve ever seen the new Google Ad platform it can seem simple and streamlined at first. But, in reality, it can be a wormhole for people who have never used it before. With so many charts, lists, graphs, and abbreviations that can seem impossible to decipher, it’s important to have people who can make things easier for you.
Having said that, if you’re considering putting efforts towards Google advertising, it’s crucial that whoever is managing your campaign can effectively explain what’s going on. Why? Because it’s your money! It’s up to your Google marketer to explain what’s going on, and why it makes sense.
It’s important that your Google partner has a deep understanding of these details. They’ll be on the front lines trying to bring quality traffic your way that’ll result in more revenue for you. Your Google marketer should be asking how your business works, as well as your business’ day-to-day — on a consistent basis. Lack of communication can result in potential customers getting mixed messages when they see your ads don’t match your website or your store.
#4 – Continuous Accountability
The keyword at this point is “continuous”. We’ve seen it a bunch of times before — the “set it and forget it” approach to Google advertising campaigns will not work 99% of the time. There are a variety of factors that fluctuate during the lifespan of your campaign. Behaviors change, new competitors may appear in the scene, or some tweaks to your ad copy might need to take place.
So what can you do? Before you partner with someone, have a conversation over goals and benchmarks. This will make it better for all parties involved because expectations will be crystal clear prior to making that investment.
#5 – Do you need a new campaign or a fix-up of the one you have?
The next time you have a project or campaign, it’s important to establish which tasks will be time-consuming, and which will not. Generally speaking, ad scheduling, bid adjustments, and adding keywords only take a short amount of time. In contrast, new campaigns will take a while to set up.
Knowing which road to take will prevent you from overspending and going over budget. If you’re ever unsure and need a second opinion, please feel free to contact us. Our Digital Marketing expert can easily perform an audit to see if you have something in place we can work from.
#6 – Who is Your Target Audience?
For business owners, it’s important to take a step back and think twice about this question. Although we want to reach as many people as possible, having “everyone” as a target audience isn’t necessarily correct. It’s more important to be as specific as possible because Google allows you to target your audience at a very granular level. When thinking about this question in an advertising context you must ask yourself, “what specific group of people are most likely to buy my product or service?”
This will help you grow your brand more effectively, as well as get the lowest cost per acquiring a customer. It’s crucial to keep this top-of-mind, because some Google marketers or freelancers don’t ever ask their clients this question, and other Google partners don’t act on it. Make sure your Google marketer is targeting the low-hanging fruit.
#7 – Ask About the Long-Term Strategy
When you spend a good amount of money on Google Ads, you’ll probably start seeing success early on. However, one component that separates the great Google marketing advertisers from the rest, is their ability to see things in the long term. In other words, they can create a continuous stream of potential customers. The most effective way of doing that is by implementing what we call a Remarketing Strategy. Simply put, it’s about finding out the people who have been to your website and targeting them with a more direct message.
That said, this is something that is easily overlooked by most marketers. When considering your next partner, try asking what’s their long-term strategy. Ensuring that your partner understands the value of this component will serve you greatly in the long run.
Final Thoughts
Needless to say, there are a lot of factors to consider when working with a Google partner. It is important to understand what you’re getting yourself into and what to look out for when you enter the digital marketing arena. Keep in mind, your relationship with your Google marketer becomes an extension of your business, which helps you reach your goals.
You can even reach out to Google’s customer service if you want to hear it from the source themselves. And of course, if you ever need to get a second opinion, you can always reach out to us below.
