Q. My company is promoting a new product that no one is searching for. How can we use a search engine like Google to sell it?
A. Great question and display advertising may be the answer. The Google Display Network (GDN) has an enormous network of sites which matches ads to the content that is displayed on the page. So although searches may not be generated for your new product; odds are, there are millions of pages within the GDN where your prospective customers will be reading about topics related to your innovation. For example, let’s say that your new product is a beet slicer. In this case, we’ll use the GDN to target people as they read about beets. Best of all, Google’s new Contextual Targeting Tool makes it extremely easy! Follow these 5 steps to get started today:
1. Log in to AdWords, go to the Campaigns tab and add a new campaign selecting the “Search Network only” option from the drop down.
Name your campaign and complete the initial settings.
2. Once created, go to the Tools & Analysis tab and select "Contextual Targeting Tool"
3. Now enter the keyword that may interest your prospective customers; in this case "beets".
4. Place a check next to each proposed topic and select "Add to Campaign"
5. Write your ads, set your budget and launch your campaign. (I would also recommend using image ads, if you don't have internal resources you can use the Google Display Ad Builder to build your own.)
So that's it, five easy steps to create more awareness and visitors via the Google Display Network!