Questions from Our Clients
Q) Should I tweak the messaging of my VSWFeatureLink campaign over time?
A) Yes! The mindset of consumers changes over time as does your product offering. Springtime, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day are great opportunities to play off of consumer excitement for this season and the upcoming holidays . Align your products with these holidays and play off of seasonal shopping trends. For example, “Just 1 week left to show your mom you care”. Change up the messaging as it gets closer to the day to play off of consumer guilt and last minute holiday shoppers.
Do you have question? Send it our way – email us.
Why You Should Think Twice Before Pausing Your PPC Campaign
Digital marketing is constantly evolving, it seems like every day we wake up to new trends, new tactics and new debates regarding which tools are effective and which tools are not. Paid search marketing is often at the crux of these debates. . There are hundreds of case studies and articles that emerge daily all contributing to the “GREAT PAID SEARCH DEBATE”. Take, for example, the following: “Days” or “eBay Says Much Paid Search on Google and Bing Is Ineffective”.
Over the last few weeks the PPC debate spiked with the publication of eBay’s case study claiming that their paid search campaign was ineffective, which was contradicted by Harvard Business Review’s (HBR) “Advertising Analytics 2.0” in which a major consumer products company reported that paid search drove 25 percent of sales while making up only 15 percent of the overall digital marketing budget (note this study took into account placement beyond search engines).
Our summary on the debate is like a good fitness program. The time it takes to reach optimal performance and the results you get will vary, but you have to put in the effort to see the results.
In short, here are a few reasons why you can’t afford to stop your PPC/CPM efforts:
1. Brand Awareness
Any brand, whether large or small, knows that they must continue to generate brand awareness to become, and stay, relevant. To generate awareness you need to go beyond search engine results pages and opt for ad placements on the sites your consumers know and trust.
For example, a health and beauty advertiser with spring specials should opt for a solution like VSW FeatureLink™ that can place them on relevant spring fashion and beauty articles on sites like Divine Caroline. This type of placement helps create stronger brand associations and awareness with consumers.
Bottom line, your ad(s) needs to be positioned for discovery at the pinnacle point of content consumption whether your consumers are online or on mobile.
2. Ad Assists
Would you cut cardio out of your spring training program? No, because cardio is essential to any fitness regimen. The same applies to paid search marketing. The HBR article previously mentioned states that, “analytics reveal that ad assists from online banners and ppc ad placements show a 12 percent jump in search related activity”. A savvy retailer knows the value of “ad assists”, in that all aspects of a digital marketing program are intertwined. Ad assists can be an essential part of moving consumers down the purchase funnel as discussed in Winning the Zero Moment of Truth, that states, “Shoppers use an average of 10.7 different sources in their decision-making process, conducting online research even for small purchases like mascara and cough syrup”.
Bottom line, your PPC campaigns have a ripple effect. Your ads do not live in a silo and they can have a big impact on your business when viewed in conjunction with all your marketing efforts.
3. Real-time Messaging
An effective fitness routine requires that you change it up in order to drive results. An effective marketing campaign must be equipped with tools that allow retailers to switch up their promotional message in an instant.
Bottom line, there is no better tool than paid search advertising which gives marketers the ability to change images, ad copy and adjustments for optimization in real-time. Print, TV and even display are incapable of doing this as efficiently.
Summary
The above are just a few reasons why you should think twice before stalling your paid search program. It isn’t a silver bullet but, used effectively and in conjunction with other marketing strategies, the value of paid search is undeniable.
For more tips on how to make your paid search campaigns call us at 212.967.9502 or email us at customerservice@vswks.com. We are always happy to help!
Written by: Kerstin Recker, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Vertical Search Works
Are You Committed to Making Your Campaign a Success?
If you are thinking about scaling back on your paid search campaign, you might want to ask yourself, “How committed have I been to making my campaign a success?” The reality is that success doesn’t happen on its own; it takes a little time, effort and patience in order to see great results. In order for your paid search campaign to be a success, you will need to follow the same recipe for success as you do for anything else.
