Julie F Bacchini has hosted this week’s PPCChat session. It was a fun chat where she has asked experts’ opinions on some of the topics which hold a strong position in the PPC industry.
Here is the screencap of the chat:
Q1: Branded search campaigns are ________?
Branded search campaigns are good, but not as good as your analytics or conversion tracking suggests. @RichardFergie
Necessary & Cheap. @selley2134
Are a great way to pad your total ROAS. Where should the focus be? New customers. New visitors. Brand search is just money in the bag. The question is would they ha e converted anyways. @coryhenke
Branded Search campaigns are a necessarily evil, but obligatory especially in eCommerce where you are competing against other stockists. You should be competing on your competitor’s brand terms and expect that are competing on yours. @AskYisrael
Branded search campaigns bring your average CPCs down and can give a false sense of what your cost per acquisition actually is for those not looking specifically for your brand… @NeptuneMoon
Branded search campaigns are a good barometer for the effectiveness of your less-direct brand-building efforts. @ferkungamaboobo
A great way to improve your overall account numbers for your reports . @SEMFlem
Branded search campaigns are ________? Essential to defend the top search position from the competition. @FindingAmanda
Branded search campaigns are surrounded by sadness. @MarketingByMark
Necessary, now that personalization has essentially eliminated serps. @JuliaVyse
Not very popular with the clients/ @KyloRenvinski
A PITA Some clients need them due to competitors bidding on their brand, others want them for brand protection, others dont want them at all (and those are usually the ones who could use brand protection). @cjsoldwisch
Extremely important to track and counter where necessary. @bbroke7
A cheap way to get customers over the finish line you’ve worked so hard to get to perform a brand search. @SEMFlem
Let’s get started! Branded search campaigns are so incredibly necessary. Study after study suggests that organic doesn’t make up the lost conversions from a branded campaign so why would I ever turn them off (I mean unless it’s performing horribly). @adwordsgirl
To borrow a phrase from @bigalittlea, “like tofu” Sublime in the hands of an expert. Disgustingly bad hot trash in the hands of an amateur. @DigitalSamIAm
Essential for several reasons including —> making sure competitors don’t steal your clicks, promoting through ads and extensions However be sure to analyze brand campaigns separately from non branded campaigns. @Maiglisreal
100% NECESSARY if you want to control your messaging. Can’t do that with SEO kids…. A1 @jdb426
Q2: Competitor search campaigns are ___________?
Harder to make profitable. Usually (not always) toward the bottom of the priority list. @SEMFlem
Competitor search campaigns are worth testing but aren’t for everyone. They bring down your overall quality score and can open a can of worms for competitors bidding on your brand. @MarketingByMark
Competitor search campaigns are kinda useless. I understand that you can siphon off some traffic from a competitor but I just don’t see the value in it. @adwordsgirl
I generally do competitor campaigns when 1. Working with a superior product and competitor customers are getting frustrated with their offering 2. Competitors are bidding on our branded terms 3. There is a smaller universe of non-branded keywords available. @MarketingByMark
Competitor search campaigns are… worth throwing a few bucks at, especially if your audience is primarily mobile. As long as expectations are properly set as to how that campaign will likely perform (which is usually not great in terms of conversions). @NeptuneMoon
FUN. If getting revenge for those bidding on my client brands. Otherwise, I expect higher CPCs and lower conversion rates. Favorite approach is RLSA on compeititor terms – impressions on folks still browsing mkt options. @cjsoldwisch
Competitor search campaigns are ___________? …not my favorite. The CPCs are so high I find it’s usually not worth it. @FindingAmanda
Shouldn’t just be competitor names and leave it. One of our clients used competitor campaigns to build a $1m in revenue/month business. So they should be well thought out, segmented and with landing pages like one would with normal generic campaigns. @AskYisrael
Almost always a last-ditch idea. The user intent is usually VERY mismatched and you have to really carve out what you want to show on. And then there’s the question of “can you actually compete with your competitor?” @ferkungamaboobo
Worthwhile, if you have the budget and realistic expectations. pro-tip: app campaigns are fire for conquesting!! @JuliaVyse
Gadget plays in a football offense. Useful in certain situations and contexts, but worthless budget destroyers in others. I’ve done brilliantly well targeting a competitor branded term + “cancel” or “unsubscribe” for SaaS, for instance. @DigitalSamIAm
Seperates the marketers from the people who think they are marketers. Just printing money. @duanebrown
There’s definitely the “Xerox” problem though – if a brand owns the market, you can and should run competitors campaigns, but you better have some kind of worthwhile distinction. @ferkungamaboobo
Q3: Performance projections are ____________?
