MARKETING
3 Connections Between Paid Search and CRO
While being with Hanapin (now Brainlabs!) for five and a half years, I can honestly say that I love my career. Recently, I began a transition between roles within the company going from a Paid Search Account Manager to a CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) Manager. This was brought on by really gaining an understanding of the connection between Paid Search and CRO and wanting to focus more on the CRO side of things after the paid click happens. With that being said, it’s been such a great experience being able to dive into my new role with the knowledge I have gained over the last 5 and a half years.
In this post, I want to walk through three valuable connections between the two roles. They truly go hand-and-hand and when utilizing both, you can have a solid strategy and really make the most of the user experience from the initial search to the time a user completes a purchase or fills out a lead form on your site.
Let’s jump right into it!
Congruency is Key
This has been the most apparent during my transition and something that may be apparent to those who have no experience in CRO or in Paid Search. From the time a user first interacts with your brand (first impression, if you will) to the moment they make the decision to purchase or submit a form, you should be speaking the same language throughout the path. If not, it can quickly lead to confusion, hesitation, and ultimately, users bouncing. Take the following two examples;
Example 1:
Example 2:
In both examples, I’m sure you can decide which user experience makes more sense. The second.
The goal is to ensure that what the user searches for is mimicked in the ad copy and also the landing page. This ensures that the user is met with exactly what they need, eliminating any additional steps.
Audiences Matter
There is also a valuable connection between paid search audiences and CRO. Understanding the audience that’s being sent to a website gives insight into how a site would be best structured and how it should function to meet that audience’s needs. If you have an apartment complex that rents to those who are 65 or older, your site needs to align with that. If a paid search landing page for that apartment complex focuses on workout facilities, party rooms, and transportation to the nearest college, it’s not speaking to the audience. However, if the landing page lists amenities like elevators, a lounge, handicap accessibility, and so forth, you have a better chance of connecting with the audience.
Google Analytics is Everyone’s Friend
When it comes to Google Analytics (GA), there are many insights that can be gained and utilized for both paid search and CRO. Such as;
- Audiences: In GA, we can learn about our audiences. This will help us determine which audiences to optimize toward via paid search but also give us insights into how our landing pages should behave and look. Below you will see in-market segments that are sorted by users. Those who are in-market for “Hotel Accommodations” were the largest in-market audience visiting the site next to “Air Travel”. Therefore, it might make sense to target audiences who are in-market for hotels and air travel via paid search, as opposed to maybe those who are in-market for say, a cruise.
- Technology: GA also has some Technology reports that are useful for both paid search and CRO. Knowing what devices users predominantly use is super helpful for an Account Manager because it can give insights on how to bid based on the device. This is also useful for a CRO Manager because CRO tests can be designed to test a browser in a specific device. For example, if 80% of a brand’s site users utilize iOS, it would not make sense to create a CRO test and focus on the results from Android users.
MARKETING
Trends in Content Localization – Moz
Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.
Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.
Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.
MARKETING
How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy
MARKETING
More promotions and more layoffs
For martech professionals salaries are good and promotions are coming faster, unfortunately, layoffs are coming faster, too. That’s according to the just-released 2024 Martech Salary and Career Survey. Another very unfortunate finding: The median salary of women below the C-suite level is 35% less than what men earn.
The last year saw many different economic trends, some at odds with each other. Although unemployment remained very low overall and the economy grew, some businesses — especially those in technology and media — cut both jobs and spending. Reasons cited for the cuts include during the early years of the pandemic, higher interest rates and corporate greed.
Dig deeper: How to overcome marketing budget cuts and hiring freezes
Be that as it may, for the employed it remains a good time to be a martech professional. Salaries remain lucrative compared to many other professions, with an overall median salary of $128,643.
Here are the median salaries by role:
- Senior management $199,653
- Director $157,776
- Manager $99,510
- Staff $89,126
Senior managers make more than twice what staff make. Directors and up had a $163,395 median salary compared to manager/staff roles, where the median was $94,818.
One-third of those surveyed said they were promoted in the last 12 months, a finding that was nearly equal among director+ (32%) and managers and staff (30%).
Extend the time frame to two years, and nearly three-quarters of director+ respondents say they received a promotion, while the same can be said for two-thirds of manager and staff respondents.
Dig deeper: Skills-based hiring for modern marketing teams
Employee turnover
In 2023, we asked survey respondents if they noticed an increase in employee churn and whether they would classify that churn as a “moderate” or “significant” increase. For 2024, given the attention on cost reductions and layoffs, we asked if the churn they witnessed was “voluntary” (e.g., people leaving for another role) or “involuntary” (e.g., a layoff or dismissal). More than half of the marketing technology professionals said churn increased in the last year. Nearly one-third classified most of the churn as “involuntary.”
Men and Women
This year, instead of using average salary figures, we used the median figures to lessen the impact of outliers in the salary data. As a result, the gap between salaries for men and women is even more glaring than it was previously.
In last year’s report, men earned an average of 24% more than women. This year the median salary of men is 35% more than the median salary of women. That is until you get to the upper echelons. Women at director and up earned 5% more than men.
Methodology
The 2024 MarTech Salary and Career Survey is a joint project of MarTech.org and chiefmartec.com. We surveyed 305 marketers between December 2023 and February 2024; 297 of those provided salary information. Nearly 63% (191) of respondents live in North America; 16% (50) live in Western Europe. The conclusions in this report are limited to responses from those individuals only. Other regions were excluded due to the limited number of respondents.
Download your copy of the 2024 MarTech Salary and Career Survey here. No registration is required.
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