Things to Consider Before Managing Your Own PPC Campaign
Brendan Reardon,
Paid Content Specialist
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Things to Consider Before Managing Your Own PPC Campaign
It’s quite the rush—being on the verge of advertising on the world’s biggest search engine with the click of a button. The prospect of introducing your brand, products, or services to thousands of people in a matter of hours can conjure images of excited customers, overflowing shopping carts, and maybe even cartoon dollar signs. Google’s ever-adapting capabilities have made self-managed PPC campaigns possible for businesses of any size.
There’s even the chance that your family member could see one of YOUR ads pop up on their mobile device. It’s an exciting time for any new campaign manager.
But is exciting the right word?
In 2005, a thriving online pharmacy made the leap to PPC and decided to bid on the word [pharmacy] without setting a daily budget or double-checking their location targeting. Their ads started running at 5 pm on a Friday. By Monday they had spent $493,000 and were out of business.
I managed Google display campaigns for a family photography company that was running a limited-time promotion targeting senior citizens. Google recommended increasing the budget of this campaign based on projected forecasts, and as the ad was seeing a great return on ad spend, who was I to argue. The headline of the ad read: “Capture Those Special Memories Before It’s Too Late”.
Then, in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused those ads to take on an extremely alarmist tone.
Granted these examples are worst-case scenarios, there are still a few tips that PPC beginners should be aware of before taking on their own campaigns.
Quickly redistributing your budget to support the highest performing campaign in two competing conversion-focused campaigns is understandable, but one should be careful in playing favorites. If the unexpected supply shifts of 2020 cause your inventory to be sold out, you’ll be strained on revenue for several months. Additionally, if a competing brand from a larger company starts to increase their bid on your leading product, you might find yourself scrambling to boost your 2nd and 3rd highest performing campaigns to match your previous return on ad spend.
(Source: https://www.hallaminternet.com/biggest-ppc-a-b-testing-mistakes/)
A Call To Action that sees conversions when shown to a custom intent audience might not have the same success in a remarketing campaign. A headline mentioning “Free Shipping” might not draw users in during the holiday season where “Quick Turnaround Times” are a higher priority.
Consider creating a consolidated data sheet in which you can detail the higher-performing ads in each campaign. What works initially might not work in the long run and vice-versa. It’s important to keep track of patterns that you discover while testing out new variations in your creative, copy, and targeting to make the most of your budget.
Similarly, checking ad approval in the platform after launching is always a good practice. While CLAWS might make for a great promo code for a pet grooming shop, it also overlaps as a light armor weapons system and Google’s representatives can flag your ad for attempting to market “Dangerous products or services”.
There’s even the chance that your family member could see one of YOUR ads pop up on their mobile device. It’s an exciting time for any new campaign manager.
But is exciting the right word?
Tales From Beyond The Performance Planner
While Google has several convenient, built-in features that can prevent you from losing money to unnecessary ad spend, there are still some beginner PPC mistakes that can cost your business everything.In 2005, a thriving online pharmacy made the leap to PPC and decided to bid on the word [pharmacy] without setting a daily budget or double-checking their location targeting. Their ads started running at 5 pm on a Friday. By Monday they had spent $493,000 and were out of business.
I managed Google display campaigns for a family photography company that was running a limited-time promotion targeting senior citizens. Google recommended increasing the budget of this campaign based on projected forecasts, and as the ad was seeing a great return on ad spend, who was I to argue. The headline of the ad read: “Capture Those Special Memories Before It’s Too Late”.
Then, in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused those ads to take on an extremely alarmist tone.
Granted these examples are worst-case scenarios, there are still a few tips that PPC beginners should be aware of before taking on their own campaigns.
Don’t Be a One Trick Pony
It’s easy to get sucked into the sales funnel. Campaigns that are driving higher user engagement and resulting in more conversions can quickly become the class favorite for businesses who are inevitably going to be looking to conversion-focused campaigns to determine the effectiveness of their overall marketing strategy.Quickly redistributing your budget to support the highest performing campaign in two competing conversion-focused campaigns is understandable, but one should be careful in playing favorites. If the unexpected supply shifts of 2020 cause your inventory to be sold out, you’ll be strained on revenue for several months. Additionally, if a competing brand from a larger company starts to increase their bid on your leading product, you might find yourself scrambling to boost your 2nd and 3rd highest performing campaigns to match your previous return on ad spend.
Test, Test & Test Again
It’s always important to know what’s working in each PPC campaign provided the results are more immediate when compared to organic efforts. This means that it’s important to understand what’s working for your brand by isolating variables in your targeting, ad copy, and audiences. But in an ever-changing industry, that’s oftentimes easier said than done.(Source: https://www.hallaminternet.com/biggest-ppc-a-b-testing-mistakes/)
A Call To Action that sees conversions when shown to a custom intent audience might not have the same success in a remarketing campaign. A headline mentioning “Free Shipping” might not draw users in during the holiday season where “Quick Turnaround Times” are a higher priority.
Consider creating a consolidated data sheet in which you can detail the higher-performing ads in each campaign. What works initially might not work in the long run and vice-versa. It’s important to keep track of patterns that you discover while testing out new variations in your creative, copy, and targeting to make the most of your budget.
We All Know Smelling Is Easy
While the everyday typo or misspelled word won’t necessarily have the biggest impact on the overall perception of your ads—or more specifically the success of a certain campaign—Google (and most standard spell-check tools) won’t always catch those minor lapses in which you mistakenly type an “M” instead of a “P”. Actively monitoring your ads for content in addition to performance is a time consuming but necessary process to ensure that your ad copy consistently stays aligned with your intended brand’s messaging.Similarly, checking ad approval in the platform after launching is always a good practice. While CLAWS might make for a great promo code for a pet grooming shop, it also overlaps as a light armor weapons system and Google’s representatives can flag your ad for attempting to market “Dangerous products or services”.