The MarCom Strategist: A Free B2B Marketing E-Newsletter

July, 2011
Published by Dianna Huff
Volume 11, Number 5

Welcome!

Is your Google AdWords campaign bleeding cash? Have your conversions gone down over time? This is pretty typical for most businesses and it's because you're making one huge mistake: setting up your account and then forgetting about it.

In this month's article I interviewed Pauline Jakober, a true pay-per-click / Google AdWords expert. Read why you must actively manage your account -- or continue to lose big money.

If you're in the U.S. and reading this before July 4th, have a terrific holiday. Woot!

Regards,

Dianna Huff

Having Trouble Communicating with Distributors and Sales Reps?

The American Marketing Association has data that says sales people spend 30 hours a month creating their own sales materials and that 90% of marketing deliverables aren’t used by sales. It’s been my experience that sales people and distributors have no clue what collateral is available -- especially the collateral that’s available on the corporate Website. Why? Because they have no reason to visit it.

In my latest article for the Content Marketing Institute, A Simple Template for Keeping in Touch with B2B Sales Reps and Distributors, I show how monthly "newsy" emails can keep sales reps and distributors in the loop with regard to new content and marketing strategy.

You can find the full list of my articles on my CMI bio page.

The One Reason Your PPC Campaign Isn't Working

When prospects call about my SEO services, I always ask if they're running a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. Research has proven that SEO and PPC go hand-in-hand as each supports the other in various ways. The response I typically hear is, "We tried PPC but it didn't work. We lost a lot of money and didn't get that many leads."

The reason PPC campaigns fail, says Pauline Jakober, CEO of Group Twenty Seven, a PPC firm based in Massachusetts, is that companies don't actively manage them.

"A business owner or the marketing manager will set up the campaign," says Pauline. "But this person is typically doing five million other things. The campaign is put on autopilot or is simply forgotten. What happens is that the account gets worse and worse - meaning lower quality scores, lower conversions, and higher costs."

Actively manage = Stay on top of it -- every day

Like SEO, PPC is dynamic -- meaning things change all the time. Pauline says that her clients are amazed at how involved managing a PPC campaign can be. "It is overwhelming," says Pauline. "Google gives you a lot of data and they're constantly changing things. If you're crazy busy, you just don't have the time to sit and figure this stuff out."

In addition to frequent changes, the default settings in Google AdWords are set to benefit Google, not the user, something most people don't know. For example, Google recently added a new ad delivery option: you can set your account to rotate ads evenly or you can have Google show the ads most likely to receive the most clicks or conversions.

The default setting is to let Google show ads based on the likely number of conversions -- which benefits Google, not you.

"Letting the system determine when and how to deliver your ads means you'll spend more money," says Pauline. "I want to control my ads and spend. For one client I'm currently rotating the same message with different landing pages to see which one gets the most conversions. [Note: This is known as an A/B split test. In this type of test, you test one variable and leave all others the same.] I wouldn't get this data if I relied on the default setting."

Mobile traffic has skyrocketed

Many people don't know that Google tracks mobile traffic. If you use Google Analytics, you can look in your Visitors/Mobile report to see how many people visited your site using an iPhone, iPad, Android phone or Blackberry. (I track this traffic for my clients on the SEO side and have noticed a real increase in traffic from iPads.)

For some industries and companies, mobile traffic has skyrocketed, and according to Pauline, Google AdWords lets you specifically target this traffic.

"Two years ago," she says, "you had the option to target desktops. Within the last year you could target mobile phones. Now you can target iPads. Why do you want this option? It's because the ads on the iPads and the iPhones look different. And, the way people search using mobile devices is different -- you don't have the long-tail searches, for example. Looking at my clients' data, I can see that search intent and queries are much different for mobile."

Pauline is now isolating high volume and high ROI keywords into their own mobile specific campaigns as you get better bid pricing and control by creating separate mobile campaigns. For one client the top keyword is "tuxedo rentals." She created a mobile specific campaign focusing on this keyword and has seen interesting results.

The mobile spend and desktop spend for the same keyword is different -- as is the ROI. She can now use that data to make informed decisions on how to best move forward and further expose this opportunity.

You can't set and forget

PPC is a constant learning process, says Pauline. You have to stay on top of Google's changes as well as ensure your ads have good quality scores and conversions. In addition, you have to test, test, test: landing page copy and layout, images, ad copy, ad delivery and device usage.

What works for one campaign may not work for another. "I love proving myself wrong," says Pauline. "It's very natural to say, 'That won't work.' But then I do a test and prove that it does work -- for that particular campaign. I often run similar tests for other clients and will learn that what works for one doesn't work for the other. So you have to test -- and you have to analyze the data and make changes based on it, not hunches."

If you have a PPC campaign that's not working for you or is costing you too much money for too little return, give her a call at 781-777-2944 or contact her via her Web form.

I've referred Pauline to two of my clients -- both of whom rave about her as she's increased conversions while reducing ad spend. She's the real deal.

Other places you can find Pauline Jakober:

PPC Blog
LinkedIn
Twitter: @GrpTwentySeven

If You Want Results Like This, Consider Hiring Dianna Huff

After consulting with her and her team on transitioning the Heinrich Report e-newsletter into the Heinrich Report blog, as well as writing weekly posts, Sandi McCann had this to say about my work:

"Dianna is an exceptional content writer and business marketing strategist, especially for the way people research, access and read content today.

"The new marketing landscape, especially SEO, social media and digital marketing, can often seem daunting and difficult to master. Dianna helps break through this obstacle, in a way that's understandable and manageable -- and even fun!

"Here are the top reasons why I recommend Dianna:

Helpful and insightful EVERY day -- Even when her schedule is maxed, she finds the time to deliver what you need, when you need it. With a smile.

Smart marketer with a refreshing curiosity -- In a world where so much changes, so quickly, Dianna continues to expand her marketing savvy and insight.

Collaborative -- Dianna works with you, synergistically, so that the initial project (or idea or storyline) is better with her input and expertise.

Trustworthy -- Publishing online can leave a brand vulnerable if facts are incorrect or an idea isn't carefully and thoughtfully conveyed (not to mention sourced or cross-referenced). This kind of trust and integrity is difficult to find. That's why you need Dianna.

Fun -- Dianna has the ability to find humor and fun, even with the most challenging of projects and situations -- a trait so vitally important in our workloads today. She is truly passionate about what she does.

Delivers on-time and to-the-penny on the budget -- Nothing more to say about that one!"

Sandi McCann
Senior VP
Heinrich Marketing

Thanks, Sandi!

Here's the bottom line: I love what I do. I get to know you and your business and work hard to get results for you. My greatest joy is when a client calls to say, "We're getting leads!" or "Our sales are up thanks in part to your efforts!"

If you want this type of business relationship, give me a call at 603-382-8093. I answer my own phone, too.

Contact Dianna Huff

Telephone: 603-382-8093
Email: info@dhcommunications.com

Want to reprint the main article, "The One Reason Your Pay-Per-Click Campaign Isn't Working"? You may do so as long as you include my bio with the article:

A B2B web marketing expert, Dianna helps B2B companies grow through SEO, marketing writing, and social media. A frequent speaker, Dianna has been quoted in numerous blogs, books, and articles; her client list includes large and small B2B companies across the U.S. Follow her on Twitter @diannahuff. To receive her e-course on creating great B2B marketing content, subscribe to her newsletter, The MarCom Strategist.