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.
How to Apply User Journey Mapping to PPC Advertising
By Pam Neely | May 1, 2019

Are you applying the customer journey to your PPC campaigns? If you want to be showing the most relevant ads to where your customers are at in the buying cycle, this is an excellent strategy to use. Pam Neely walks us through how to apply your customer journey maps to your PPC campaigns. First, using your PPC account’s top 100 keywords, break those keywords into four groups: Top of Funnel, Middle of Funnel, Bottom of Funnel, and Retention. Then, you’ll want to segment your messages by creating a spreadsheet that lets you list out each keyword and its user journey phase, PPC ads, and landing page/s. These steps will help keep your messaging relevant.
Visual Search – Could It Be The Next Big Thing?
By Kamlyn Spivey | May 1, 2019

Speculating on the next big trend in PPC advertising, Kamlyn Spivey makes an argument for Visual Search leading the next new era in PCC and how to prepare for the change. Advances in automation are designed to make search engines more effective and efficient, which visual searches are proving. Google Lens allows users to use photos from their app to search for images, items, and products that are visually similar to their image. Pinterest is also making significant headway with visual automation. While the technology is new and hasn’t hit PPC quite yet, it is undoubtedly on its way. Spivey also offers a few key suggestions to prepare for the emerging visual search trend with your PPC accounts.
Tips to lower brand CPC for greater profitability
By Nicolas Ross and Steven Oleksak | May 1, 2019

One of the biggest challenges SEM faces within the brand space is being able to optimize ad spend as efficiently and effectively as possible for CPC. Nicolas Ross and Steven Oleksak state, “…We believe that minimizing the headroom between the max CPC bid and the average CPC over time will allow these advertisers to ultimately cut the spend levels without the sacrifice of user volume or traffic.” In this article, they share how they tested this theory and the results they garnered.
Learn how to get better returns from Microsoft Ads
By Ronald Dod | May 2, 2019

https://searchengineland.com/learn-how-to-get-better-returns-from-microsoft-ads-316350
Google may be the biggest player in town, but ignoring Microsoft Ads could be costing you lower CPCs and CPAs. Ronald Dod shares his top 5 tips to getting better returns from Microsoft Ads:
1. Import successful AdWords campaigns
2. Utilize new keywords and negative keywords
3. Leverage Microsoft Shopping campaigns
4. Initiate revenue tracking
5. Optimize your budget and bids
Quora Pixel Integration in Google Tag Manager
By Joe Martinez | May 2, 2019

Quora recently announced native integration with Google Tag Manager. Installing the pixel on your website and landing pages is a simpler process now. Joe Martinez shows us step by step how to install the Quora pixel to all of the pages on your site.
What Else Is Affecting Your PPC Advertising?
By Elliot Kemp | May 2, 2019

Elliot Kemp suggests taking a proactive approach with your PPC accounts, meaning that instead of reporting to your clients on your weekly calls what went wrong over the last week or month, consider including some proactive strategy on how to improve. Kemp recommends adding these strategies to your client conversations:
- Seasonality
- Website Functionality and Post-Click Behavior
- Attribution & Sources of Truth
- Competitors
- Closing the Loop
Static reports are dead: Here’s why you need to move to Google Data Studio
By Mark Meyerson | May 3, 2019

Google Data Studio offers free dynamic reporting for you and your clients in real time, shareability and interactivity– there should be no reason why you’re still using static reports. Mark Meyerson shares key reasons for making the switch.
The Guide to Combine Content Marketing with PPC
By Bridgette Hernandez | May 3, 2019

https://www.ppchero.com/the-guide-to-combine-content-marketing-with-ppc/
Combining PPC with the right content marketing strategy can be a powerful tool for your advertising efforts. Bridgette Hernandez guides us through integrating PPC into your content calendar for higher engagement rates and revenue. Her guide includes:
- Segment your Audience
- Create a PPC Plan
- SEO Research is a Must
- High-Quality Content Matters
- Integrate Calls to Action
- Provide a Professional Follow-Up
How to Get More Leads in PPC: 5 Tactics That Work
By Tim Jensen | May 5, 2019

Everybody likes getting new leads out of their PPC campaigns, right? Tim Jensen shares 5 tactics for boosting your results, including:
1. Newsletter Signup
2. Asset Download
3. Webinar Registration
4. Online Assessment
5. Trade Show Promotion
Why set it and forget it doesn’t work with feeds or campaigns
By Brian Roizen | May 7, 2019

The set it and forget it approach does not serve your Google Shopping campaigns or feeds well. It would be best if you were regularly testing and optimizing for relevancy, split testing best practices, ongoing error management, assessing converted search terms, reevaluating custom label usage and strategies, reacting to traffic volume, auditing search terms for negatives, and checking the value of your traffic segments.
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.