As a business owner or growth marketer, you may have leveraged Facebook advertising to drive demand for your products or services. After achieving a certain level of success, it's time to consider: what's the next channel to conquer?
This guide offers an overview of the differences between Demand Capture and Demand Generation advertising and provides an operational roadmap for successfully scaling your second channel with paid search marketing using Google Ads. We delve into strategies, campaign objectives, and optimization tips for tackling your second channel.
Understanding Demand Generation and Demand Capture
Before diving into scaling strategies, it's crucial to understand the difference between demand generation and demand capture advertising strategies.
Demand generation
Demand generation, or "problem-solution" marketing, involves creating awareness and interest in your products or services among potential customers. It's about reaching new audiences and nurturing prospects through the marketing funnel until they're ready to convert. These customers typically have a lower level of customer awareness. If you aren’t familiar, we encourage you to learn more about Eugene Schwartz’s five levels of customer awareness from his book, “Breakthrough Advertising.”
Demand capture
Demand capture focuses on targeting users actively searching for your products or services. The goal is to capture existing demand by appearing in search results when users seek solutions to their needs. Unlike demand generation efforts, demand capture is a pool of finite search queries available to bid on. Your job is to identify the most commercially relevant terms to your product or service and bid for the users expressing interest.
Setting an Appropriate Google Ads Budget
Before jumping into the auction, defining what success looks like is essential. To calculate an appropriate budget for your Google Ads campaigns, consider the following factors:
- Your overall marketing budget and objectives
- The average cost per click (CPC) in your industry
- Your target cost per acquisition (CPA) or ROAS
- The estimated conversion rate for your campaigns
Building a Paid Marketing Strategy to Scale
Scaling involves doing many little things right. Unlike Facebook and demand generation, you're working with finite pools of interest, and the volume available to you is based on your category’s size and growth prospects.
Larger categories can scale in a more consolidated fashion but often face stiffer competition due to the volume behind keywords. Smaller categories must scale more horizontally, relying on multiple keyword themes to achieve the volume of a larger category. That's why keyword research and tools like Google Trends or Keyword Planner are great resources for understanding the market size you're about to enter.
Below is a list of “levers” available on your journey into paid search marketing; depending on your budget, category, and other factors, each may play a disproportionate role in unlocking scale for your campaigns.
Campaign objectives
Align your campaigns with your overall marketing goals, such as brand awareness, lead generation, or sales. Here's an overview of four Google Ads objectives and at which part of the marketing funnel we find them, on average, to be the most appropriate:
YouTube & Youtube Shorts
These ad formats are focused on video content promotion, best suited for increasing brand awareness, driving user engagement, and generating leads. Use them at the top of the funnel to reach a broader audience and create interest in your products or services. We typically do not start with these inventory placements; these come after we’ve exhausted Google Shopping and Non-brand Search efforts.
Google Shopping
Ideal for e-commerce businesses showcasing their products and driving sales. Shopping is great for the middle of the funnel when you have a well-optimized product feed and want to capture users' attention by actively searching for similar products.
Non-brand Search
These campaigns target keywords not related to your brand name but relevant to your products or services. They help capture users searching for solutions that need a specific brand in mind. Use them throughout the scaling process to continuously expand your reach and capture new potential customers.
Branded Search
These campaigns target keywords that include your brand name, ensuring your ads appear when users search for your brand specifically. They help protect your brand reputation and capture users already aware of your brand and actively seeking your products or services. Use them during the middle to later stages of the consideration phase when your brand has gained some recognition in the consumer’s mind, and you want to capitalize on the existing demand.
Targeting
Utilize specific targeting options like keywords, demographics, and interests to reach the right audience.
Ad quality:
Create compelling ads that resonate with your target audience, leading to higher click-through rates (CTR) and conversions.
Landing page experience:
Optimize your landing pages for relevance, usability, and conversions.
Measurement and optimization:
Continuously analyze performance metrics, identify opportunities for improvement, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Analyzing ‘Opportunity Metrics’ to Increase Volume
Opportunity metrics can help you identify areas where you can increase volume in your paid search marketing efforts:
Impression Share:
The percentage of impressions your ads received compared to the total number of impressions they were eligible to receive. Low impression share may indicate a need to increase your budget or improve your ad rank.
