Top Five Things Performance Marketers Get Wrong

Top five things search and performance marketers get wrong?

We often talk about our wins in marketing but it’s more fun and a better learning opportunity to speak of our failures. Some things we’ve noticed that are clear misses in search marketing.

1)      Set it and forget it.

Google’s automation tools keep getting better. Many folks are tasked with managing performance marketing across a massive number of publishers and campaigns. It’s hard to do so and Google’s tools seem like a great way to take some pressure off your day-to-day task lists. Despite this, automation shouldn’t mean neglect. Google is interested in maximizing the amount you spend on advertising. That doesn’t mean they’re most interested in seeing the most efficient or smartest use of your advertising investment. You need to monitor your Google spend (or any publisher) regularly, even if you’re using automation.

2)      Not using Test and learn.

The best marketers are committed to the principles of “test and learn.” Meaning they constantly have a set of new ideas, techniques, approaches whether creative or algorithmic that they are interested in trying. The trying is not the only thing. The testing is an equally important component. Best in class marketers are constantly running the experiments but doing so in a measurable way. This is most often done with “A/B” or multivariate testing where there is a control group and a test group(s) that can be measured and compared but it can also be done in other ways that we will describe in another article soon. What methods do you use for testing new concepts? How do you budget for testing new concepts? How do you set the KPIs (key performance indicators) you use for testing new concepts? What have been the biggest insights you’ve learned from running tests?

3)      Using search marketing for brand advertising.

There are roughly two types of goals in advertising. The first is “brand advertising” which is meant to build familiarity with your brand and its unique brand promise. The second type is “performance advertising” which is generally tasked with driving a certain action such as sign-ups, phone calls or purchases. Often times marketers invest the wrong purpose in their campaigns or they have mixed KPIs in their campaigns. They want to see brand familiarity improve AND they want people to enroll in their subscription product. I don’t think this is often a successful approach. In my experience brand and performance marketing goals are distinct and require distinct pieces of creative, calls to action, KPIs and approaches. Too often I have seen marketers conflate these goals to economize or because they are trying to make too many people happy at work or because sometime they just don’t understand what they’re doing. Don’t do this. Pick a lane. Fortunately, search marketing is called a form of “performance marketing” because its purposes are clear. That said, Google sometimes appeals to marketers to invest in search as a brand channel and increasingly their publishing tools, by encouraging marketers to spread their budget across the entire Google ecosystem (meaning Search, display advertising and YouTube) seems to be encouraging confusion (and the subsequent poor results) that go along with this confused approach.

4)      Focused too much (or too little) on competitors.

Competitors may be very aggressive in the same search space you’re investing in. They may blindly bid on your brand terms, create uneconomic bidding dynamics on common search terms and even use less-than-credible creative, landing pages or content to “win.” This can be incredibly frustrating to someone who is trying to run marketing in a rational, data-driven manner. So what to do? The short answer is “it depends.” I have discussed this with many marketers and some of them have had great results with a strategy that is best described as “scorched earth.” You bid on my branded terms, I will bid on yours. You behalf irrationally, well two can play that game. That’s great for some folks, if you can afford to do so. Do you have the patience, the staying power and the stomach for such a response? Have you thought through unforeseen consequences? Like attracting more retribution in other publishers or on more search terms, or attracting more unprofitable customers? I would highly recommend spending time thinking about the range of impacts an approach like “scorched earth” can have. I would also recommend thinking about a retreat and regroup strategy that sets strict ROAS standards for you regardless of competitive behavior. Finally, I would also recommend entertaining a different strategy for your branded terms than generic. Branded terms have value above and beyond the value of generic terms. They attract searchers who already are looking for you and who already may be your customer. You have a quality score advantage in your bidding and staying in the auction, even if its more expensive for you, will ultimately cost your competitors more than it costs you. What competitive experiences have you had in Search or in other advertising? What did you learn and how did you adjust accordingly? Share below!

5)      Focusing too little on competitors.

Many marketers don’t look at their competitors. They look at their own results. The rationale is solid on its face. Why do I care what the other company is doing when I have no visibility into their return on investment or even if they measure it? While it is true that trying to evaluate the marketing techniques of others with imperfect information can lead to difficulty in reaching conclusions or even incorrect conclusions, it still make sense to pay attention. First, you can learn things about the market you may not have recognized on your own. Are there new keywords that they are building pages (and bidding on?). Are there new products or bundles they are introducing to meet a market need or to differentiate themselves? What are they putting in their creative? These are all questions worth asking even if your objective is to zig when the other company zags.