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5 Reasons Why running Brand Campaigns In Google Ads Is Essential For Your Business

5 Reasons Why running Brand Campaigns In Google Ads Is Essential For Your Business

by | Jan 25, 2023 | Branding, Digital Marketing, Facebook Ads, Facebook Ads Strategist, Google, Google Ads, Online Marketing, small business, social media

Let me make it clear what a brand campaign is first, so we are all singing from the same hymn sheet!

A brand campaign is a campaign that is set up with only your BRAND NAME included as the keywords.

For this business, I would add Satsuma Digital, I would probably add our previous name of Satsuma Social – if there were common misspellings or you were also known as another name, I would add those too. That’s it!

Now, most of you are thinking why? Surely if someone is looking for your website, they will just search and find you and then you get that business without spending any money with Google.

Sometimes that will happen but quite often it will not.

For example, a competitor can bid on your brand name, they will then appear in the top 3 paid listings whilst you languish below hoping your SEO efforts will get you through! The user may just not notice this and click on their ad and all of a sudden they are on your competitor’s website and buying from them.

So here are my top 5 reasons why you should be running a brand campaign for your business

  1. As I mentioned before, it means that you will be able to dominate the top three paid listings as you will always win that auction.

2. Running a brand campaign is cheap, CPCs are low and the ROAS, (Return on As Spend), is usually great! Invariably you can run one for a few £ a day depending on the amount of website traffic you get. One of my clients has a steady stream of traffic to their website, and I have a brand campaign running for them on £30 a day and they achieve a consistent >8 ROAS.

3. Having a paid listing and then your organic listing showing at the same time gives your business that extra gravitas and visibility

4. If you are running a promotion, you are able to switch the content up quickly in the ads to ensure that it’s successful

5. If you sell to trade like a lot of my clients do, then you need to appear above the bigger guys that stock your products and may have bigger ad budgets. You want the customer to come to you directly, not to your stockists!

I hope you can see from this that running a brand campaign in your Google ad account is a must for every business.

Top Tip – do not mix your brand campaign with a non-brand campaign. You need to keep this separate as the ROASs will be very different. They should be 2 separate campaigns with different ROAS goals. If you mix them you risk inflating the ROAS on your non-brand campaign which will then not give you a clear picture of your marketing efforts and their results.

If you would like to have a chat with me about running Google or Facebook ads for your business, book a meeting in my diary or email me at hello@Satsuma-Digital.com

 

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How to use Meta’s Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns to drive more sales

How to use Meta’s Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns to drive more sales

by | Jan 17, 2023 | Advantage+ Shopping, Digital Marketing, Facebook, Facebook Ads, Facebook Ads Strategist, Meta, Online Marketing, small business, social media

How to use Meta’s Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns to drive more sales

If you are looking for a new way to reach and engage customers through Meta ads, have you had a chance to explore Meta’s Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns?

These were launched last August and like with any new Meta feature that they roll out, we at Satsuma Digital like to TEST, TEST, TEST, to see first whether they work and also plan the best way to include them in our existing clients’ ad strategies.

Meta defines them as:

‘AI-based campaigns that leverage machine learning to help you reach valuable audiences with less setup time and greater efficiency.’

The idea with Advantage+ shopping campaigns is that you can make the most of your ad budget and minimize your workload. With the power of Meta’s machine-learning technology behind it, all you have to do is select a campaign duration and add in creative assets and Meta takes care of the rest. The campaigns work through machine learning and automated processes and can create up to 150 ad creative combinations in one go.

Sounds like a no-brainer doesn’t it?

 

This is what we think….

 

Reasons to use Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns

  • Automation is at the heart of Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, giving advertisers and business owners more capacity to focus on alternative tasks.

  • By leveraging AI for optimization improvements within Meta, it’s possible to yield higher results than ever before.

Drawbacks to running Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns

  • As an ad manager who has always controlled all aspects of the ad campaign, it can be hard to just let go and trust Meta to do a good job!

  • There are also so many restrictions when you run this type of campaign, as you won’t be able to conduct audience research etc and target interests, although you are able to pull in custom audiences.

  • You are also not able to choose where your ads are seen, Meta takes care of that.

