No matter what business you’re in, the goal is to make sales and generate revenue, and marketing is the key to achieving that. There are many ways to market your products and services today in the internet age, especially during the rise of social media.

However, there is another way to grow without heading over to social media platforms: though Google Ads. With 62% of all search queries in the United States generated through Google, it is the leading search engine for advertising.

It would stand to reason that being at the top of the Google search results would be a distinctly massive advantage in marketing your product over other companies. The way to do that is through Google Ads, and with consumers making 160 billion searches on Google each month, there is a significant gain to be made when you work with them. 

There are 5 different types of Google Ads: search, display, shopping, video, and universal app ads. The first 3 show up during a search on Google, while video ads appear on YouTube and the universal app ads show in Google app stores. 

We will look at the first 4 today and explain how you can use them as ways to grow your eCommerce business by setting up AdWords. 

Search & Display Ads

This one is fairly straightforward. Search Ads are the ads that come up as the first links on the search results page. The goal of this is to put you ahead of competitors who have an organic SEO advantage over your website, filling that need and driving traffic to your website. 

The way people respond to ads makes Google ads advantageous. 20% of people click on Google search ads because they get listed before other results. According to this study, they are also the most trusted ads among big websites, with 63% of users saying they will click on a Google ad, compared to 15% who said they would click on an Amazon ad.

Display ads are remarkably similar, but they will be targeting a different audience. A display ad gets set up with keywords looking to target people whom are not sure what they need, and you can use that to push them in your direction.

Shopping Ads

These are the ads that appear at the top of the results page that show images, the name, the price, and perks such as free shipping. This type of ad is great for eCommerce businesses because it will highlight your brand’s design quality and give potential customers an idea of what they can expect from your store. 

For example, if you were to search “Best cereal for weight loss” in Google, you will see a set of cereals you can buy right now.

This will also put you at the top of the results on the shopping tab.

Video Ads

Lastly, you have the ads that appear before, during, and after YouTube videos, which can be short or long. The shorter ones are required viewing before the user can watch the content they clicked on, while the longer ones are skippable after a certain amount of time. 

It’s important with these types of ads to put as much into the beginning as possible to sell your product before people click away. If an ad is intriguing enough, they may just watch the whole thing to learn more about the product. 

This ad will also have a small display ad next to it in the browser version that you can use to drive traffic. Just like the video ad, this should be concise and enticing.

These types of ads from Google can push significant traffic to you if leveraged correctly. If you’re looking to improve your Google Ads, ChuckJoe is the right partner for you. Chat with our digital marketing experts today!

Planning is always the first step when tackling any worthy project. Otherwise, you are just deciding in the moment, which usually leads to a monumental waste of time and money. 

The same is true for any digital marketing campaign. You need to look at your product and build a strategy to fit it before you start spending any money on ads.

No matter what avenue you are contemplating for online advertising (influencer marketing, social media marketing, paid ads, etc.)  you need to plan with intention. Before even buying a single online ad, you should answer the following questions we will be looking into today.

1. What are your goals?

Beginning by setting goals is the most logical place to start, because if you don’t have this established, there’s no way to measure what you have accomplished. Understanding what you want your audience to do with your ads dictates the type of ads you will purchase and where you will put them. Don’t just jot down generic goals either — use SMART goals. For example, instead of saying “grow social media followers,” set a specific number and platform. “I want to grow my Instagram followers by 10 thousand in 6 months” is a much more defined objective that you can actively work towards reaching, keeping you accountable and motivated.

2. Who is your audience?

Determining who your ads are trying to reach helps to narrow your strategy. Some questions you might ask yourself include

• Who are they?
• What are their interests?
• What problem does my product solve for them?
• How old are they?
• Where do they live?

Asking these questions will help you identify where and how you can best cater to them.

For instance, if you are trying to sell a new product to younger adults, Instagram or TikTok tend to be better platforms to purchase ads on than Facebook or Google, as the active user base on the two former platforms is younger.

3. What will make them notice you?

While you might know that your product is unique, your audience doesn’t know that — yet. You need to reflect and clearly identify what your unique value proposition is. Now that you know who you are trying to reach and what your goals are, you can begin designing the creative copy to entice them. You will need to plan how you will cut through all the noise in advertising and posts, especially if you are looking at social media as an option. What is your brand’s X-factor that sets it apart?

4. Where will they go if they click?

This step is where you design the landing page that an ad will drive traffic to. This should be determined by the goals you set out in the first question. For instance, if you want to build your email list, the first thing your new landing page should feature is an offer that your audience will find attractive. Though it does not cost anyone money to give up their email, they are still protective of it, as they are wary of spam. 