Far too often business owners and marketers shut off or scale back their campaigns after a few weeks because they expect to see great returns within a few short days after launch. Or, in other cases, they expect to see triple the return for a minimal investment. While most platforms allow you to launch your ads quickly, the true impact to your bottom-line will become visible over time. Paid search platforms, like VSW FeatureLink™, allow you to create your ads and launch your campaign in an instant but you will need to commit to putting in time (more than 2 weeks or even 30 days) and energy in order to figure out what works best for your business.
We’ve come up with 6 Keys to Paid Search Marketing Success:
1) Truly commit to paid search strategy and be prepared to invest in it.
2) Set clearly defined goals and give your expectations a reality check. If you expect to see sales double in two weeks, you may want to rethink if that is realistic. If you’ve never launched a paid search campaign before, then you’ll want to start with setting a test time period of 30 days to establish a base line. If you’ve used other platforms and are testing out a new one, use some of your past successes as a benchmark but remember that each platform has unique nuances and audiences.
3) Think about how consumers purchase online. Recognize that most purchases occur after consumers have worked their way down the purchasing funnel. Understand that the first step is generating awareness, next is enticing them to visit your site (this may happen two or three times as consumers begin to familiarize themselves with who you are and why your product is the best), then make the decision of whether to purchase or not.
4) Leverage previous marketing campaign successes. If you have seen success from previous ad/marketing campaigns, apply elements of the messaging to your paid search program BUT don’t be afraid to change it up over time. If you have a list of keywords that you’ve used on Google AdWords, don’t be afraid to include them as ad tags for your VSW FeatureLink™ campaign.
5) Don’t optimize your campaign without having enough data. Knowing what is working and what isn’t requires a bit of time in order to collect enough data to analyze what optimization strategies to apply. You’ll want to look at data week over week and month over month to identify trends. Once you’ve done that you can tweak your campaigns accordingly.
6) Be patient, stay focused and don’t give up. Once you’ve really committed to making your paid search campaign a success, the return on your investment will be greater.
For tips on how to make your paid search campaigns, including VSW FeatureLink, a success download our Best Practices Document, call us at 212.967.9502 or email us at customerservice@vswks.com. We are always happy to help!
- posted by Kerstin Recker, Marketing
13 Paid Search Tips to Live By in 2013
The start of every New Year brings with it the opportunity for reflection and improvement. Now is the perfect time for business owners and marketers to review effective strategies and new tactics so that your business is well positioned to increase performance in 2013. We’ve pulled together a list of 13 paid search tips that we believe will get your paid search campaigns headed down the right path.
1) Prepare for a Multi Screen Strategy – over 115 million Americans own a smart-phone today and that number will more than triple over the next two years. As such, the number of purchases made via a mobile device is trending upward on a parallel path. If your paid search strategy doesn’t include mobile devices, then you run the risk of losing money this year.
2) Plan Budgets Carefully and Review Them Daily – when you plan your budget this year take time to review trends in online spending within your industry and compare that to the ebbs and flows of purchases that your business received last year. Once you’ve done that you can set daily and weekly budgets accordingly.
3) Create an Ad Testing Schedule – ad testing is essential to maximizing your ad effectiveness over time. So plan your tests ahead of time and set performance benchmarks against each individual test.
4) Expand Your Keyword References – expand your marketing messaging and keyword list this year to include tangential words that appeal to a users intent. For example: Plumbing businesses should expand their words to include – fix faucet leaks, broken water pipe, slow drainage.
5) Target Smarter – customers are going mobile and that means you need to include LOCAL into your targeting practices. But don’t stop there, dig into the data from 2012 and analyze it to help you create your customer profiles. Target based on age, gender and household income as well as geographic location.
6) Review Your Campaign Regularly – make a resolution to set aside 30 minutes every day to review your campaigns. At the end of each month analyze your data and make adjustments accordingly.
7) Conduct Ongoing Optimization – now that you’ve resolved to review your campaign regularly you’ll be in a better position to conduct ongoing optimization strategies to improve performance.
8) Give your Ads a Creative Audit – step back and reflect upon what attracts you to ads. What visual stimulation inspires you to click and learn more? Once you’ve answered that question, apply it to your business and begin making changes to the images you use in your ads and the visual graphics you use on your landing pages.