  • Meta limits the amount of Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns to 8 per account, which depending on your budget can be quite restrictive.

Our results

We have used these campaigns in a few of our clients’ accounts and we have seen good, (but sometimes unpredictable), results. It’s likely that the accounts with a seasoned pixel and more targeted history see extra success, as they provide Meta with much better insights into their ideal customer.

Our Top Tips

  • Don’t just set one up and leave it! They can be used at the top of the sales funnel or retargeting or a blend of both, so ensure that you have a strategy set up so you can utilise Meta’s AI effectively for your business.

  • This type of campaign should be used as an additional campaign to your existing ones to get the best results. This will amplify your overall success.

If you would like to have a chat with me about running Google or Facebook ads for your business, book a meeting in my diary or email me at hello@Satsuma-Digital.com

 

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6 Strategies to Make Your Google Ads Campaign a Success

6 Strategies to Make Your Google Ads Campaign a Success

by | Jan 12, 2023 | Digital Marketing, Google, Google Ads, Online Marketing, small business, social media

Google Ads can help you potentially reach thousands of Google users, whatever your goals.

If you’re looking to increase calls to your business, Google Ads can aid in developing a strategy for targeting qualified leads at the right time with custom ads.

And if you’re aiming to boost website visitors or drive online sales, Google Ads makes sure your ad content is seen by the right customers to generate quality leads and conversions.

Google Ads gives you the power to target potential customers with ease, enabling effective strategies that take you towards achieving your goals.

Here are my 6 steps to running a successful Google ads campaign.

1. EVALUATING CUSTOMER DEMAND before launching a Google Ads campaign is an important step to ensure success.

To determine if there is an adequate amount of search traffic for your product or service, you should ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is my target audience looking for a solution like mine?
  • Are they searching terms related to the product I’m offering?
  • Does the market itself demonstrate demand for this particular item?

Do some research, either through Google Ads’ keyword planner tool or other resources, to confirm that you have an in-demand product and people are actually searching for it. With this knowledge, you can create and launch Google Ads campaigns with confidence, knowing that customers are searching for what you’re offering.

2. Before you launch any campaign, however, it is important to have a CLEAR GOAL in mind. Consider who your target customers are and the keywords they’re likely searching for which are relevant to your business – this will help you craft an ad that Google users will find highly relevant.

Finally, always be sure to clearly define the action you want those who view your ads to take – this will ensure that the Google Ads campaign directly reflects and meets your desired outcome.

3. Crafting Google Ads that will effectively CONNECT WITH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE requires careful thought, a sharp sense of style, and top-notch wordsmithery. Using the right tone, language and creative call to action (CTA) helps you attract attention, raise customer interest, and motivate them to act. The best Google Ads provide an engaging experience from start to finish. A professional yet friendly tone will really grab your viewer’s attention and capture their trust. Making sure your Google Ads are properly targeted means longer lasting results from each campaign. By making sure you speak the exact same language as your target audience together with a persuasive CTA, you’ll have much more success with your Google Ads campaign.

4. Google offers three KEYWORD TARGETING TYPES, Broad Match, Phrase Match and Exact Match keywords. When creating a Google Ad, you should use all three in your keyword targeting strategy, although if budgets are tight, then just opt for phrase and exact match.

a. Broad Match keywords: Google displays your ad when similar phrases or keywords are used but you may get irrelevant traffic so try to bid at the lowest amount.

b. Phrase Match keywords: Google displays your ad when users type in the exact phrase or keyword you’re optimized for.

c. Exact Match: Google will only show ads to searches containing a specific set of words.

Ensure you have all of these different types of keyword targeting included in your overall strategy – this will maximize your chances of success with any ad campaign!

5. Having a clear and UNIQUE USP will set your company apart from the competition and let customers know why they should choose you. By taking the time to craft an effective USP that is specifically tailored to Google Ads campaigns, you can ensure that your business has an edge over its competitors on Google Ads. Not only will this give new customers reason to choose your business over others, but it will also create an environment of trust and loyalty between existing customers and your brand.

6. To make the most out of Google Ads, you will need to regularly OPTIMISE your campaigns. You’ll want to carefully manage your keyword bids to ensure maximum performance.

