5 Steps to Improve your Google Adwords PPC campaign

5 Steps to Improve your Google Adwords PPC campaign

by | Nov 15, 2018 | Communications, Marketing

Google was launched in the late nineteen nineties to help internet users navigate this wonderful, yet daunting, phenomenon called the world wide web (www). However, from its simple humble beginnings, Google has now grown to become the world’s largest and dare I say most important advertising platform. In 2015 a staggering 97% of Google’s $73 billion sales revenue came from the Adwords Pay-Per-Click (PPC) service.

Using Google’s PPC service can help your organisation boost your online presence, increase brand awareness, generate more leads and ultimately close more sales. CPC costs can vary significantly from a few cents per click to over $40 depending on the popularity of the word or words required. As the costs of your CPC keywords greatly increases, you could end up with quite a sizeable bill adding to the overall revenues of Google’s Platinum Towers.

To make sure that you get the most from your Google PPC campaign, The Marketing Centre recommends you take the following steps:

Conduct In-Depth Keyword Research

Keyword research is the cornerstone of any PPC campaign, and finding the best performing keywords is essential to winning clicks and conversions. Too many businesses start piling money behind the name of their business or the industry they’re in, only to find a crowded market and money wasted. Consider a business selling cupcake boxes to bakeries. It may be tempting to include the phrases ‘bakery consumables’, ‘cake boxes’ or even ‘cupcakes’ in their campaign. But these are imprecise keywords that are both very general and very popular, with huge bids required for the business to appear on the first page of Google for each search, let alone position one. Instead, by building a campaign around the phrase ‘cupcake boxes’, only customers with that specific need are going to see the ad. Adding further precise terms such as ‘windowed cupcake boxes’ or ‘pink cupcake boxes’ is going to pick up very specific needs, with the ads generating fewer wasted clicks and facing less competition from more generic rivals.

Have a well designed Landing Page for Google Adwords PPC

It’s possible to design the most beautiful sign for a shop, but if customers get inside and it’s full of knock off brands and second-hand shoes, they’re going to be disappointed. So it goes with PPC. The ad will drive traffic your way, but what the visitor does when they get there is solely down to you. And so much of that comes down to the landing page. The most insidious enemy of any PPC campaign is a high bounce rate. In simple terms, a ‘bounce’ is a visitor who lands on a website (possibly from a PPC ad) and leaves within seconds, without interacting with the website or its content. What makes bounces such a drain on PPC budgets is that while a business has paid for the user’s click, they’ve got nothing to show for it. If a customer arrives at a landing and sees that it doesn’t contain the content they expected, they will quickly move on. The only reason you wouldn’t focus on bounce rate is if your call to action in on the landing page itself.

Have a compelling Call To Action (CTA)

The key is to have a call to action which inspires engagement; a reason for your ad. If you have an ebook to peddle or an enticing sale, PPC will get eyes on your offering. A ‘contact us’ form is not a compelling call to action. If your landing page contains an e-commerce element, or a contact form or some other kind of direct call to action, then the bounce rate point becomes moot; you should instead look at goal completions as a key metric. This is the number of visits for which all points of a defined goal were completed.

Go for Instant Results not Long Term Leads

Unlike many marketing tools, PPC has a very short lead time. With the right keywords and landing page, it’s possible to have a PPC campaign up within hours, following Google’s approval. After that, campaigns can be changed within minutes. And while we would not suggest jumping straight into Adwords without some prior research, this agility means that you’ll see results immediately unlike, say, content marketing, which is a much longer marketing play. PPC’s speed is also beneficial once a campaign has been set up. New products can be launched quickly while allowing opportunities for keyword research in the run-up. By monitoring the analytics for keywords related to a new product before its introduction, it’s possible to ensure that a campaign is on-point at launch, while also capturing interest in the lead-up. The point is, if you need to see results immediately, PPC will make sure you appear on Google’s front page—a magnet for clicks—and you’ll see an immediate uplift in traffic to the site. Of course, you need to know what they’re doing when they get there.

