My Reflections on PPC Camp 2024

Each year, the PPC Camp event takes place in the Czech Republic and gathers PPC specialists and marketers from Czech and Slovakia for a series of insightful lectures and discussions. And since I found this event particularly enriching, here's my takeaway.

My Personal Insights and Learnings

1. Staying Updated

Even though I now operate from a CEO's standpoint, my foundation is deeply rooted in PPC. I believe it's crucial to remain up-to-date and continue learning about the field. Interacting with these professionals provided an opportunity to refresh my knowledge and stay connected with the latest trends and strategies in PPC.

2. Understanding Current Challenges

Being among the community of PPC specialists again allowed me to see firsthand the issues they face, their working methods, and their exceptional skills. This insight is invaluable for my company, as we exist primarily to support these professionals. Observing their challenges helps us tailor our solutions more effectively, ensuring we address their most pressing needs.

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3. Emphasis on B2B Topics

There has been a noticeable increase in discussions around B2B topics at this year's PPC Camp. This is particularly relevant for my company as we manage B2B campaigns for ourselves (Dotidot ). PPC in the B2B sector is complex, and it's encouraging to see this area gaining more attention in the Czech and Slovak markets. These insights will undoubtedly help refine our approaches and strategies for B2B campaigns.

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All these points need to reflect my gratefulness to uLab , Markéta Kabátová , Petr Bure? and their whole team. Thank you for this event guys and for the opportunity to be part of it! It helps me in so many ways!

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Highlights from PPC Specialists

PMax Structure and Challenges

Discussions around Google's PMax campaigns underscored their dominance over high-priority shopping and dynamic remarketing campaigns. Every PPC specialist has tried his own way of segmenting the Performance Max campaign or what strategy can bring the best results.

There was considerable discussion about the various popular scripts for PMax, which are currently trending within this campaign type. However, it is evident that different strategies work for different e-shops, and no one can definitively say which is the best strategy. Some results indicate that using scripts for Zombie products or top products is not necessarily the solution for these Campaigns (at least if you expect increased revenue). On the other site, Margin labels and segmentation are still the key if you optimize your campaigns for profit.

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My Personal TIP (1): Scripts are fantastic, and segmenting products into different campaigns is awesome for understanding how things work. But if you are trying to find the best-performing way of these campaigns, my personal advice right now is to split the Pmax campaign only when you have gathered all the necessary information about the e-shop or client's detailed goals and reasons behind that. And I don’t mean to know just some general ROI – you need to go further than that.? Do you know why certain product groups need to deliver different results in terms of ROI or ROAS? In such cases, it is essential to separate them into different campaigns to push the system towards the desired results.

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My Personal TIP (2): For e-commerce, creating multiple asset groups within PMax campaigns does not make sense because 95% of the spend will be taken by shopping placements where creatives are irrelevant. Moreover, signals only work at the beginning of the campaign as guidance for the algorithm, but over time, Google disregards these signals, rendering segmentation useless.

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Product filtering and feed optimization + classic search

I absolutely love this product-wise topic! It's one of my core philosophies, and I believe it aligns perfectly with our Dotidot tool for enhancing performance marketing. When I talk about this subject, I often refer to it as the "Outside Campaign Approach." In today's landscape, the focus should be more on what products are being fed into the campaigns and why, rather than solely on campaign optimization, as modern campaigns are already quite intelligent. So it is more about selecting the products that go into these campaigns and understanding the reasons behind these choices.

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Effective product selection must align with a well-defined strategy. The emphasis should be on optimizing the attributes within the product feed to ensure clarity and appeal in advertisements. This involves several key steps:

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-> Editing and Enhancing Product Titles: Clear and compelling product titles are crucial. They should accurately reflect the product and capture the audience's attention.

-> Product descriptions: Investing time in creating detailed, persuasive descriptions can significantly impact ad performance.

