PPC / SEM / AdWords Archives - Pam Ann Marketing

Can/Should We Bid On Our Competitors’ Names in AdWords?

We often get asked if it is possible and/or recommended to bid on competitor company and brand names in an SEM campaign. Here are some pros and cons to consider:

Google does not permit the use of registered trademarks in ad copy unless you are the trademark owner or an authorized reseller. This does not stop you from bidding on competitors’ company and brand names as keywords, but it does mean you can’t use those terms in the ad copy itself.
Just because you can bid on terms that are the intellectual property of others doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to do so. Even though your keyword bids will be approved in the AdWords system (as long as the protected terms are not in the ad copy), this does not stop your competitors from suing you directly for using their protected terminology as a component in your marketing campaign. Lawsuits of this type have had varying degrees of success, but even the most baseless of lawsuits can be costly to defend yourself in, so this is a strong point to consider.
Even if your competitors don’t sue you for bidding on their company and brand names, doing so may start a bidding war. THEY may start bidding on YOUR name and brand terms when they might not have thought to do so before.
And even if you can manage to avoid lawsuits and bidding wars, bidding on competitor terms that cannot be used in ad copy nearly guarantees a low quality score, which means you will pay more on a per-click basis than other bidders for that keyword that have permission to use the terms in their ad copy. And users searching for competitor terms are usually pretty set on using those competitors and not your brand, so you could also suffer from a high bounce rate on these pricey clicks. There are probably way more cost-effective keywords that your money could be put towards instead.
Therefore, we typically don’t recommend this approach to SEM. We have seen some unique cases where it works well, but for most advertisers, this is not a cost-effective or highly converting approach, and it is certainly a risky one.

FAQ: How Much Do I Need to Spend on a Paid Search (AdWords) Campaign?

Since not every click will become a customer, it is important to cast a wide net and assume that only anywhere from 0.5% to 2% of your clicks will convert to a lead (which isn’t even a guarantee to become a paying customer). We have seen sites and campaigns with a better than 2% conversion rate, but it’s good to be conservative in these estimates and assume that we can’t guarantee above-average performance (not that we won’t aim for that!) So we use the assumption that anywhere from 0.5% to 2% of clicks will convert to leads.

Also, since every click will have a cost, and that cost will vary from business to business, it’s important to look at what the average CPC (cost per click) will be for that company’s terms. That will determine the minimum monthly budget.

For example, if the cost per click for Client A’s terms is $2 per click, on a $500 per month budget, they could get about 250 clicks per month, which could mean anywhere from 1 to 5 leads. That might be perfectly acceptable to some businesses.

But if Client B has keywords that cost $30 per click, on a $500 per month budget, they will only get about 16 or 17 clicks, and 0.5% to 2% of that equals zero leads. That’s obviously not acceptable! This client would need to have a bigger monthly budget and more of an appetite for a higher cost-per-lead.

So we take everything on a case-by-case basis and make recommendations based upon what each client’s average CPC is estimated to look like.

Case Study: Dermatologist with Four Individual Locations Drives Massive Influx of Leads Using Google AdWords

Pam Ann Marketing was hired to professionally manage AdWords for a dermatologist practice with four individual office locations along the entire east coast. With no historical account content to audit and improve upon, we conducted extensive keyword and market research to identify the optimal strategy for generating results. This research, coupled with general practice information and dermatology insights from the client, enabled us to construct AdWords content for all locations.

Once conversion tracking was implemented to measure inbound leads, we established our first full month’s baseline performance as follows:

Total cost – $10,706.69
Average cost-per-click – $4.88
Total website clicks from ads – 2193
Total conversions (leads) – 162
Average cost-per-conversion – $66.09
Conversion rate – 7.39%

Through our standard routine of professional account management and optimization process, we identified month one trending and applied that knowledge to the improvement of the account. After two more full months of account management, we closed month three with the following results:

Total cost – $10715.42
Average cost-per-click – $4.47
Total website clicks from ads – 2399
Total conversions (leads) – 256
Average cost-per-conversion – $41.86
Conversion rate – 10.67%

Despite total account spend remaining relatively constant (only $8.73 variance), and CPC decreasing by a small factor of $0.41, clicks actually increased by 9.39%. This jump in ad clicks can be attributed to our refinement of the ad targeting and optimizing the ads to show to the exact right audience.