It’s important to consider raising the bids for keywords that bring in solid sales, but also lower the bids or switch to new keywords when necessary if you’re not meeting your desired results.

In addition, landing pages should be designed with care; ensuring that content aligns with the ads. This will improve conversion rates and boost profits for your brand.

Moreover, Google Ads take click-through rate into account; testing different campaigns can give you valuable insights on which ads have higher CTRs and better quality scores. When it comes to Google Ads, effective management is key!

If you would like to have a chat with me about running Google or Facebook ads for your business, book a meeting in my diary or email me at hello@Satsuma-Digital.com

 

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3 Google Ad Changes That Could Break Your Campaigns

3 Google Ad Changes That Could Break Your Campaigns

by | Feb 7, 2022 | Digital Marketing, eCommerce, Google, Google Ads, Online Marketing, small business, social media

Google likes to mix things up a bit. You just get used to one change when you are faced with a host of new changes. In this blog I have explained the last 3 major changes that Google have made, how it will affect your campaigns and what you can do to ensure that you campaigns continue to run smoothly.

Bye Bye Exact Match Keywords

Gone are the days, annoyingly, that you could add an exact match keyword into your campaign and trust that your ads will only appear when the user types exactly those words into Google. 

It used to be the case that if a user typed in “Google Ads Agency”, they would expect to see the ads of campaigns that had entered these exact words as keywords.  Now Google include user intent in the search results. If Google believes that the user is looking for a Google Ads Agency and that was their intent, then your ad will appear. These are called “close variants”. 

Google defines them as: 

Close variants allow keywords to match to searches that are similar, but not identical to the targeted keyword, and help you connect with people who are looking for your business—despite slight variations in the way they search—reducing the need to build out exhaustive keyword lists to reach these customers.

Satsuma Digital Recommendation: check your search term reports regularly so that you can identify any irrelevant searches and add them to your negative keyword list. 

Modified Broad Match 

In 2021, Google got rid of Modified Broad Match keywords. These used to be added with plus signs on either side meaning that your ad would show if all the words within the plus signs were entered and in any order. 

Google now recommend that advertisers put their trust in Broad Match keywords.

According to Google: 

“Broad Match keywords serve ads when someone searches for relevant variations of your keyword delivers reach in finding new queries, while saving time on management & allowing you to focus on business outcomes.”

Satsuma Digital Recommendation: If you are starting a new campaign, just use Exact Match and Phrase Match keywords. Broad Match keywords will cast the net to wide and will result in wasted budget. Keep an eye on the search terms on a regular basis and keep adding to your negative keyword report. 

Expanded Text Ads Will Be No More

In June this year, there will no option to create Expanded Text Ads. The only option available will be Responsive Search Ads in a standard search campaign.

There has been a mixed reactions to this major change. A lot of advertisers are concerned by the lack of control that they will have over their brand message. Although Google is not taking control of the copy, just the order of the copy. 

Satsuma Digital Recommendation: One option to overcome this is to pin them. Just make exactly 3 headlines and 2 descriptions in the RSA and pin all of them.  But don’t over pin as this could affect your ad strength – so use it sparingly. 

I hope this blog has clearly explained to you the major changes that have happened and are happening in 2022 with Google Ads.  I will keep the updates coming as soon as they are released by Google and explain how they will affect your campaigns and what you can do to ensure that you campaigns continue to run smoothly.

Signing off for now.

If you would like to have a chat with me about running Google or Facebook ads for your business, book a meeting in my diary or email me at hello@Satsuma-Digital.com

 

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Reasons Why You Should Not Buy Followers

Reasons Why You Should Not Buy Followers

by | Nov 18, 2021 | Digital Marketing, Instagram, Instagram Guides, Online Marketing, small business, social media

If you run a business with an Instagram account, no doubt you have had DMs pop up from lots of accounts selling you followers. Hopefully you just ignore these messages. If you are tempted, let me tell you why you should avoid this at all costs. 

Follower numbers is firstly a vanity metric. It is not important how many you have; it is the quality that counts. 

