Welcome to Cultivative’s weekly roundup for all things PPC from around the web—everything you need to know right now about PPC!
At Cultivative, we’re all about making your life easier. We’ve gathered the top PPC news and innovations from around the web and getting it into your hands. Check out what we found this past week.
Facebook Ads Holiday Checklist [2020]
By Aaron Childs | Sep 29, 2020
The holiday season is a very competitive time on marketing platforms like Facebook and Instagram because the influx of advertisers generally makes it more expensive to advertise. If you aren’t careful, you could waste your ad budget. Aaron Childs offers a few tips on what you can do to prepare and set yourself up for success now, including:
- Simplify Your Account Structure
- Placement Liquidity – Use At Least 4 Placements
- Budget Liquidity – Use The Campaign Budget Optimization Setting
- Creative Liquidity – Make At Least 2 Ads Per Ad Set
- Audience Liquidity – Go Broader
- Understand the Learning Phase
- Wrap Up Major Testing Before Q4
- Allow For Additional Ad Approval Time
Experts Share Paid Social Predictions for 2021
By Tara Johnson | Sep 29, 2020
Recent events in 2020 forced advertisers to evaluate current media plans and adjust to a new reality. Tara Johnson reports that “According to reports, there’s been a +129% year-over-year growth in U.S. & Canadian e-commerce orders and an +146% growth in all online retail orders.” Tinuiti asked leading industry experts what trends they predict will shape Paid Social in the near future and features their responses.
How to Plan a Sustainable B2B Media Strategy in a Recession
By Ben Wood | Sep 30, 2020
The most successful companies to come out of recession prioritize and execute the right marketing strategies. Ben Wood contends, “Marketing through a recession – and more specifically media planning through a recession – will require knowing which channels and activities are delivering the best returns and making those activities the priority.” Wood examines how B2B brands should adapt their media strategies and manage their budgets during a recession.
The 17 Best Display Ads of 2020 (And Why They Work)
By Brad Smith | Sep 30, 2020
While Display Ads have value for brand awareness, their click-through rates (CTRs) are, on average, a fraction of search ad CTRs. For that reason, creative and ad copy needs to be compelling, but that can be tremendously challenging for even the best marketers! Brad Smith compiled some of the best display ads he’s seen so far in 2020 to inspire your next campaign, breaking down exactly how and why they work.
How to Use Competitor Insights to Get Ahead in PPC
By Michelle Morgan | Sep 30, 2020
By conducting competitor research on different paid media platforms, you can: Learn what your competitors are up to, find out where you can compete, and assess where you should concede to save your ad spend. Michelle Morgan looks at a number of tools you can use to gain insights on your competitors across these platforms and discuss what potential takeaways you should be looking for:
1. Search Keywords
2. Search Ad Copy
3. Landing Pages
Google Makes Shopping Ads Free Worldwide
By Matt Southern | Oct 1, 2020
Google is expanding free shopping ads to more countries starting in mid-October following the U.S.’s rollout earlier this year due to the financial crisis caused by the pandemic. Retailers will soon run free listings in the Shopping tab across Europe, Asia, and Latin America. According to Google, the rollout of free shopping listings in the U.S. significantly increased engagement between customers and merchants.
5 Ways to Improve Your Lead Gen Campaigns Throughout the Funnel
By Amy Bishop | Oct 1, 2020
Lead gen advertisers face the struggle of posting strong on-site KPIs and balancing quantity with the quality of the leads delivered. Amy Bishop explains the five steps you need to take to improve your lead generation while also keeping sight of and improving funnel conversion thereafter. The five steps include:
1. Take It from the Top
2. If You’ve Got Content, Flaunt It
3. Don’t Forget the Middle of the Funnel
4. Get the Most Out of First & Third-Party Audiences
5. Track Everything & Monitor Lead Quality
Developing a PPC Analyst Mindset
By Chadd Powell | Oct 1, 2020
Being a PPC analyst means being in a state of constant learning and adaptation. “You are often asked to solve a wide variety of problems from technical troubleshooting to complex data analysis. The skills and abilities to meet these needs are varied and you often don’t possess everything you need to solve the problem immediately. This can lead to frustration,” writes Chadd Powell as he describes his challenges around the mental frustrations that come with his job. In this article, Powell offers advice for creating the right mindset to handle PPC’s mental agility.
We hope you learned something new you can apply to your PPC business strategy. Let us know in the comments below what you want to start implementing. As always, we are happy to be a resource for your paid advertising needs. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
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