Google Adwords. The Rationale, The Stragegy And The Architecture Of An Effective Ad

Background

 In recent times whilst delivering the half day free coaching sessions for the Federally funded Digital Enterprise Program (DEP), I have received many requests to discuss and in most cases set up Search Engine Sponsored links or paid ads which of course for the Google search engine are called: Adwords.

 AS you can see from the screen shot above the Adwords are typically displayed down the right hand side of the page of the search engine listing and usually also occupy the first few spots at the top of the left hand column, just above the organic results that occupy the remainder of the left hand side column. 

The Rationale

The most compelling argument for why Adwords (and sponsored links in general) are necessary for so many marketing campaigns stems from the fact that around 70% of search engine users don't go beyond the first page of results. Similarly 90% of users don't go beyond the second page of displayed results for any given set of search results. What this means in real terms is essentially that if your product or service is ranked organically on page three or beyond, then you are only being seen by less than ten percent of those searching for that term. 

Thankfully regardless of where you rate in terms of organic search, you can usually achieve first page placement with a well written and targeted Google Adword.The Strategy
 Simply put the key strategy is to combine SEO tactics and the use of cost effective adword  spending that will ensure that your product, brand or service is routinely able to be seen on page one of Google for the most important search key words and terms as revealed by Google's own Keyword Tool.

The Strategy

Simply put the strategy adopted here is to ensure that at all times there is at least one listing visible to your target market either through Organic Ranking and /or through the Search Engine Marketing Ads such as Adwords.  This combined strategy involves concurrently ensuring that quality content is consistently written and professionally formatted and optimised to fully meet with Google's expectation of content, whist still investing appropriately in paid ads that appear only to precisely targeted customers and prospects based on the key words submitted to Google as part of the campaign design.

In every case the key words selected are paid for at a known and agreed price that when clicked on will add to the daily budget also nominated by the ad organiser. When this daily maximum budget is reached, the ad simply disappears until the next day where it then reappears to those that search for the specific words and terms listed. In this way the traffic is perfectly targeted and each key word has a much greater chance of achieving a  suitable click through rate (CTR) required by Google to key each key word active.

The Architecture 

Google Adwords are very simple in design and can be effectively written for any product or service once the basic required format is fully understood. For each ad there are four separate lines as follows: 

The first line is the heading which can be up to twenty five characters in length including the spaces between the words and of course should contain the likely key words being used in the first place to bring up the ad. Google has constantly reported that the most successful Adword ads consistently have the most important key words as part of the heading. Hint, Hint.

The second line and third lines are thankfully longer at up to thirty five characters each and are used to provide a key benefit that the product offers and importantly a call to action to drive the customer to perform some required behaviour.

Finally the fourth line is the destination URL where your landing page resides on the server.
Although it can be the home page of your website I encourage you to set up a specialised landing page that will more precisely be able to direct the arriving inquiries.

So there you have it.  Simple, practical, cost effective and ultimately another formidable marketing tool in your weapons array. Naturally if you would like to learn more about Adwords or any other aspect of digital media I would encourage you to also come along to any of the seven free 2 hour workshops for the Digital Enterprise Program and obtain a free half day coaching session just for showing up.  Simply sign up here to sign up:

http://www.vecci.org.au/business-solutions/digital-enterprise-program


So until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Regards
Daniele

Australian Online Sales Continue To Grow And Grow

The Early Years of E-Commerce in Australia

I remember six short years ago whilst delivering a marketing presentation for the NSW Chamber of Commerce during the Think Big Seminar, I was asked about the percentage of sales in Australia that at the time were online as a percentage of overall total sales. The answer for which was less than one percentage point.

Rationale

The reasons for this slow adoption of the online purchasing rate in the early days of e-commerce remain speculative but it's a reasonable bet that the slow embrace was largely a consequence of some well publicised, horror stories of customers being defrauded while trying to make online purchases.
This publicity certainly instilled a sense of fear and caution in most Australians for many continues to the current day.

Current Levels of Adoption

However in more recent times with a raising awareness of the protection afforded by SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates and especially SSL's with full extended validation as used by larger businesses such as financial institutions, more people have gradually made the transition to online purchasing. Currently in Australia around 7% of total sales are made online  highlighting the more than 700% growth over the last 6 years demonstrating the increased levels of confidence in the protective measures around the protective systems employed.

Additional Challenges to Increasing Adoption Levels

As fully illustrated by the recent data showcased in the Marketing Sherpa, E-Commerce Benchmark Study 2014, there are several perceived issues that businesses are still grappling with regardless of the size of the business in question.

Issues such as technology, fulfillment, access to capital and availability of appropriately trained, quality human resources, being amongst the expansive list generated by the study data.

