Performance Marketing in Google Ads: How to get started? 

Performance marketing is the process of designing and executing experiments to optimize and improve your marketing results through A/B testing. In a performance marketing strategy, Google Ads is an acquisition channel that is often used.

Why?
Simple. Through smart Google Ads campaigns, you achieve fast, measurable results that impact your company"s bottom line.

The only question is… How do you get started?

How do you start with performance marketing in Google Ads?

If you want to approach your Google Ads account with a performance marketing mindset, there is only one keyword: namely "testing". Fortunately for you, Google announced a new "experiment page" in the Google Ads environment on January 19. This feature has gotten a new look, making it even easier to roll out, manage, and analyze your experiments within Google Ads.

But what can and should you test within your Google Ads account? Here are some tips:
 

Tip #1 : Keywords

An important part – perhaps the most important part of your account – is the composition of your keywords. A healthy performance mindset for this component is therefore certainly indispensable.

From match types to funnel keywords, every part of what a good keyword composition should be can be extensively tested and experimented with. Of course with one concrete objective: achieving the specific marketing objectives you have in mind.
 

Tip #2 : Text ads

In addition to keywords, your text ads are the second most important component of a successful campaign. Often this is one of your first touchpoints with potential customers of your product or service. As a company, you are therefore quickly inclined to maintain control over the message during this contact moment.

With a performance marketing mindset, you turn that way of thinking around. This first touchpoint is precisely the most ideal for seeing which message works for your different target audiences. Which elements of a text ad can you easily turn into an experiment?

• The USPs you use in your headlines and descriptions.
• Your call to action. Test a hard CTA versus a slightly softer CTA.
• Vary your sentiment: neutral versus a positive message. Do you want to emphasize the negative experience the consumer is currently having? Or do you rather approach the positive aspects of your product that solve their problem.
• Highlighting functionalities versus putting benefits in the spotlight. Some target audiences need a more factual message about functionalities while others want to see the benefits emphasized. For example: "4GB memory versus 10,000 songs on your smartphone".

Tip #3 : Bidding strategies

We can divide bidding strategies into two different bidding strategies: a fully automated bidding strategy based on your marketing objectives versus a manual bidding strategy. If you want to experiment with bidding strategy, keep the following things in mind: -> Keep every test for your bidding strategy simple and consistent. Focus on one change when you want to do a bidding strategy test, without wanting to test multivariate adjustments simultaneously. This way you maintain certainty about your statistical significance as the correlation between your adjustments. Keep your focus on one or two KPIs. This way you can better evaluate the results in line with your objectives.

Start with your largest campaign where you are comfortable experimenting. The more historical data and volume a specific campaign has, the more certain you can be about the possible impact of a change in bidding strategy. This list is just a small part of the various experiments possible within your Google Ads account. The above are the most important building blocks for a successful campaign; a thoughtful experiment trajectory can take these to a higher level than you thought.
 

Google Ads as inspiration for other performance experiments

Google Ads generates a lot of data that is not only useful for your Google Ads account. Below we list some things you can extract from your Google Ads campaigns that can be used on multiple touchpoints of your digital strategy.
 

1. Which USPs work?

Through the implementation of your USPs in the headline of your ads, you can quickly get feedback. Which USPs generate the most traction with your audience? If you have clear winners, you can broadly implement these USPs across your entire approach: from landing pages to social campaigns.
 

2. Keyword mining for your SEO and content strategy

If you use a full funnel approach in your Google Ads account, you can use the search terms report as inspiration for two important things. First, for your SEO optimizations. Compare search volumes with your conversion rates and use these as inspiration for the focus keywords of your website and blogs. Keyword research tools have their limitations, especially if you work in a niche B2B market. That"s why the real-time data from your Google Ads campaigns and search terms report can be a good tool to determine your focus keywords. Second, you can get good insight into the search behavior of your target audience. What questions do they have about your product or service? What problems do they experience and want to solve? What alternatives do they consider? Use this info to substantiate your overall content strategy with data that only you have access to.
 

Conclusion

Anyone can set up a Google Ads campaign these days. In a few minutes, you can easily click together your first smart campaign within Google Ads. The big difference lies in the way you build, structure, and manage your campaigns. The above tips are just some of the many possibilities you have to sharpen the focus on performance within your Google Ads account by adopting an experimental performance marketing approach.