A Simple Guide to the Most Effective Google Ads Strategy I’ve Seen

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to announce Trafiki Digital Marketing 's resident PPC guru Tom Barlow has taken over this week's edition of "Marketing with Meaning".

Why?

Because he’s about to break down how to run a successful eCommerce ad campaign in a way that I would never be able to.

Take it away, Tom!

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The online business landscape is rapidly expanding.

Yet amidst this expansion, your most precious resource remains unchanged:

Time.

For this reason, I want to share a concise eCommerce strategy that will stretch your marketing budget as far as possible.

So, let’s dive straight in!

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An Introduction to Performance Max

At the heart of modern advertising lies Performance Max.

Leveraging the internet's extensive reach to help you reach a wider audience, Performance Max is Google's powerful advertising solution.

In my experience, it's particularly effective for eCommerce brands.

It has three main features:

1. Unified Campaign Type: Combines features from Google's various other campaign types (like Search, Display, Video, etc.) into one.
2. Goal-driven: Helps advertisers achieve specific conversion goals, whether that's sales, leads, or online engagement.
3. Automated Bidding: Uses Google's machine learning to automatically set bids for each auction, optimising for the campaign's set goal.

It's like having a digital salesperson working 24/7 to grow your business.

However, like any employee, it needs a clear plan for success.

The alternative is to throw all of the work at the poor fellow at once and watch them struggle.

This is exactly what Google does when you DON'T segment your Performance Max campaigns.

Regrettably, numerous brands commit this mistake, incurring substantial costs through reckless overspending.

Our Recent Results

First of all, let me show you what happens when you DO carefully manage your Performance Max campaigns.

These are the results from an eCommerce brand that has recently come under our wing:

Monthly performance before PMax segmentation

→ ROI = ￡3.37

→ Revenue = ￡53,843.48

→ Sales = 100

Monthly performance after PMax segmentation

→ ROI = ￡8.50

→ Revenue = ￡136,114

→ Sales = 186

[Feel free to reach out to me or Kieran for more details on this!]

Impressive, right?

The great news for you is that I’m feeling kind enough to share how I managed to do it.

Hint: the key is campaign segmentation.

My Guide to Campaign Segmentation

Segment your campaigns into:

1. Products with high priority
2. Products with high ROI (<￡4)
3. Products with average ROI (￡2 - ￡3.99)
4. Products with low ROI (￡1 - ￡1.99)
5. Products with 0 impressions (ghost products)

Points 2-5 are fairly self-explanatory.

Review historical product data reports and segment the product IDs that match each point.

Point 1 is where it gets interesting.

You may wish to push certain products regardless of ROI.

For reasons such as…

• Profit margins
• Inventory clearance
• Seasonal demand
• Promotions
• Strategic goals

Like any marketing strategy, your ad campaign must align with your overall business goals.

That also means following three simple rules…

1. Apply bespoke budgets to each campaign to maximise your results.
2. Pull spend away from what doesn’t work and push it to what does work.
3. Apply bespoke bid adjustments to each campaign for optimal visibility.

This will ensure your top products consistently receive the most budget.

Let data guide your strategy.

And squeeze the most possible revenue out of your marketing budget.

Well everyone, that was Tom Barlow .

Go follow him on LinkedIn. He posts daily, super informative PPC-centric content that brands can a lot from.

I'm talking about content that actually helps brands grow, not sales-y nonsense.

Meanwhile, if anything has piqued your interest in this newsletter, leave a comment – don’t be shy!?

Alternatively, if you’d rather discuss anything directly with me and/or Tom, reach out to us on LinkedIn or book a 30-minute consultation!