Ideas & Opportunities

Valentine’s Day is one of the most popular holidays in the country and Pinoys will often turn to the Internet for inspiration and gift ideas. A look at searches conducted on Google.com.ph shows searches for ‘Valentine’s’ rose, as well as searches for ‘poetry’, ‘flowers’ and ‘rings’. Clearly, Filipinos are looking to sweep their partners off their feet this Valentine's Day.
 

So what can the savvy-business do to reach an audience looking for gift ideas? Why not tap into search advertising and make it easier for a potential customer, to find you, the business that holds the answer to their question -- what to get their loved one for Valentine’s?

Online advertising levels the playing field for all kinds of companies whether big or small.  Even companies that have no brick-and-mortar store can create awareness on their products through online advertising.

Here are a five tips on how to take your company and campaign online whether it’s for Valentine’s, Mother’s day, Father’s day, or couples celebrating their anniversary:

1.    Build a well-structured account. Does your company have different services and products, which all need to be advertised? Categorize your keywords to create tightly themed campaigns called ad groups in AdWords to target different audiences for the different services and products your business offers. Experiment with different keyword groups. Then, evaluate and tweak accordingly.

2.    Reach the right customers using keywords. Identifying the relevant keywords is essential to the success of your campaign. Anticipate your customers’ search behavior and choose ones that are most likely to lead potential customers to your ad. When in doubt, try the Keyword Tool, which provides a information on how many searches a specific keyword gets either locally or globally. Using relevant keywords also mean that your ads will have a better quality score, which will help surface your ad to the most relevant audience.
    

You may also want to use a mix a board match keywords and negative match keywords. Broad match keywords allow your ads to show on similar phrases and relevant variations. For example, if your keyword is ‘sci-fi books’, people who search for ‘sci-fi and fantasy books’ will still see your ads. Or if people are looking for ‘flowers’, they’ll also see ads for ‘roses’ and ‘tulips’. On the other hand, negative match keywords allow you to identify words you don’t want to associate your campaign with. For instance, ‘non-fiction books’ if you only sell fiction.

3.    Create meaningful ads. People click on ads that give them what they’re looking for. To get the best results, your keywords should be directly related to your product and the content of your ads. The better the ads are at giving people what’s they’re looking for, the better the returns for marketers. Not sure which of your ads is the best message? Create a few variations of an ad within an ad group and see how each fares. Google AdWords rotates ads at no additional cost.

4.    Don’t leave them hanging. To increase the likelihood of a sale, make sure the URL in your ad directs people to the specific page within your website that clearly displays the product you offered in your ad. Typical Internet users make quick decision about whether to stay on a website, so don’t leave them guessing.


5.    Analyze, Analyze, Analyze. Monitor your campaign with free web analytics tools. Whether you are looking to generate higher website traffic or increasing online sales, looking at the data can help you better target your campaign. Use conversion-tracking software to determine which keywords are leading to clicks, and which clicks to sales. If something isn’t working, retool and try again.

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