5. What happens if your ads are not working?

To answer this question, you need to set up a plan to make sure that you set time to review the campaign as it is going. As lovely as it would be to set up a marketing campaign and have everything go smoothly, this is hardly ever the case. 

You need to take some time to look at what’s working and what’s not through the platform’s analytics and other data available. This way, you have actionable data for the next campaign, and can pivot then and there if it’s not working.

6. What are your keywords or hashtags?

You should make sure you understand what keywords or hashtags will work best for your goals before purchasing any advertisements. Determining the right keywords requires an understanding of your audience in addition to what your competitors are using. Sites like Moz, SpyFu, and SEMrush can help with this.

7. What is your budget?

Lastly, you will need to define your budget since it determines how diversified your marketing strategy can be. If you do not have a lot of money to work with, you will need to focus on less costly methods of advertising that have a high return on investment, like influencer marketing. 

This also ensures that you do not overspend, so that you have a steady steam of money for ads during the entire promotion period, instead of running out of money halfway through.

Answering these questions and having a well-developed advertising strategy will enable you to purchase ads and increase your revenue. If you still need help buying online ads, ChuckJoe can help! Contact our team to get started today.

What is Brand Awareness & Why is it Important?

Brand awareness is pretty self-explanatory at the surface: Do people know about your brand? We’ve all heard of the “marketing funnel,” sometimes called the sales funnel, right? For those readers who haven’t, the funnel is a representation of the consumer journey to purchase (or whatever your brand’s goal is). There are tons of versions of the funnel, there are also variations based on industry. However, there is one thing in common across all industries and funnel versions: The start to any consumer journey is brand awareness!

Brand awareness is when a person hears your brand name and can easily identify things such as what you sell and your brand’s values. On the other hand, brand awareness is also when a person desires a certain product or service and associates your brand with those needs. For example, if you want to purchase from natural food brands, Whole Foods Market is likely to cross your mind. This is brand awareness. Another example is when you hear a brand name such as Organic Valley, you probably can recall that they sell milk. Sensing a pattern here? Choosing to become a natural food brand’s customer starts with knowing what the brands are and what they have to offer.

Brand awareness campaigns are designed and implemented in a huge variety of ways ranging from out-of-home billboards to blimps. You may have noticed a particular brand sponsor an athlete or an event you’ve attended. You’ve guessed it, that’s likely a brand awareness campaign! Here at ChuckJoe we focus on the digital aspects of brand awareness ranging from paid social media advertising to display banners to influencer marketing campaigns and more. 

Benefits of a Brand Awareness Campaign

It’s important to remember that brand awareness is only the first step in the consumer journey. Therefore, the initial goal of a brand awareness campaign isn’t to drive sales, but to be top-of-mind when consumers do reach a point in their lives when they want what you sell. In fact, studies show that consumers have a huge preference for brands that have high awareness despite quality and price factors. So, how exactly can an awareness campaign help your brand? Let us count the ways:

1. Increase credibility and trust: One of the top advantages of having a well-known brand name is that it builds trust with consumers, and with trust brings preference. In fact, over half of shoppers would rather try new products when they come from a brand name they are familiar with.
2. Competitive advantage: Knowing what your brand is all about is a big part of brand awareness and articulating this should always include the thing you do better than all of the other brands in your space. Once everyone knows what that is, they’ll know you’re the brand for the job! 😉
3. Be more easily recognized: It’s no coincidence that when we see a certain color blue we think of Tiffany & Co. That’s brand recognition at its finest and is brought about by brand awareness. No matter what brand uses that color blue, many people are likely to still think of Tiffany. Other examples are well-known logos. You don’t need to hear the name “Nike” to think of it when you see the “swoosh.” These types of connections help keep brands top-of-mind with minimal effort.
4. Increase word-of-mouth: Often times we hear about word-of-mouth increasing brand awareness and not the other way around. However, if you think of it, brand awareness is what facilitates word-of-mouth. The person who shares information about a brand that can bring value to others looking for that brand’s goods or services is a result of that person being aware of the brand. Therefore, brand awareness can increase your brand’s chances of being the topic of word-of-mouth, and Nielsen reports that 92% of consumers believe word-of-mouth from friends and family more than they do advertising campaigns.
5. Build bonds with consumers: Remember that part of brand awareness is understanding a brand’s values. If the values of your brand and the values of consumers align, this can be the start of a bond that can lead to not only sales, but brand loyalty.

With all of the emphasis on generating engagement and conversions, awareness often doesn’t get the love it deserves. Understanding the benefits of brand awareness is the foundation for building customer preferences, customer loyalty and brand recognition. Ready to start your brand awareness campaign? Don’t hesitate to reach out to discover the opportunities of building brand awareness online.