Targeting Marketing


Targeting and Marketing [Infographic]

Let’s consider two simple words – “Targeting” and “Marketing” . Two words that are combined in conversation a million times a day and yet I wonder how often the combination really hits that “sweet spot” with advertisers and willing consumers joined in one seamless and easy connection?

The guys at Wordstream have been very busy again with their graphic paintbrush and their efforts below reveal some interesting Google vs Facebook stats. They have looked at Advertising Reach, Revenues/Growth, Advertising Performance, Targeting Options and Formats.

The Targeting Options Panel in particular caught my attention.  At first glance Google looks to win the options battle hands down … however if you really want to unleash maximum power from your budget you will know how important it is to consider that target audience. If for example you can fairly accurately describe your target customer using criteria such as Education , Workplace, Hobbies and Interests ( …you know the sort of thing, adrenalin junkies with a head for heights, no imagination and a healthy entertainment budget) then launching your Parachute Jumping Experience Events Company using Facebook targeted advertising could be the very thing for you !

No matter the telephone sized numbers that attract themselves to everything that Facebook or Google do, you only have so much money and time – remember  Targeting + Marketing = Great use of your budget !

Facebook vs. Google Display Advertising - Comparing the value of the world's largest advertising venues. [INFOGRAPHIC]


© 2012 WordStream, a Provider of AdWords and PPC Management Software.

Global Advertising

Global Online Advertising Spending Statistics and Projection to 2015 [Infographic]

 

This infographic from GO-Gulf.com illustrates the current advertising trends, internet Ad spending (by regions), global online Ad spending and growth (per year), online advertising market share and lots more.

Online Ad spending represented approximately 13% of 2011′s total Ad spend, this is forecast to increase to nearly 18% by 2016 with North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific spending the most via this channel globally.


Although online advertising was only 16% of the total global advertising spend, in 2011, 96% of Google’s $37.9 billion revenues came from advertising*. The industries spending the most on Google Ads were:

  1. Finance and Insurance
  2. Retailers and General Merchandising
  3. Travel and Tourism
    *How does Google Make Money

 If we compare the top industries that are spending on Google Ads with this infographic’s Ad revenues by category, you’ll see some of the top industries reflected in both – Finance and Retail are shown high on both tables.  Global Online Advertising Spending Statistics

Infographic by- GO-Gulf.com Web Design Company

WordStream’s Internet Marketing 150: The Top Internet Marketing Companies 2012

Whether it’s like a LOTR (Lord of the Rings) or a sought after treasure map, WordStream’s latest infographic is a reference list that’s both engaging and useful for explorers travelling the dynamic land of Internet marketing…okay I’m stopping with the map japes before I hit the “here be dragons” references.

Japes aside, it is a valid point that for many (even when your job role is not marketing), you have to engage in Internet Marketing or at least have a knowledge of what the key activity areas are. When you first venture into looking at the key activity areas, or are wanting to refresh your knowledge, it can get confusing; there is no end to the different companies offering services and products, be it Web Analytics or the latest in Marketing Automation. 

Released this week the WordStream Internet Marketing 150, maps out the top Software and Saas Provider landscape; categorising 162 companies into 10 major business categories: Content Marketing & Blogging, Conversion Rate Optimization, Crowdsourcing, Email Marketing, Marketing Automation, Pay-Per-Click Marketing (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Management, Video Hosting & Management and last but definitely not least, Web Analytics.

WordStream have explained that the companies included in their provider map have been selected against the following criteria:

  • Are market leaders in their category.
  • Provide proven, innovative solutions to improve web marketing processes.
  • Have strong reputations in their field.
  • Provide tremendous value to individuals and businesses.

So while you wouldn’t be reading this unless you had some interest in marketing activities and you probably recognise some of the names in this infographic, it’s worth while holding onto this map and checking out those names you are less familiar with.

If you are at the beginning of your journey in Internet Marketing, or even regrouping your efforts before jumping back in, these 10 key areas will help give you a focus for reviewing your current strategy. For those with strategy in place, but seeking out a new provider, the map is a great place to start the initial research!  