Let’s go back to your original goal when you set up you Instagram account, what did you want to achieve? No doubt you wanted to increase you brand presence and get more business. How are you going to do this when you buy followers who are irrelevant to your business and have no interest in what you are selling? They will not engage with your account and are likely to bring spam with them. Instagram is a clever beast and does recognise these fake followers and will purge them. They also reserve the right to suspend accounts that are involved in this.

Another reason to avoid this practise, is if you want to run ads. If you want to run ads to your warm audiences, this will usually include your Instagram followers. Usually, these followers would be the people that are most engaged with your brand and cheaper to convert – except you bought followers, so you would be wasting your money advertising to these people. If you wanted to build a lookalike audience of your existing followers, the same applies, you can rule this out too. 

In summary, buying followers, skews your data and inhibits the growth of your business on social media. Every follower that you have genuinely attracted to your site, is one to be celebrated. They followed out of choice and will continue to engage with content and ads and hopefully, eventually become a customer.  So next time you are tempted to give those numbers a bit of a push, instead, look at who your ideal customer, look at the content you are creating for them, check that it serves their needs and home in on that – it will be worth it in the end.

By Natasha Fitzpatrick

Natasha is Facebook Ads Strategist specialising in helping businesses increase sales and generate leads.

Find out how Natasha can help your business 

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ECommerce: Top Tips for a successful Christmas season

ECommerce: Top Tips for a successful Christmas season

by | Sep 8, 2021 | Digital Marketing, eCommerce, Facebook, Facebook Ads, Google, Google Ads, Online Marketing, Pay Per Click, PPC, small business, social media

The season is almost upon us, particularly if you run an eCommerce website. 

Not a lot of people know but I ran an eCommerce site for 11 years, until 2018, so I remember the stress of it all. I recall getting orders in August for Christmas! Realistically though, mid-October is when the sales start to ramp up. The biggest weekend is the Black Friday through to Cyber Monday, (26th-29th November 2021), and then it’s just head down, have no life to speak of until a few days before Christmas Day, when you cannot guarantee Christmas delivery anymore. Phew!

I remember those months well and am quite happy I do not have to deal with the stress anymore but on the same token, when you look back in January and look at how much you have sold, it makes it all worthwhile!

One important lesson I did learn from those 11 years was that if you were not prepared for the season, it could easily pass you by.

So, when it comes to setting up your ad campaigns, whether they be Google ads or Facebook & Instagram ads, here are my top 7 tips to help you make the most of the season and look back in January proud at what you have achieved. 

1. Become your customer

Place an order on your website, on mobile and on desktop. How easy was it? Did it work fast enough? Was everything clear? Were there too many hoops to jump through that would put a potential customer off. All sales should be able to be completed from adding to basket to completing the checkout process in a few clicks.

Is your refund & shipping policy displayed clearly on the website? Are there customer reviews showing on the site? Make it as easy as possible for the user to trust your business.

2. Allocate your budget now

How much are you placing where? What is your revenue goal? Set you KPIs. Be aware the costs of advertising rise in this period due to competition, consider this in your plans.

3. Create a promotional calendar

According to Google one third of festive weekend purchases were driven specifically by promotion. Synch up your social media posts and emails with your promotional calendar so that there is correlation across all the channels.

4. Make sure you know your customer

This is integral when you are running Facebook/Instagram campaigns. Knowing your customer leads to lower advertising costs!

5. Facebook

With Facebook test as much copy as your budget will allow and keep a close eye on it. Switch off ads that are not working, feed in new copy all the time.

6. Google

With Google, keep an eye on those negative keywords, you do not want to be paying for irrelevant clicks!

7. Check your accounts daily

Whichever channel you use, whether it be Google ads or Facebook/Instagram ads, keep checking the accounts daily. Cap costs to ensure that you are not overspending and be prepared to change direction if the stats are telling you to do so. Don’t be over emotional with your brand and push a category because you ‘think’ that’s what your customers want. Read the stats, understand them, and adapt your campaign accordingly.

Good Luck!!

I have been running Google, Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns for my clients since 2019. If you need any help with your campaigns, contact me and we can set up a meeting.

Natasha Fitzpatrick

Google Ads & Paid Social Strategist

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