Despite these ongoing challenges the data also reflects that specialist online retailers continue to grow at an even faster rate than hybrid businesses that offer both retail and online purchasing options.  Perhaps having a singular focus with a niche positioning allows these businesses to more fully appreciate the needs of their customers and ultimately present a more fully rounded solution thereby attracting a faster growth rate.

Suffice to say the percentage of online sales will surely continue to increase in coming years with a simple imperative for all businesses to follow and that being to make the e-commerce option available and user friendly with intuitive customer interfaces that continue to deliver a convenient and rewarding customer experience as a valid option to offline options.

To learn more about e-commerce and all things digital please also join me for any of the free Digital Enterprise Program (DEP) workshops with the added bonus of a free four hour coaching session for your business simply by attending any on eof the seven workshops. Simply go the link below and register your interest now.

 http://www.vecci.org.au/business-solutions/digital-enterprise-program/workshops

So until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Regards,
Daniele.

While online sales have been growing at around 20-30% annually, the overall market share was still only around 5-7% of the overall market in early 2013. Many users cite the reasons of availability, convenience and pricing as well as delivery options as some of the reasons for purchasing online. - See more at: http://www.budde.com.au/Research/Australia-Digital-Economy-Online-Retailing-Trends-and-Statistics.html#sthash.yzp1DiQu.dpuf

While online sales have been growing at around 20-30% annually, the overall market share was still only around 5-7% of the overall market in early 2013. Many users cite the reasons of availability, convenience and pricing as well as delivery options as some of the reasons for purchasing online. - See more at: http://www.budde.com.au/Research/Australia-Digital-Economy-Online-Retailing-Trends-and-Statistics.html#sthash.yzp1DiQu.dpuf

Forever Loyal: Turning Loyalty By Default Into Loyalty By Design

Last week we spoke about customer loyalty and how in many cases even clients that are supposedly loyal to a business are only loyal essentially through habit and not through any more meaningful rationale and are therefore more than vulnerable to rival attacks should their the offer be more attractive or better targeted to their specific set of needs.

Level of Dependence

Simply put the goal of every marketer is to translate weak, uncommitted levels of customer loyalty into stronger, longer term and more intentioned levels of support. To do this you must form less of a transactional relationship with clients and instead start to design ways to migrate across to the strategically based relationship quadrant which by definition is associated with far closer working relationships, higher levels of loyalty by design and ultimately advocacy where the client proactively sings your praises to others. In these situations both client and corporate have a mutual high level of dependence and act intuitively to help, support and protect the other.

 Transactional Relationships

 Imagine the scenario of someone entering a newsagent on a busy weekday, picking up a copy of the daily newspaper and seeing the store owner is busy taking with someone at the counter with other people already waiting in line, makes a hand gesture catching the owners attention and throws the  exact change on the pile of papers adding to the other money that has been deposited in exactly the same way. This example albeit an extreme example, is an example of a purely transactional customer relationship where there is quite literally no relationship, connection or level of engagement between the two parties. Put another way neither the buyer nor the seller really need each other. The buyer can obtain a copy of the paper across the road  at the convenience store and the newsagent will survive if the customer chooses to take their business elsewhere. So the key question remains how do you transition from transactional to strategic?

Strategic Relationships

Now imagine another scenario. That of a product brand manager that is launching a new product and requires a consultant to help them build a promotional product that will help position the product, drive its awareness in a market that knows nothing about it and deal with the vagaries of the market within which it will operate.

This example comes to my mind because at the time I was that product manager launching Australia's first combination anti hypertensive medication Monoplus and tendered out the project to four respected firms but through the process of determining the right candidate, the decision became increasingly obvious each day as the other three positioned themselves as transactional players with a stance of simple in and out, no unique skill, no shared risk, no meaningful differentiation and an eye for price and price alone.

The eventual winner of the tender on the other hand ticked all the strategic buttons. Namely: Sharing in the risk of the project, clearly defined and unique skill sets, differentiated approach and an unmistakable strategic role in the deign and roll out of the package which meant higher levels of barriers to exit for both parties.

I'm pleased to say I was able to convince senior management of my preferred choice and history shows that the launch of the product was an amazing success with the product achieving a staggering 250% of its budget in its launch year.

So moving forward always see suppliers, distributors or clients as being in one or the other of these two discrete groups and make your mind up as to which one s have the potential to be moved effectively in the strategic space because these are the type of relationships that build businesses not simply sell papers.

So until next time, good luck and good marketing.  And of course remember to sign up for any Free workshops you haven't already seen in the Digital Enterprise Program through:
http://www.vecci.org.au/business-solutions/digital-enterprise-program/workshops
where you will automatically qualify for the free, one on one, 4 hour coaching session for your business with a leading marketing consultant.

Regards,
Daniele.