Internet Marketing Software List [Infographic]

© WordStream, Provider of PPC Marketing solutions.

Buy Website Traffic

How to buy website Traffic (A Video Guide)

We have just added Buying Website Traffic to our Video Guides. If you are advertising online and buying traffic, or perhaps considering it for the future, you might want to spend a few minutes watching the video to refresh on the best practice steps that you should put in place. Even if you enagage a third party agency to help you spend your precious ad budget it makes sense to get yourself familiar with the fundamentals – after all, the very fact that you have some knowledge should encourage them to give your account the best of attention!

 

Traffic has of course been bought in one form or another since the very earliest days of the internet however the increasing sophistication and choice available to advertisers means that selecting the right type of advertising and using it efficiently and effectively is key – because if you don’t your competitors surely will…

It doesn’t matter on the size of your budget – there are a few techniques and tips to be aware of and so take some time to consider the variety of platforms available – some will definately be more appropriate than others for your particular business and objectives.

We spend lots of time on Web Analytics World writing about how to inecrease natural (cost effective) search rankings – so why might you consider paying for traffic? :-

  • Speed – SEO activity takes time; advertising can be immediate
  • Perhaps you have a time sensitive promotion?
  • To boost your Brand Awareness
  • You might want to grow your mailing list size
  • To accelerate your growth in social media audience
  • For Geographic targeting
  • For Demographic targeting
  • Because maybe you have worked out that you can sell to your new customers at a price greater than the cost of acquiring and converting them!

Networks for buying website traffic

There are an enormous number of ways to buy traffic however there is no doubt that Google and Facebook are leaders in the field for good reason. In the video we explain the principles and provide some best practice advice.

Often, one of the benefits of online advertising is described as “control” or the “ability to measure” however it’s worthwhile remembering that ultimately this is Marketing… and there are many things which simply cannot be measured with any accuracy e.g. we describe in the video how using the Google Adwords Display Network will promote your brand, name and message on your competitors’ sites … and this is free of course unless someone actually clicks on your advert to take them to your landing page …

In the  video we describe :-

  • The importance of optimized landing pages to receive traffic from your adverts
  • PPC and Adwords
  • The Google Adwords Display Network
  • The technique of re-targeting
  • Monitoring your competition
  • How to use Facebook to advertise to very highly targeted audiences

Previewing ClickEquations – New Paid Search Management & Reporting Software

ClickEquations is a soon-to-be-released paid search analytics and management platform. It was built by a team of experienced paid search professionals who believed that in order to deliver better results they needed a deeper and more accurate view of PPC campaigns, faster and more flexible reporting capabilities, and more extensive algorithmic automation.

Search Data

A good example of typically ‘hard-to-find’ information ClickEquations delivers is complete search query reporting. The search query is the actual word or phrase a person types into the search engine, and in PPC it is matched with a purchased keyword to trigger the display of the text-ad. The search engines themselves, and most existing paid search tools, don’t report each search query and connect it directly to the keyword, match type, click, and conversion.

So you’re paying for clicks based on what people type and how those phrases are matched to your keywords but you aren’t shown that relationship. When displayed in a simple report, you see exactly where you should add negative keywords, change match types, or modify bids which are important money saving/making changes.


On the revenue side of the transaction, ClickEquations supports true profit & ROI reporting based on the actual margin of each item sold. Most people today are limited to the return-on-ad-spend (ROAS) metric. Unfortunately, ROAS doesn’t necessarily indicate whether an adgroup or keyword is profitable. When you can see whether you’re making money or not, you can make much better decisions managing your campaigns and keywords.

ClickEquations also provides new insights into your search campaigns with proprietary metrics that can help you see opportunities or problems in your ad-groups. One example is ClickShare, a new metric that tells you the percentage of clicks your ads missed due to their position or sub-par CTR performance. It’s a logical extension of Google’s Impression Share metric – and when the two are combined the software is able to show you a good approximation of the impressions, clicks, and revenue being left on the table for each of your campaigns and ad-groups.