A waste of everyone’s time. @duanebrown
Making crap up. @SEMFlem
A secret weapon to identify hidden value — if you understand what a good prediction/budget model does (and what it doesn’t do). If you don’t (or don’t educate your client), well, it’s a reason agencies get fired. @DigitalSamIAm
Frustrating, at best. They usually end up causing more questions than they answer. I do see the appeal for budgeting’s sake, but with the current landscape and #Google‘s rampant changes…@cjsoldwisch
Performance projections are great once you’re in the account — to say “hey based on this curve, if we tripled the spend we should see 2.5x revenue” Ahead of time? Unless you’re really informed, there’s too many variables and it’s just a big-number sales pitch. @ferkungamaboobo
Performance projections are. On the one hand, I’m a fan of managing expectations, but on the other hand, they are hugely time-consuming if done right, and I’d rather spend that time improving the account and making $$$. @FindingAmanda
Something that the clients like to have to make them to give them a sense of control, but it’s a what happens when you combine mathematics and guesswork-from-the-left-nostril. @AskYisrael
Performance projections are… really hard to do. And yet, everyone wants them. My other favorite related type question is “how much should we spend?” @NeptuneMoon
A pain in the butt. Planning tools are missing a lot, and clients don’t always remember that these platforms are auctions – which = built-in uncertainty. @JuliaVyse
Performance projections are meh. I will pull volume metrics to plan for spend, but that’s it. It can become a distraction for clients and it doesn’t help with planning enough to be worth the time for me. It’s better to set goals based off of ROI and focus on that. @MarketingByMark
When I left my last agency to start my own biz, I was training a team member on how I did monthly projections for a client. She said “it seems like you’re just guessing.” Welp @FindingAmanda
Just that – Projections – Not guarantees. @selley2134
Performance projections are pointless & a waste of time. @adwordsgirl
Q4: The sales funnel is ____________ (relative to PPC)?
Sales funnels are a fine mental model, so long as you keep in mind that they’re just like personas in that they don’t actually represent any one user. But it helps organize intent-matching, KPI-setting, and what points to emphasize in an ad. @ferkungamaboobo
Proof that you need to do awareness along with performance! @JuliaVyse
Important to strategy, reporting, & client expectations. @selley2134
The sales funnel is only kind of relevant to PPC. We tend to think build ad initiatives assuming that people neatly follow the steps of the funnel, when they just don’t. It is fine as an underlying foundation for PPC, but should not be the be all end all. @NeptuneMoon
The sales funnel is a great tool for making reporting on long term ppc performance and gathering data to make decisions. @MarketingByMark
Critical to understanding how to set expectations, analyze, report, gather insights and optimize. If you don’t, you will make bad decisions with campaigns. @SEMFlem
The other half of the equation. PPC brings a horse to water, the sales funnel makes it drink. @yaelconsulting
The sales funnel is ONLY as good as your landing page. I can create you a world-class PPC account (and I usually do) but if your landing page sucks or has back-end issues then you’re not getting leads/sales. @jdb426
A state of mind. @duanebrown
Important depending on the industry/purchase involvement, KPIs, current performance & budget limitations. For eCom, higher funnel stages are subsidised by high ROAS at BOF. In B2B or in more involved purchases, it’s more necessary for competitiveness and growth. @AskYisrael
Messy? For my B2B e-comm clients, it’s complex. There are so many outlier orders and a lot of interesting cart behavior. @cjsoldwisch
Great for explaining to clients how it looks but it will change and never look the same. @coryhenke
Not the main reason people will convert. People convert because you have a product that solves a job they need to be done. The one caveat to sales funnels I feel are high ticket, high LTV/non-impulse buys. Working in e-commerce, I don’t deal with that right now. @RyBen3
Q5: The most overrated thing in PPC is ______________?
Quality score. @duanebrown
Optimization score? This was a tough one. @selley2134
The most overrated thing in PPC is probably quality score. @adwordsgirl
Google’s account managers (AKA Google’s free expert help). @yaelconsulting
Rules/Scripts. @AskYisrael
The most overrated thing in PPC is the speed at which things change Little stuff changes – the overall strategy doesn’t That doesn’t mean that YOUR overall method, mentality, strategy, or tactics won’t change – you’re getting better at doing what it’s always been. @ferkungamaboobo
100% Attribution. @coryhenke
The most overrated thing in PPC is getting fancy with ad copy. People don’t read. You’re better off spending time on optimizations that will move the needle. @FindingAmanda
The most overrated thing in PPC is… Attribution. It is not anywhere near 100%, even though all of the platforms present it as though it were. @NeptuneMoon
Bidding. If everything else isn’t great, it’s bid lipstick on a pig. @SEMFlem
Performance planner. @AskYisrael
The most overrated thing in PPC is automated recommendations across the board. Whether it’s suggested bids, suggested tCPA, optimization score recs, creative recs, etc. It’s all quite off on every platform. @MarketingByMark
Instant activity/results. it’s way faster than broadcast/outofhome, but time is still linear! my little fingies still need to tappity tap to make it happen. @JuliaVyse
Automation within ad platforms. There is so much that so many of us disagree with or don’t yet trust on the automation side. There is a lot of room for growth with it, though! Test, test, & test first. @cjsoldwisch
Q6: The most underrated thing in PPC is ____________?
