Abstract
Targeted display advertising can directly influence the number of searches done on Google, and the effect is almost immediate. If you have positioned your Google Ads to be prepared for the increase you will be able to get better effect from both your branding campaigns and your search campaigns.
If you target the most relevant audience for your brand with your Display advertising you will not only drive searches but also the right consumers to search for your offer.
Background
SAM has a customer with a very niche product and offering to consumers. It is a new service that has come into focus due to new legislation which has created a new business opportunity for our customer, but with a low awareness on the market for their product offering amongst the consumers.
With Strategic Audience Map we helped identify their primary segments and defined them based on income, life stage, where they live, type of accommodation, interests and other attributes.
Leading up to the display campaign we helped the customer optimise their Google Ads (Adwords) to focus on a very specific keyword, very closely linked to their offering and also heavily represented in the content on their website. Making the relevance high and the cost per click low.
At the start of the Search campaign there were very few or no competitors for the specific search word.
Once we had positioned the customers search campaign to catching the specific intent and interest through Google Ads we wanted to raise awareness and get more relevant consumers to be aware of the offering and try to push them to investigate the brand website and the offer, either through direct interaction with the banners or by “Googling”.
Marketing
We launched LinkedIn and Facebook advertising in September for branding and awareness purposes. In November we also launched a Display campaign targeting the consumer attributes we identified through our service Strategic Audience Map.
We used Google Keyword Planner to evaluate how many searched for the specific keywords over time in order to track and identify changes, besides the campaign performance.
Result
In March 2020 there was a legislation change and news regarding this that temporarily increased the number of related searches for the keyword, but then it dropped off and fell out of the consciousness of the consumers.
The launch of LinkedIn and Facebook had a slight increase in number of searches in October but no higher than fluctuations during the year when no branding campaigns were run. We used Lookalikes through Facebook and on LinkedIn we created an audience based on likely work positions, seniority and demographics of the desired consumer segment.
The big difference happened when we deployed our targeted Display campaign in November. Knowing which consumer segment was most relevant to our customer, and knowing what characterised them, made the match between ad message, audience and offering very good. We ensured to include the relevant keyword in all ad copy. This strategy increased the number of Google searches by 50% every month for the duration of the display campaign.
Comparing the average in 2020 before November, with the display campaign period, we can see that the increase in number of searches for the keyword was over 70% for the display campaign period.
Disclaimer
There may be a delayed effect from the Facebook and LinkedIn campaigns that influenced the result and number of searches in November-December, but we deem this effect to be limited as searches likely happen fairly close to the exposure.
Summary
We consider the effect of the display campaign to be clearly demonstrated. The number of Google searches increased significantly for the period of the display campaign, with other factors being equal.
The effect becomes even more apparent if we disregard the publicity effect at the start of the year.
We think that the data used to target the Display campaign is very relevant for the effect. We used data based on the consumers and visitors our customer have a relationship with. The target audience was matched with the right ad copy and exposed to the relevant keyword that we wanted the prospects to keep top of mind when Googling. And the advertiser had positioned their Google Ads campaign to catch the search increase.
We know that the Display campaign targeted the right audience since the targeting data was the same as the data used for the consumer analysis. This ensures that the the reach of the campaign is targeting the “right” consumers, but also that we are driving the right consumers to Google the product and offering of our customer. Making the potential in the newly acquired consumers higher.