9) Give Your Ads a Messaging Makeover – spend some time planning your messaging going beyond just creating messaging for seasonal promotional pushes. Develop compelling communications by tailoring messages to different segments of your target audience.
10) Matching Matters – make it a point to practice consistency from your ad campaigns to your landing pages and to your website. The message, branding and offerings all need to look the same across the board.
11) Improve your Landing Pages – clicks don’t matter if landing pages aren’t effective. Spend sometime thinking about the layout of your landing pages. Is your offer clearly stated above the fold? Is there one clear call to action? Do the visuals complement your product? Are prospective consumers able to easily navigate to your shopping cart?
12) Educate Yourself on Evolving Strategies – dedicate some time each week to educating yourself on the latest technologies and paid search tactics. The digital space is constantly changing. Properly educating yourself can make all the difference in the effectiveness of your campaign.
13) Don’t be Afraid to Try New Things – as the year moves from one month to the next make it a point to apply what you have learned to your campaign.
Happy New Year! May your 2013 paid search campaigns be filled with conversions!
So much time is spent on how to properly and effectively market your business. In today’s world that can be overwhelming due to the shear number of tools at your disposal. The reality is that sometimes it is worth taking a step back to look at the world through a different perspective. That can mean spending some time thinking about “what not to do” instead of focusing on “what to do”. We loved this slideshow from Hubspot on how to make sure that your marketing strategy SUCKS.
Marketing tools continue to evolve on an ongoing basis and if you are still practicing tactics from the past it could be costing your business revenue. Take a peek at this and let us know your thoughts.
What marketing tactics from the past are you using? What new tactics have been the most effective for your business?
Mobile Search Innovations.
The Dawning of a New Day in Search is Upon Us. It’s Gone Mobile.
Vertical Search Works Promise to Publishers, Advertisers and the Online Marketing Community.
To Business:
Nobody can absolutely promise that your business will be found at the top of the search results of the major Search Engines or that they can instantly increase your revenue. You should be cautious of doing business with companies who say that they can.
We promise to provide better, more accurate search and ad targeting to people seeking information, knowledge, products and/or services within their area of interest. As dedicated partners we are committed to ensuring each and every dollar you spend is worth the results you get. We promise to target each and every ad based on content and context on publisher pages throughout our vertical content network. We promise to align our efforts so that your advertisements’ appear in front of consumers whose interests are aligned with what you are selling. To do so, we will leverage our proprietary semantic search technology which understands user intent better than traditional keyword-based search so that users, publishers, and marketers get better results and more accurate responses.
To Advertisers:
What we can promise you is that we will work hard on your behalf, utilizing the expertise of our team and our proprietary technology to provide you with the best value in Semantic Search and Semantic Ad Matching technology via VSW FeatureLink™. As dedicated partners we are committed to ensuring that every dollar you spend is worth the results you get via impressions or cost-per-click. We promise to target each and every ad based on content and context on publisher pages throughout our vertical content network. We promise to align our efforts so that your advertisements’ appear in front of consumers whose interest are aligned with what you are selling. Finally, we promise to adhere best of breed advertising standards as a committed member to the IAB.
To Publishers:
What we can promise you is that we will work hard on your behalf, utilizing the expertise of our team and our proprietary technology to provide you with the best value in Semantic Search via VSWSearch™ and Semantic Ad Matching via VSW FeatureLink™. We promise to provide you with an advertising platform that is complementary to the content on the pages so that your viewers see advertisements that align with their interests. We promise to provide you with state-of-the-art semantic search engine that will help you retain traffic overtime. The goal of our two pronged approach is to ensure that we provide you with incremental revenue to your bottom line.
That is our promise and as CEO, it is my promise to you, our valued customers.
Colin Jeavons, CEO and co Founder.
Let’s Get Started Today! First month fees are not refundable.
A Few of Our Favorite Marketing Stories
As you start to plan your strategy for 2013 these digital marketing articles are worth a read. They are packed with valuable insights that can help you fine tune your digital marketing efforts in the new year. In fact, we love some of the tips so much we’ve infused them into our own VSW marketing strategy. We hope you find them as helpful as we do.
6 Steps Toward Creating Great Marketing Content for Consumers