-> Supplementary Information: Providing additional information based on goals and strategy is essential. This includes:

• Margin: Understanding the profit margins of products helps prioritize which items to push in campaigns.
• Price Competitiveness: Comparing product prices with competitors to ensure they are competitive.
• Current ROAS: Keeping track of the Return on Ad Spend at the product level.
• Turnover and Inventory Levels: Monitoring how quickly products sell and their stock levels to manage supply effectively.

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There is a substantial amount of work involved in this process, but it is incredibly rewarding. Optimizing these elements ensures that the campaigns are not only smart but also highly targeted and effective, reflecting the strategic goals of the business. By focusing on these aspects, we can drive better results and make the most out of performance marketing efforts.

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There's a lot of work involved, but that's where the fun is! This approach ensures that the products selected for campaigns not only align with strategic goals but also perform optimally in the competitive landscape of digital marketing.

On the other side, we need to think about proper evaluation of our campaigns. Precise measurement is becoming harder and harder, and the focus is now often on the direct performance of campaigns. The truth is that PMax or Shopping campaigns will, in the e-commerce industry, always (or at least for now) deliver better results than classic search campaigns on Google. That is why I also loved the session where the performance of these classic search campaigns was discussed.

With predictive conversion tracking (understood as the situation when machine learning evaluates each visit's value – how likely this user is to buy something in the future), some numbers showcased that even though there is usually lower ROAS from a last-click perspective, it is still an important source of customers and should not be underestimated.

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Social Ads on Meta

Understanding the different types of social proof and the importance of genuine community engagement were key takeaways. The need to track and analyze engagement quality to avoid inflated metrics from fake profiles was a critical insight for effective community building.

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One of the recurring challenges in social advertising on Meta is account security. Many advertisers have faced issues such as hacked accounts, blocked ad accounts, or persistent spam messages threatening account closure. Here are some best practices to mitigate these risks:

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• Regularly check the origin of messages and emails regarding your account. Suspicious email addresses can often reveal potential scams.
• Use strong passwords and change them every 6 months.
• If your account gets hacked, do not panic. Immediately remove any unauthorized users from your Business Manager.

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Creative content is crucial in Meta ads, particularly videos. Video content tends to perform better, and showcasing "hero" products can capture the audience's attention effectively. It’s not necessary to advertise every product; focus on the key ones. Testing, evaluating, and adjusting your creatives are essential steps to ensure the best performance.

Pinterest Ads: An Alternative to Facebook for Last Click

The session on Pinterest Ads highlighted the platform's strengths, especially its predominantly female user base and the effectiveness of using English keywords. For industries like weddings, fashion, design, stationery, and art, Pinterest proves to be a valuable channel. The advice to repurpose Facebook creatives for Pinterest and the emphasis on non-intrusive ad formats were particularly noteworthy.

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Lead Ads Optimization

The talk on optimizing lead ads shared valuable tips on using conditional logic in Meta's forms to filter leads and enhance the quality of leads generated. Integrating these forms with automated email and SMS workflows ensures higher engagement and follow-up rates.

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Also choosing the right platform for lead generation (LinkedIn or Meta) depends on the target audience and budget. The question asked was whether a landing page or an instant form would be more effective based on the campaign's objectives and the customer's decision-making process.

• ?If a website does not convert well, an instant form is preferable. For longer customer decision processes where only contact information is needed initially, an instant form is also better.
• When choosing between a landing page or a form on LinkedIn, it’s essential to consider if the landing page will make a significant difference. Will it really help substantially?
• A landing page is beneficial when offering demos or trials or when there is a need to convey more information and build trust.

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Conclusion

PPC Camp 2024 was a treasure trove of knowledge, networking, and inspiration. While I couldn't cover all the fascinating topics here, I hope the insights shared provide valuable information. The other sessions were equally compelling and offered a wealth of useful content. I hope that Dotidot can be part of it again next year.

Need more? Find all .ppt (in the Czech language) here: uLab blog .