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.
Have You Heard About Hulu’s New Self-Serve Ads?
By Andrea Taylor | Jul 22, 2020

Hulu recently announced plans for a self-service ad platform called Hulu Ad Manager. Advertisers will be able to run streaming television ads all on their own for a minimum spend of $500, which is significantly less than other television advertising options. Applications will be reviewed and approved for advertisers who are a good fit for the Beta. Hulu’s documentation says that gender, age, location, interest, and content (genre) targeting is available. It’s great that they could roll this option out at a time that so many people are spending an increased amount of time in front of their televisions.
The Makeup Of An Effective PPC Report
By Margaret Hoffman | Jul 22, 2020

If you do PPC, there’s a good chance you look at reports all day long. “A good report allows you to aggregate all of the important data, visualize performance in an easily digestible way, and draw insights that help you determine your strategy based on this information… If a good report tells you what your next steps are, a bad report can leave you completely confused, or worse – lead you to make the wrong decisions,” explains Margaret Hoffman. Understand the audience the KPIs and data is meant to be communicated to and build your reports around that as a starting point. Once you know what KPIs are important to report on, your report should be Flexible, Easy-to-Read, and Automated.
Buy on Google is now open and commission-free
By Bill Ready | Jul 23, 2020

Google announced that sellers who participate in Buy on Google checkout experience would no longer have to pay a commission fee. The aim is to provide all businesses—from small stores to national chains and online marketplaces—to connect with customers, regardless of where a purchase eventually occurs. By removing commission fees, they’re lowering the cost of doing business and making it even easier for retailers of all sizes to sell directly on Google.
How to Use Personalized Video Marketing to Increase Your Engagement
By Brad Smith | Jul 23, 2020

With more people spending more time online every day, you’re going to want to leverage personalized video marketing to complete your digital marketing strategies. Personalized video marketing is when companies use data to market a video towards a specific customer or group of customers. Personalized video marketing is a fantastic tool because it marries two popular strategies: personalized marketing and your overall video marketing strategy. Here are some ways you can use personalized video marketing strategies for your business:
1. Event invites
2. Explainer videos
3. Case study videos
4. “Thank you” videos
5. Facebook ads
6. Email marketing campaigns
How To Increase Facebook Traffic Without Sacrificing Revenue
By Aaron Childs | Jul 23, 2020

Aaron Childs examines how to increase Facebook ad traffic without sacrificing revenue. He suggests starting with an element that should be used on prospecting/upper funnel audiences, something to optimize your conversion campaigns for that lies in between a click and your end goal. Think through your potential customer’s path to conversion. See if you can find something to turn into a “soft conversion” which you can optimize towards. That conversion should always be a valuable action that you would want to remarket to.
5 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Reach
By Samuel Larson July 24th, 2020

As Samuel Larson explains, “Increasing the reach of your Facebook campaigns can be challenging due to a variety of factors outside of your control as a digital marketer, such as spending more money, changing your end goal, or altering the Facebook algorithm.” He recommends:
- Expanding Audiences
- Auto-Placement
- Reducing Text in Images
- Creating Relevant Ads
- Include High Funnel Activity in Your Ad Mix
How to Get Started with PPC Automation in 7 Steps
Elizaveta ShutovaJuly 24, 2020

The use of PPC automation tools allows marketers to leverage valuable data, advanced technology, and AI and machine learning to drive more sales. Elizaveta Shutova provides an excellent guide to understanding and getting started with automating your PPC process. She recommends getting started with these steps:
1. Explore the Variety of Automation Options: Google, Microsoft, & More
2. Set the Right PPC Objectives For Your Business Goals
3. Establish Trustworthy, Reliable Conversions
4. Consider Smart Campaigns
5. Try Automation in Ad Copy and Creatives
6. Optimize Your Campaign With Automated Bidding Strategies
- Maximize Clicks
- Maximize Conversions
- Target CPA
7. Allot Time to Gather Data
CPM vs. eCPM vs. RPM: What’s the Difference?
By Susan Wenograd | Jul 27, 2020

Confused about CPM, RPM, and eCPM? Susan Wenograd breaks down what these acronyms mean, where they fit into the paid media ecosystem, and how they are calculated. One thing to keep in mind with media money is there are two parties involved: The advertiser who is making the media purchase, and the publishers, which are the websites actually showing the ads.
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.