Reports & Dashboards

The highlight of the browser based reporting in ClickEquations is speed – you can switch between reports or filter on date ranges or particular ad-groups very quickly.

But ClickEquations Analyst – an Excel Plug-in – takes the reporting capabilities even further. Analyst lets you integrate live PPC data within any Excel worksheet – no more .cvs file importing. You can refresh the data with just a click, easily modify date ranges or other data filters.

ClickEquations ships with ready-to-use operator reports and management dashboards. You can modify or customize any of these, or create new ones from scratch.

These reports and dashboards can be shared between ClickEquations users as templates. If you create a cool new way to look at keyword performance, you can share it with a friend or add it to the public ClickEquations template library. When another ClickEquations user opens the excel file the template is populated with their account data.

Management, Testing, Automation

Rich data and flexible reporting both help paid search managers to make better decisions about how to enhance their campaigns. ClickEquations makes many recommendations explicit with ‘quick-win’ guidance reports that highligh opportunities and campaign problems. Advanced bid algorithms make sure you’re not paying too much or too little.

And text-ads, a very important and under-managed component in paid search campaign success, benefit from a true multivariate testing capability. The user defines three possible ad titles, line 1 and line 2 candidates, and ClickEquations automatically completes testing to determine the most effective ad based on either a click-through-rate or conversion rate goals.


Summary

ClickEquations was built based on the belief that paid search managers don’t currently have the information and tools they need to be truely efficient or effective. This release is the first in a series aimed at changing how PPC professionals spend their time and deliver great results to their clients or managers.

ClickEquations is currently being used to manage paid search accounts for OfficeMax, Liz Claiborne, The Franklin Mint, and others. The software officially becomes available in November, but a limited number of free Charter accounts are available – you can request one at ClickEquations.com.

Could Ask.com Finally be on the Right Commercial Track?

HitWise’ Bill Tancer recently noted that Ask.com has experienced a lift in weekly market share. The question is, did Ask.com’s new marketing campaigns cause this?

Well, like all broadcast messages it’s hard to tell for sure. They are definitely better and less offensive than the previous “algorithm” commercials. They seem to be getting closer to the mark, but yet still way off.

However, Ask.com is trying too hard at mass marketing. Mass marketing is dead.

Unfortunately, there is a lot missing from Ask Sponsored Search program that we can not buy into. Until we can get it, I can not recommend the product to friends and family.

Ask.com could save time and money by going after a small, yet ignitable audience … us. As online marketers, if we like the product we will spread the words.

Online marketers need to “buy in”, before Ask expects others to adapt. By following PyroMarketing rules, Ask.com can make small steps that can prove wonders.

** Find more articles from John W Ellis at http://www.johnwellis.com/

I have given up on Broad Match

I have finally pulled the trigger and paused all broad match keywords in my Google Adwords account. Notice, I said pause not delete. I am still a little hesitant.

Google AdWords Expanded Broad Match is good for Google but bad for advertisers. I was consistently showing a decrease in conversions on broad match terms, while showing an increase in cost. If anyone has followed any of my posts before, knows that I am a stern believer in conversion over clicks.

There were some obvious changes because of this pausing of broad keywords. Clicks and impressions have obviously all gone done immediately. And yes, conversions have gone down. But I am fine with that. Because proportionally speaking, it was a small decrease. I am willing to sacrifice a handful of conversions, if I can get a better return on as spend.

However, I do expect conversions and click to go back up soon. I plan to expand my keyword list with various long tail terms. This should greatly decrease my cost per conversion as well. Also, by eliminating broad match terms, I expect my ads will be more targeted. More targeted ads lead to a higher cost-per-click.

Thus, in theory, my quality score will go up and my ads will get ranked higher. Sounds right to me.

I will continue to monitor and see if there is any negative impact on overall revenue.

** Find more articles from John W Ellis at http://www.johnwellis.com/