Best practices tell you to create separate AdWords campaigns for Search and Content; in the content settings you also have the option to target the placements that you choose. If you have a specific product or service it might be to your benefit to set up a campaign targeting specific websites. YouTube channels can help you get in front of your target market. Most people overlook YouTube as they do not realize many people watch informational videos to learn things, catch up on something they have missed, or just browse the different videos.
I would recommend setting up a “shell” campaign in your AdWords account and choosing the Network settings: “Display network and relevant pages on the placements and audiences I manage.” From here customize your other settings; upload your ads, etc.
The next step is researching YouTube channels, videos or audiences that would be an appropriate fit for your product or service. Google has made this easy by creating a YouTube video targeting tool where you are able to narrow-in on your target customers and specifically advertise on URLs to selected videos, user channels or “Audiences based on demographics, interests, gender and age.”
The tool is located at www.google.com/videotargeting.
The YouTube video targeting tool walks you through the steps of finding specific placements within YouTube for your target customer. First you will be prompted to select an ad format and geography. Remember, this tool only helps you select the YouTube channels, audience or specific videos; you can still geo-target your actual AdWords content YouTube campaign in the AdWords settings.
For this example, I am going to be promoting a new self tanner that will not turn your body orange, but instead a deep bronze. There are a variety of different ways that I can target certain “stereotypes” of customers to create niche campaigns and utilize your advertising budget. First, I am going to target bodybuilders; competitive bodybuilders usually use some sort of fake self-tanner or airbrush before competitions.
To narrow down the full list of categories I am integrating a keyword search for “bodybuilding.” The categories containing bodybuilding channels will then be displayed to view the statistics and average CPM (cost per one thousand impressions) range. To add the category simply click the add button on the right hand side of the category.
In this next example, I am targeting specific user’s channels that are related to bodybuilding. When YouTube viewers are viewing videos your ads have an opportunity to appear. (Based on your bids, quality score and other AdWords auction criteria).
In the example below, there is the option to target specific videos.
After you have selected all of your placements, the last step is to layer more targeting with age and gender on the “Search by audience” button.
Once you are finished selecting your placements click on the “done” button. From there you have the options to export your placements directly to your AdWords account, share the file, download to an excel file or print preview.
A couple tips to remember when bidding on your placements, bid higher than normal because you are trying to get onto specific pages. Make sure to tag your destination URLs so it is easier to optimize your ads, placements and website goals.
Have fun with the Google YouTube targeting tool and being creative with your advertising messages. This could help attract the right customers for you.
Sometimes online and offline marketing strategies can vary throughout different media channels; T.V., radio, local (billboard, print, banners, lamp post flags), pay-per-click (banner, keywords) and more. It is important to keep a consistent flow and messaging throughout all of the various marketing channels especially in your branding messages.
For example, if you are putting out lamp post banners in your downtown area and billboards on the local roads and expressways to promote a special event like a food and wine festival, the messaging would be more powerful layered with online advertising such as search or content with banner ads that deliver the same look and feel of the lamp post message.
For the simplicity of this example, the advertising period is 30 days. Billboards and Lamp post banners have one fixed cost and it is difficult to see a direct ROI from this form of advertising alone. Online advertising (assuming you have a conversion point on your website) is easier to measure and ROI can be determined by looking at the total amount spent divided by your signups online. In online advertising, it is important to notice that you can control many different factors and use these in conjunction with each other to get the “best bang for your buck” online.
Some dynamic features to use in online advertising:
Search Campaigns
Content Campaigns
Implementing a multi-channel marketing plan will help complement all forms of advertising. Even though you might not see a direct impact from one or the other, statistics have shown that people might not convert the first time they are aware of the product. For example, a person might see the billboard when driving on the highway each morning, but not actually purchase a ticket to the event until they are surfing the web on their favorite cooking blog in the evening and see the special offer. So, be sure you are leveraging all special touch points with your potential audience or target customers.
Google has now introduced a new way to obtain reporting features offered in AdWords. The reports are no longer only available in the reports section of AdWords. Now, they are moved to a more easily accessible location, the Campaigns tab. I believe Google has done this to try and make the process of reporting simpler for users, but as there is always a learning curve when things change. I am finding it to be a bit more difficult to use these reports this way.
As mentioned, the reports have been moved to the Campaigns tab, where you can view all of your campaign numbers. Pulling a Campaign Performance Report is much different than in the previous reporting screen. Below are a few steps that you will need to take to pull a Campaign Report with the new reporting format.
First, make sure you are on the Campaigns tab. Next, you will want to hit the “columns” button under your dashboard graph. Check off all of the boxes you would like in your report. As you check them off, they will start to populate on the right hand side as a green box. If you would like to change the order of the columns, you can drag and drop the green boxes to change their order. After everything is set to your liking, click the “save” button.
The final step to completing the Campaign Report is to click on the button that shows an arrow pointing down. When doing so, the screen shown below will appear. Select the format, segments you will require (Network, Day, Week, Quarter, Year, Device, etc.) and the email/frequency options.
The last step is to press the “Create” button and generate your report. In this example, the report downloads into excel. It will also download to your account. To find the downloaded reports in your account, look in the left hand navigation bar for a hyperlink to the section “control panel and library”; click on the word and you will be taken to your generated reports.
We hope you will try out the new reporting format. You may find it easier than the previous way of pulling reports.