By evaluating the three month change in conversion data, we can see that there was an exponential increase in click conversions when compared to extra volume of clicks. A 9.39% increase in clicks generated a 58.02% increase in conversions, and cost-per-conversion efficiency improved 36.66%. After three full months, the client was spending the same monthly budget to generate 58% more leads.

By measuring the pacing of the conversions and conversion efficiency throughout the following months, in conjunction with refining the quality of website clicks, we continued to provide hundreds of inbound leads to the four dermatology offices through our management of the AdWords account.

Case Study: International Manufacturer has an 89% Increase in Conversions After Just One Month of PPC Management

Prior to our account management, this account was managed and optimized by a hybrid effort comprised of 1. A different agency and 2. An in-house specialist under the consultation of Google AdWords representatives.

After conducting an extensive audit of historical account performance, coupled with website product research, we built brand new AdWords campaigns centralized around the company brand and its core specializations. By utilizing match-specific keyword types, aggressive negative keyword lists, and tested ad copy concepts, we were able to generate high keyword quality scores and positive user experience.

The manufacturer saw the following results after one full month of account management and optimization:

89% increase in month-over-month conversions (from 35 to 66 total conversions).
A $9.33 decrease in cost per conversion, which represents a 28% increase in conversion cost efficiency.
3.23% increase in click conversion rate, indicating a significantly higher quality website visitor and positive improvement to overall user experience.

The client is a firm believer in long term commitments to drive results, and has expressed a desire to increase advertising spend as the ads continue to generate positive ROI.

Case Study: Global E-Commerce Store Spends Less, Earns More

We were hired to overhaul an e-commerce account that the owners were managing internally since 2002. We started with a strategy meeting to identify highest volume and highest margin product segments, and then conducted a full-scale audit of the existing AdWords account to pinpoint strategy for imperative optimizations.

Our initial objectives:

Eliminate wasteful spending on non-converting content.
Aggressive segmentation of existing campaign content starting with the discussed products and branching out over time.
Improve user experience and e-commerce conversion rates through use of granular and segmented account structure, product specific landing pages, and dynamic search ads.

By applying that strategy and re-launching content, we produced the following month-over-month results after just two months of professional account management.

Month One -> Month Two:

Despite a $0.07 higher cost-per-click, total monthly advertising cost decreased by almost 30% and the e-commerce metrics all improved substantially. In this case, because of the large increase in revenue, a decrease in website clicks is not of concern as this is a classic example of quality over quantity with reference to website traffic.

Highlights include a 66.13% increase in total sales transactions, 118.71% increase in e-commerce conversion rate, and a whopping 133.70% increase in transaction revenue. The client spent $2699.38 LESS, yet had $8992.09 MORE in sales. This represents a 231% increase in e-commerce revenue/transaction value.

Month Two -> Month Three

In the second month of management, the same trending of less clicks and higher cost-per-click continues, along with even more improvement in e-commerce performance. By refining the account even more in month two, we were able to eliminate more waste and drive even more sales for less cost. Significant month three improvement include a 336.48% jump in e-commerce transaction rate and a $5948.17 increase in revenue despite spending $146.24 less in ads.

Since project launch, the client has spent 45.33% less, yet has a 222.14% increase in revenue.

The client is exceptionally pleased with early results and is eager to continue working with Pam Ann Marketing to drive more of the same actions long-term.

Presentation: Intro to PPC / SEM (Google AdWords)

Intro to PPC / SEM (Google AdWords) from Pam Ann Marketing