Brand strength, creative and offers. In other words, good marketing. @SEMFlem
The most underrated thing in PPC is SCRIPTS. I don’t feel like people use them enough, I know we don’t but I’m working on it. @adwordsgirl
Ad copy and getting the basics/fundamentals right. @duanebrown
Google Ads Editor, especially for Search Term Reports. @AskYisrael
Testing and ability to experiment. Even a light, simple testing rubric can give stat sig results very quickly. But it’s time-consuming, and not invested in enough. @JuliaVyse
The most underrated thing in PPC is… Doing regular competitor research. I do manual searches to see what searchers are likely to see and use tools which help with this as well. @NeptuneMoon
Brand positioning Having a clear answer to “Who are we?” is a productivity and conversion multiplier. It helps your ad writers say the right things, it helps your keyword choosers focus on terms you can win on, and it helps your planners know where to put the money. @ferkungamaboobo
Manual work. Automating everything is not the way to go. As @siliconvallaeys says – human + AI/Computer is the best solution. Automate where necessary but know that you provide value in seeing human/customer behaviors that computers can’t. @RyBen3
Ad Variation Testing. @AskYisrael
1. Clients have 100% control your ad spend (no minimums or rate cards w/Google) 2. Very fast turnaround to create a live account and start to serve ads. (if you know what you’re doing). 3. It’s highly measurable. 4. Ability to turn on/off assets when needed. @jdb426
The most underrated thing in PPC is having an expert run your Google Shopping strategy. Too many people set it and forget it. @FindingAmanda
The most underrated thing in PPC is post-conversion experience. It can be too easy to just focus on conversions and not think about what we and other stakeholders should do post-conversion. Follow up? Suppression? TYP optimization? Additional conversion opps? @MarketingByMark
Conceptually, the keyword (I’m with @PPCKirk here) – it’s still the most specific window into the mind of a user there is. It’s not algorithmic noise. It’s a real person telling you what they want/need/desire. @DigitalSamIAm
Feed Rules in GMC. @selley2134
Q7: What controversial or against the grain PPC opinion do you have that has not been covered yet?
There is not just one “right” way to do anything in PPC. Those that preach that drive me nuts. This job is ALL about the mental flexibility to imagine and try and test and iterate. You can start from anywhere and sometimes what seems like it will work, doesn’t. @NeptuneMoon
There should be more controls and regulations put on ad networks like Google, PPC doesn’t always works. While there is definitely a lot of performance & behavioural science & data, in the end, good performance, is a combination of good planning, execution, & luck. @AskYisrael
Said this yesterday, but audits are generally unproductive and useless. @SEMFlem
Branding and awareness advertising are NOT a waste of resources. People need a reason to buy from YOU and seeing a search ad is generally not enough on its own. It is a very worthwhile investment – direct ROI on those ads be damned. @NeptuneMoon
Don’t pause keywords – bid exactly what it’s worth and add negatives to help it perform better. Maintaining a full evergreen systematic account structure based on the keywords – easy to find a kw, confirm you have full market coverage, and transition accounts. @yaelconsulting
I’ll link my snotty answer twitter.com/ferkungamaboob… Basically, we as practitioners need to understand that the day-to-day of our work … just isn’t what’s important in a lot of cases. We need to think beyond the click, in a lot of ways, to have real business impact. @ferkungamaboobo
Display is meh for non-ecomm. I’ll run it! Low-cost clicks, lots of impression numbers, etc. but I don’t often see much success with it. I work a lot with B2B manufacturing/equipment, so creativity is always an issue. @cjsoldwisch
If you have the time (big if) you can beat most of what Google is trying to get you to automate. @selley2134
I’m not sure if this is actually controversial but most network audiences are garbage and highly inaccurate. @MarketingByMark
PPCChat Participants
- Richard Fergie @RichardFergie
- Julie F Bacchini @NeptuneMoon
- Julia Vyse @JuliaVyse
- Shaun Elley @selley2134
- CoryHenke @coryhenke
- Yiz Segall @AskYisrael
- Doug R Thomas, Esq. @ferkungamaboobo
- Michael Fleming @SEMFlem
- Amanda of Baumer Marketing @FindingAmanda
- Mark T Saltarelli (he/him) @MarketingByMark
- Kyle @KyloRenvinski
- Cole Soldwisch @cjsoldwisch
- Brian Buroker @bbroke7
- Ameet Khabra @adwordsgirl
- Sam @DigitalSamIAm
- Maikl @Maiglisreal
- Josh B. @jdb426
- Duane Brown @duanebrown
- Yael Consulting @yaelconsulting
- Ryan Bennion @RyBen3
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