Prepare for Voice Search

Although still in its infancy, voice activated search is growing strong. According to Search Engine Journal, one in five mobile searches in 2017 were made by voice. To be prepared for voice searches, marketers should consider the following:
• Voice search queries are typically longer, usually with a minimum of 5 to 6 words used.
• Voice searches are usually in the form of a question, How, What, Why, When?
• Voice searches have high local worth, e.g. ‘What restaurants/pubs/cafes are near me?’

Done right PPC delivers, but it is not a stand-alone tool. To get the most from your PPC campaigns it must work alongside and often in conjunction with your other marketing channels.

5 Key Elements to a Killer Introduction Email (B2B)

5 Key Elements to a Killer Introduction Email (B2B)

by | Oct 4, 2018 | Communications, Marketing, Training

Using email marketing to introduce your organizations products and services to potential clients and partners is still a very important piece of the overall B2B marketing mix.

According to Hubspot’s Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing:

“Email isn’t dead. It’s one of the few marketing channels we can use to build an authentic connection with the humans that keep our businesses alive.”

Vital Design adds to the importance of email marketing from a recent Salesforce.com survey:

-For every $1 spent, $44.25 is the average return on email marketing investment (Experian)

-77% of consumers prefer to receive permission-based marketing communications through email (ExactTarget)

-72% of B2B buyers are most likely to share useful content via email (Earnest Agency)

So how does one write the perfect email introduction? Well first of all let’s consider what not to do:

x Too long – We are the Twitter generation, brevity in written correspondence is king.

x Too many proposals or ideas – Although tempting as it is to get all your company’s amazing products and solutions down in one email, concentrate on the single most appropriate for now, too many will just confuse readers.

x Too self-centred – Make sure your emails are about potentially solving problems for your customers rather than constantly tooting your horn about how great you are.

Now that we know what not to do, how do we structure a killer B2B introduction email?

Create an exciting subject line for your Introduction Email

The subject line is often the gate keeper to whether your email gets read or not. Do not under estimate its importance and make sure to test before sending any mail.

Introduce

Make it personal. Introduce your company and explain why you are sending them this email.

Build on your Introduction Email

Build on your email with an example of a customer (preferably well-known brand name) you have already helped and the results they were able to achieve.

Make an offer

Give your prospects a reason to respond, make sure you have a CTA (call to action) in your email body.

Follow up

Remind them that you will be following up but also offer them the opportunity to ‘opt out’ of your email marketing database.

7 Ways To Help Increase Lead Generation

7 Ways To Help Increase Lead Generation

by | Oct 1, 2018 | Business Development, Communications, Marketing

What is Lead Generation?

According to Marketo Lead Generation can be defined as the marketing process of stimulating and capturing interest in a product or service for the purpose of developing a sales pipeline. When a stranger initiates a relationship with you by showing an organic interest in your business, the transition from stranger to customer is much more natural. Hubspot recommends that your organisation should create a landing page for capturing leads, a good landing page will capture prospects name, title, company name, phone number, email address and may have a text box for comments.

There are numerous ways to increase lead generation, both online and offline, here are 7 of the most popular Lead Generation methods used by Marketers today:

Content

Content is a great way to guide users to a landing page. Typically, you create content to provide visitors with useful, free information. You can include a call to action (CTA) anywhere in your content — inline, bottom-of-post, in the hero, or even on the side panel. The more delighted a visitor is with your content, the more likely they are to click your call-to-action and move onto your landing page.

Email

Email is a great place to reach the people who already know your brand and product or service. It’s much easier to ask them to take an action since they’ve previously subscribed to your list. Emails tend to be a bit cluttered, so use CTAs that have compelling copy and an eye-catching design to grab your subscriber’s attention. A/B testing will help with this before you release your campaign

Ads and Retargeting

The sole purpose of an ad is to get people to take an action. Otherwise, why spend the money? If you want people to convert, be sure that your landing page and offer match exactly what is promised in the ad, and that the action you want users to take is crystal clear.

Blog

The great thing about using your blog posts to promote an offer is that you can tailor the entire piece to the end goal. So, if your offer is an instructional video on setting up Google Search Console, then you can write a blog post about how to select your marketing metrics … which would make your CTA highly relevant and easy to click.

