Brushing up on paid ads? Here's some advice on starting out right.
Insights
- Conversion Centered
- Platform Focus
- Strategy
"Information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine."-P. Sondergarrd of Gartner
Without question, the number 1 issue I see (and end up having to fix) is conversion tracking. It's crazy to imagine but easily 50% of every account I touch is either spending money without knowing what they are getting, or have improper conversion tags in place. I've seen mom and pops, and even national chains, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars without proper conversion tracking.
"A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be."- A. Einstein
Google is a search engine. Facebook is a social media platform. LinkedIn is a business networking site. The gist here is that each platform serves a purpose for its users and has different conversion rates for different types of businesses. Some businesses can see success on multiple platforms, while others should probably stick to one that works best. Perhaps Google shopping is best for the money beets, not Zillow.
“My own view is that every company requires a long-term view.”-Jeff Bezos
Are you building a brand? Creating a following? Grabbing juicy leads? Making sales? Each strategy requires a different path. (The path is a campaign) Google's current campaign goals are shown in the original post's chart. It gets a little more confusing when you need to choose the best bidding strategy. I'll cover that as my next topic. Thanks for stopping by!
Casey Durham is a Google certified paid strategist that has managed hundreds of accounts and millions of dollars of ad spend across every major platform.