Google Ads 2019 New Year’s Health Check

It’s that time again: the new year, when everyone is hurrying to crush their #fitnessgoals before that resolution gusto wears out. We’re all about making positive changes, but you deserve more than another gym membership you won’t use after March.

That’s why this year, we recommend turning your focus to another kind of fitness: the health of your company’s Google Ads account. Your ads are no different than your body; they need a little attention now and then if they’re going to perform at their best. Here are a few small exercises you can use to whip your Google Ads into shape.

Tight Budget? Bid Low & Retarget

High-dollar bids can add up quickly if you’re not careful or have a relatively low budget. But if you don’t bid on the most popular words and phrases, how are you going to pull in conversions?

The answer? Don’t — meaning don’t rely on the most expensive keywords alone to drive conversions. Instead, use keywords that drive top-of-the-funnel or middle-of-the-funnel traffic to your website at a lower cost per click and then utilize finely tuned landing pages, chatbots and other CTAs that will make your case with more panache than you can manage within Google Ad’s limitations to drive conversions.

Changing your approach allows you to bid on more affordable, lower buyer-intent keywords that can stretch your budget further and get the most bang for your Google Ads buck. But you will need to work harder to convert this traffic, so having multiple CTAs for each stage of the funnel can help you convert buyers who aren’t quite ready to speak with a sales rep. Using retargeting, you can also continue to market to those visitors who stayed on your site a bit longer or viewed a key page. This allows you to keep the conversation going and hopefully move them down the funnel to the point where they are ready to sign up.

Become an Outlier

One of the side effects of running an uncreative campaign is that it can lead to a groupthink mind-set, with competitors all trying to bid on the same set of keywords. Consequently, these organizations’ ad copy starts to look pretty similar as they stuff the ads with the same keywords.

You don’t have to be an advertising guru to know that fading into the background isn’t a great marketing strategy — particularly in the digital space, where attention spans are notoriously short. That fact is backed by science: Called the bizarreness effect, it’s the idea that humans tend to remember information that is unusual and out of sync.

This year, resolve to stand out from the crowd and kick tired copy to the curb. Channel your inner avant-garde using a combination of wordplay, repetition and humor to draw buyers in.

It’s a tricky concept to master, but if you can manage to abandon common phrasing for more creative messaging, the technique will likely work in your favor. You don’t need to get Frank Zappa-weird, just somewhere outside of easy listening.

Sell Solutions, Not Products

Every customer is buying a solution to a problem, whether it’s how to get attention from that cute guy in yoga class or how to fix the roof. However, many PPC ad creators tend to forget the buyer mind-set when they bid for keywords.

For instance, a marketer advertising a Google Ad writing course might bid on “Google Ad writing course” instead of the more user-focused “write better Google Ads.” Consider how internet users might find your product if they didn’t know it existed. Ask yourself, What would that Google search look like? Then revise your keywords to match. Your ads will become that much more muscular.

Get All Emotional

As much as we like to think of ourselves as logical, rational beings, our feelings play a big part in our purchasing decisions — otherwise, the lotto wouldn’t exist. Whether it’s the hope of becoming a millionaire, the desire to feel safe in your own home or the urge to belong, our spending habits are a lot more emotional than you might think.

That’s why effective ads play to those emotions. What do your customers want most? What psychology is driving their decision to purchase? Figure out your buyer’s emotional state, and you’ll have the keys to create action-oriented text and design captivating images — and you’ll have more insight into target audiences, which you can use to build behavior-based marketing campaigns.

Not really in tune with your emotions? Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a psychologist to run a successful Google Ads campaign. Instead, let Neon Ambition do the leg work. Together, we’ll help you create powerful ads that deliver the results you want — so next year you can pay a personal trainer to do your workout for you!

With that, it’s time for us to get back to working on our own business goals. Best of luck on your 2019 marketing resolutions!