Revenue Lost to Budget:
The percentage loss is due to insufficient budget. If this metric is high, consider increasing your budget to capture more demand.
Revenue Lost to Rank:
The percentage loss is due to a low ad rank. Improve your ad rank by optimizing your ad quality and landing page experience and increasing bids.
Click Share:
The percentage of clicks your ads received compared to the total number of eligible clicks. A low click share indicates room to improve your ad visibility and performance.
Analyzing ‘Improvement Metrics’ to Increase Performance
Improvement metrics help you identify opportunities to optimize your campaigns and boost performance:
Ad Quality Score:
A metric assigned by Google that evaluates your ads' relevance, quality, and performance. A higher score leads to better ad positions and lower costs. Improve ad copy, targeting, and overall relevance to increase your ad quality score.
Landing Page Quality Score:
A metric that assesses the relevance and usability of your landing pages. Improve your score by optimizing landing page content, design, and load times to match user intent and expectations.
Ad Relevance:
The degree to which your ads match the intent of users' search queries. Increase ad relevance by refining your keyword targeting and creating more specific ad groups and copy.
Implementing a Successful Strategy
Develop and implement a successful paid search scaling strategy by clearly understanding the various metrics and considerations. Here are a few more things to keep in mind:
Analyze Data
Continuously analyze and optimize campaign performance based on the above mentioned opportunity and improvement metrics.
Testing Variables
Test different ad formats, such as expanded text ads, responsive search ads, and shopping ads, to discover what works best for your audience.
Bidding Strategies
Experiment with different bidding strategies, such as manual CPC bidding, target CPA, or target ROAS, to find the most cost-effective approach for your campaigns.
Improve Clickthrough-rate
Leverage ad extensions, such as sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets, to enhance your ads and provide more information to users.
Segment by Keyword Themes
Segment your campaigns and ad groups based on various factors, such as geography, device type, and audience, to improve targeting and performance.
Partner with El Dorado Group to Scale Your Google Ad Program
When done effectively, scaling paid search marketing with Google Ads can significantly impact your business's growth. By understanding the difference between demand generation and demand capture, analyzing opportunity and improvement metrics, and implementing data-driven strategies, you can successfully scale your paid search marketing efforts and make Google Ads a complementary channel to existing advertising efforts.
If you prefer to leave it to the experts, consider partnering with a Google Ads agency like El Dorado Group. Our paid search specialists have the expertise and experience to help you achieve your marketing goals. With our team, you can focus on other aspects of your business while we handle the intricacies of scaling your Google Ads program.
Some of the services we offer include:
Account Audit and Strategy Development
We'll review your current Google Ads account, identify areas for improvement, and develop a customized scaling strategy tailored to your specific needs and objectives.
Campaign Setup and Management
Our team will create and manage your Google Ads campaigns, ensuring they align with your marketing goals and follow best practices for maximum impact.
Keyword Research and Optimization
We'll conduct thorough keyword research to identify your business's most relevant and profitable keywords. Additionally, we'll continuously optimize your keyword targeting to maximize performance.
Ad Copywriting and Optimization
Our copywriters will craft compelling ad copy to resonate with your target audience and drive conversions. We'll also regularly test and optimize your ads to ensure they continue to perform at their best.
Landing Page Optimization
We'll analyze your landing pages and recommend improving their relevance, usability, and conversion rates.
Bid Management and Budget Allocation
Our team will closely monitor your bidding strategies and budget allocation to ensure optimal use of your ad spend and maintain a positive return on investment.
Performance Tracking and Reporting
We'll provide regular reports on your Google Ads performance, highlighting key metrics, insights, and opportunities for further optimization.
By partnering with El Dorado Group, you can feel confident knowing your Google Ads program is in capable hands. Our team works tirelessly to scale your paid search marketing efforts, driving growth and success for your business.
Ready to take your Google Ads to the next level? Contact us today to discuss how our paid search specialists can help you reach your strategic business outcomes.