Social Media for Lead Generation

Social media platforms make it easy to guide your followers to take action, from the swipe up option on Instagram stories to Facebook bio links to bitly URLs on Twitter. You can also promote your offerings on your social posts and include a call-to-action in your caption. Learn more on how to use Social Media for B2B Marketers here.

Free Product Trials

You can break down a lot of barriers to a sale by offering free trials of your product or service. Once a prospect is using your product, you can entice them with additional offers or resources to encourage them to buy. Another good practice is to include your branding in your free versions, so you can capture other potential customers, too.

Tradeshows and Referrals

Although these two may be seen as ‘old fashioned’ or the ‘grand-daddy’s’ of marketing. They are still as relevant in today’s Lead Generation and Marketing world of IoT, AI, VR….. as they were in the 19th Century. Going to a trade show can be quite a costly expense for any organization, learn how to maximise your returns here. Likewise referrals are always a wonderful way to engage with new prospects. For any sales team it is always wonder to answer any with a prospect opening, “Hi, is that xxx xxxxx, I was recommended to call you by your customer…..” Do not be afraid to ask customers and partners to make recommendations for you to their contacts.

If you would like help with your businesses Inbound Marketing & Lead Generation campaigns please contact RML Marketing & Business Development Solutions today.

6 Steps to Prepare for Brexit

6 Steps to Prepare for Brexit

by | Sep 26, 2018 | Business Development, Communications, Training

Preparing for Brexit March 2019

Although the final details of Brexit have yet to be agreed, it is widely acknowledged that the UK economy could decline or even dip into recession, post March 2019. Campaigns such as the Red Tractor initiative and ‘Buy British’ could drastically reduce the demand for Irish produced goods, and a ‘Hard Brexit’ introducing physical custom borders will create headaches for many businesses who today trade openly with the UK.

According to Fergal O’Rourke, Managing Partner at PwC Ireland, “Firms need to prepare now for additional costs, border issues, disruption to supply chains and people mobility issues.” PwC Ireland and Silicon Republic have developed some steps that Irish companies should take to prepare for Brexit:

Assess how your organisation will enable customs clearance

Assess which customs and trade registrations, authorisations, and reliefs are required to be put in place to enable customs clearance, duty payments, meeting relevant regulatory licensing requirements and securing available duty reliefs. In addition, engagement of a customs agent will be crucial as there will be a requirement to file customs declarations for all goods imported and/or exported to or from the UK.

Prepare for Brexit by mapping and validating supply chains

Companies need to map and validate their supply chain models in order to understand their direct and indirect exposure. For example, a challenge for Irish business is the use of the UK as a land bridge, with products moving through the UK to and from Ireland. Sourcing products through the UK from countries that the EU currently has a free trade agreement with or storing and distributing non-EU goods such as Chinese- or US-manufactured goods from a UK warehouse, will have significant customs compliance requirements.

Obtain AEO status

There has been commentary about ‘trusted trader’ status, and what this could mean for importers and exporters post-Brexit. Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status is a well-established ‘trusted trader’ customs programme, in place in the EU since 2008. After Brexit, AEO could provide for faster customs clearance by offering priority access to companies that have been pre-assessed.

Ensure adequate cash flow for VAT and additional inventory

Import VAT is a duty of customs. A result of Brexit is that it now poses a cash flow challenge for companies trading cross-border with the UK. Import VAT will be charged at the border when importing goods, in both Ireland and the UK. Cash flow problems will be compounded for companies that need to hold additional inventory as insurance against potential border delays.

Develop a contingency plan to mitigate against border delays

There is no guarantee that border procedures will operate smoothly immediately after Brexit. Companies need a contingency plan to mitigate against any risk of delay when goods enter or exit the country. Customs reliefs available in certain instances to reduce duty payable should be explored as part of any Brexit planning.

Complete and study the Prepare for Brexit Scorecard by Enterprise Ireland

The Enterprise Ireland Scorecard is an interactive online platform which can be used by all Irish companies to self-assess their exposure to Brexit under six separate sections. The results will highlight where a company could improve their knowledge and will offer links to sites with additional information and potential funding supports.

6 Simple Steps to Create Wonderful Email Marketing Campaigns

6 Simple Steps to Create Wonderful Email Marketing Campaigns

by | Jul 18, 2018 | Business Development, Communications, Marketing

Why should your organization be interested in developing email marketing campaigns? According to CampaignMonitor.com there are 3 times as many email accounts than Facebook & Twitter accounts combined, and email is 6 times more likely to get a click-through than Twitter.

Here are the steps that will help you establish a great email marketing campaign:

1.       Establish your goals

But before jumping in head first and starting your first email marketing campaign, it’s worth taking a minute to think about your goals and what you really want to achieve. Who do you want to target, what content should you include and how will you measure success of the campaign? The key to establishing the correct goals for your email marketing initiative is to align them with your company’s wider marketing goals & KPIs. Is the goal to drive new signups for your product? New leads for your sales team? More attendees for your event? Or more donations for your charitable cause.

Email marketing is the single most powerful channel to reach your audience, and it can be used to achieve a number of different objectives, so it’s worth spending some time thinking about what you want to achieve with it before rushing in.

2. Build your email/target list

Now that you have established your goals and what you want to achieve from email marketing, it’s time to build your email list so you can start sending campaigns that those goals. There are a couple of different ways you can build your email list, but the right method for each campaign really depends on the goals you establish in Step 1.

Import a list of contacts

If you plan to use email to keep in touch with existing customers and prospects on your database, then your email list can be built largely by importing your existing customers and prospects details into your chosen email marketing tool. Before you import any contacts though, ensure you have adequate permission to email these subscribers.

Build a new list from scratch

If you plan to use email to communicate with an audience whose email address you might not have yet, then you’ll need to start capturing email addresses and building your list from scratch.

3. Select the type of email marketing campaigns you want to send

There are a number of different types of email campaigns you can send to subscribers, and the type you choose really depends on the goals you have already established. Here are some of the different campaigns that can help you achieve your email marketing goals.

Newsletter

An email newsletter is a regularly distributed email campaign that is generally about one main topic of interest. If your goal is to keep in touch with a list of people you already know (i.e. existing customers), then a newsletter is the perfect type of campaign to send. It will keep your business and your products top of mind and drive people back to your website.

Marketing Offer

A marketing offer email is essentially any campaign you send with the goal of driving a direct response. This can take several different forms, including:

  • A campaign showcasing some of the latest stock and encouraging people to purchase
  • A campaign offering a discount or special promotion on your products or services.

The marketing offer email is effective if your goal with email is to directly drive sales. It presents a product or discount offer and includes a direct call to action for people to click-through to your website and make a purchase.

Announcement

An announcement campaign is an email sent to your subscribers announcing a new product, feature, or service

Event Invitation

An event invitation email is a campaign designed to increase awareness of your event and encourage people to attend. It should list date, time and venue of event and encourage your audience to RSVP with their details.

4. Ensure your email marketing campaign is relevant to every subscriber

According to research, campaigns that are sent to segmented lists and contain relevant information can achieve up to a 760% increase in revenue from email. So instead of sending one campaign to everyone, you should segment your lists and send relevant offers and content to each unique segment.

5. Make it easy to convert

To drive your subscribers to click through from your email campaigns, you must make it as easy as possible for them to do so. According to CampaignMonitor.com 41% of email opens are happening on mobile devices, so if your campaigns aren’t optimized across all devices, then there’s a good chance you’re making it unnecessarily difficult for your subscribers to convert.

6. Measure the results

There are two places through which you can track the success of your email marketing campaigns: Your email marketing tool and your website analytics tool (such as Google Analytics). The reports section of your email marketing tool is the place to go to understand how people interacted with your email campaigns. Metrics to be measured should include number of unique opens, number of bounces, number of emails opened, click through rate, unsubscribe rate and shares.

These metrics give you a high-level overview of how your subscribers are interacting with your email marketing campaigns and allow you to compare the success of one campaign to another. Once you’ve spent some time analysing how people interacted with your email campaign, you can take it a step further and look at what happened after they clicked through to your website.

If you would like help with starting or improving your email marketing campaigns, contact us today here.

Social Media Tips for B2B Marketers

Social Media Tips for B2B Marketers

by | May 9, 2018 | Business Development, Communications, Marketing

Social Media Tips for B2B Marketers

In a previous post Social Media for Business – which platforms work best? we outlined which social media platforms get the best results for B2B Marketers and why. In this post we would like to expand on this and outline some tips on how B2B Marketers should use these platforms.

 

Facebook Social Media Tips

According to Pardot Facebook’s algorithm for distributing content among followers includes more than 100,000 factors, including how often someone posts, how individuals interact with followers, the type of content, when it’s posted, and many more. The only real way to win the algorithm battle for brands is to post quality, shareable content that adds value to a follower’s timeline. Provide tips and tricks for your audience to help them drive more leads and sales. Also, videos posted natively will continue getting higher organic reach than video links posted from other social media platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo, and others

Tips:

·         Post content around company updates, new products or special offers

·         Use live video to show products and team

·         Post infographics on both product information and general fun

·         Balance content between promotional and non-promotional items

·         Share relevant industry specific articles that would be of interest to your audience

·         Show off your team and your company culture

·         Remember potential employees will more than likely check out your Facebook page before attending an interview

 

 

Twitter Social Media Tips

Twitter is a great platform for organizations to communicate to their followers in real time announcing company updates, new products and events using short pieces of content. Twitter is also a great place for you to establish yourself as a subject matter expert in your industry by posting links to relevant industry-related content, as well as your own content, which provides value to your followers

Tips:

·         Post vibrant images and video with text to standout in the Twitter timeline

·         Use relevant hashtags (#) to highlight area of interest

·         Engage with audience, partners and influencers using @TwitterHandles

·         Post links to events that your organization will be attending or supporting

·         Post links to press releases and blogposts

·         Retweet and Like customers and partners posts where relevant

·         Post 3rd party industry specific content that will show you as a knowledge leader in your field

.

 

 

LinkedIn Social Media Tips

LinkedIn is still the social media network for businesses and professionals. For B2B marketers, there’s not a better place for you to connect with your customers, and to confirm yourself as a subject matter expert or a knowledge leader. Graphics, quotes, and informative content perform very well on the platform and are very shareable. B2B marketers can and should use this to their advantage by providing as much valuable content as possible on a daily basis.

Tips:

·         Post content that established you and your organization as knowledge leaders in your field

·         Connect with like minded industry people and peers

·         Do not try to sell when establishing new connections

·         Highlight events you will be attending or hosting (tradeshows, presentations, webinars…)

·         Post company updates, new product releases, new partnerships, new appointments…

·         Post tips, tricks and how to guides on your products and solutions

·         Use platform to announce new vacancies at your organization and encourage your connections to share

 

 

Instagram Social Media Tips

Instagram continues to drive massive engagement for marketers and brands, as it tell its story via photos and videos. In 2016, Instagram launched “Instagram Live,” which gives users the ability to livestream from within the app. Most recently, Instagram opened up the ability for users to add up to 10 photos or videos in a single Instagram post. Instagram remains a great place for brands and companies to be, and should be included in your daily social media postings.

Tips:

·         Share behind the scenes look at your office or how your products are made on Instagram Stories or Instagram Live

·         Engage with customers and fans who post videos or photos of your products

·         Thank customers for posting photos of your products

·         Post fewer stock photos and more real photos of your team, products and solutions

·         Use new Instagram feature that allows you to post multiple photos and videos from an event your organization recently held or attended

 

 

Social Listening.

 Now that you have your social media accounts setup, one of the greatest tools available to marketers leveraging social media is social listening. Social listening is using commonly available tools to uncover and identify conversations that include your brand or company. This can be done as easily as using Facebook or Twitter’s native search functions, as well as Google and other search engines. There are also social-specific tools like Sprout Social, Hootsuite, and TweetDeck. Leveraging these tools to uncover customer service issues, conversations you should be a part of, and other opportunities for you to engage with current and potential customers is a very good reason you should make social listening an important part of your social media strategy. Search for usage of your brand’s name and company’s name, as well as product names. Also, search for opportunities to join conversations around your industry from people asking about features or advantages of your industry.

 

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