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Top Practices to Promote Your Business Using PPC

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Top Practices to Promote Your Business Using PPC

Are you getting low-quality traffic through your PPC campaigns? 

Are fraud clicks draining your revenue from the PPC?

Is your return on investment on PPC not as expected? 

Even though PPC advertising is an integral part of an effective marketing strategy, poor tactics can burn your ad budget and, thus, negatively affect your PPC results. 

PPC has been around for more than 20 years, and marketers spend almost 80% of their ad spend on PPC campaigns. Knowing the importance and cost-effectiveness of PPC campaigns, it is essential to strategize your PPC campaigns to elevate your business’ growth instead of hindering it. 

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If you want to grow your business and predict the best ROI on your ad spend, then improving your PPC strategy is the first step, and you are in the right place! 

This article will discuss 15 strategies to improve your PPC campaign for the best ROI on every dollar you spend. 

Let’s dive in!

1. Choose the Right Platforms to Advertise

When we talk about PPC Ads, the first thing that comes into our minds is Google Ads. With Google Ads, you can reach millions of people, which can be your potential customers. 

But, with this perk, it doesn’t mean that you should limit your advertising strategy to Google ads only. You can run ads on various social media platforms that will help you build your brand awareness, customer loyalty and boost sales. 

However, the decision of choosing the platform will depend on your target audience and goals. Therefore you must do your research on the ad networks available before including them in your strategy. 

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There are dozens of online spaces where you can use your advertising spend, but the best way to assess the effectiveness of any platform for your business is to look at the ROI on each platform. 

Some of the popular platforms for PPC advertising are as follows: 

  • Google Ads: Google Adwords enables you to reach 90% of the internet users with Google display and responsive ads. You can target your audiences on the basis of what they are searching or can target them with your products when they are searching about the options on another website through display ads.  
  • Meta Ads: With Meta (Facebook) Ads Manager, you can create ads in different formats such as video, images, and carousel. Meta’s (Facebook) targeting is done on the basis of the demographics and interests of your buyer persona. 
  • Instagram Ads: Businesses use Instagram ads to drive awareness and to increase their customer base. The ads between stories and on platforms create hooks for the audience through appealing visuals. 
  • Twitter Ads: People will not spend a lot of time looking at your ad on Twitter, therefore, the shorter you make it, the better it is. Experiment with the copy and visuals to see which ad performs best.  
  • Bing Ads: The unique feature about Bing ads is that it allows you to schedule the campaigns according to different time zones. This gives you more granular control over the campaign and ads. 

Some of the other platforms you can advertise on are AdRoll, RevContent, and Yahoo. 

2. Include Social Media in Your PPC Ad Campaign 

The effectiveness of social media ads is relatively higher than Google ads since these ads appear directly in your feed, thus decreasing the effectiveness of Ad-blockers. 

While paid search is more keyword-focused, paid social ads to focus more on demographics and persona, thus leading to new ways to target your audience.

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Paid social media ads allow you to use a wider variety of ad types and formats, like images, videos, text, and more.

Social media ads give you two critical functions for your ads’ success — Retargeting & Lookalike Audiences.

3. Launch a Remarketing Ad Campaign

Retargeting is remarketing to people based on the site visits or who are willing to know more about your product and services and have manually shared their information for the contact.

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Why are retargeting campaigns called a marketer’s best friend?

92% of your website’s online traffic won’t buy anything on their first visit to the website.  

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But, when you use remarketing to retarget the same visitor, they are 70% more likely to purchase from your ad rather than your competitors. 

Therefore, with these odds, you can’t afford to miss on retargeting. 

4. Try a Lookalike and Similar Audiences 

A lookalike audience is a parallel list created by the platform, e.g. Facebook and Google using your existing followers, customers, or website visitors. This created list includes people who have similar interests, clicking habits, online social behavior, etc. 

With the hyper-targeting capabilities of PPC platforms, a lookalike or similar audience allows your business to target with unmatched depth and accuracy. All you have to do is provide initial data about your website visitors. 

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In Google ads, you need to have at least 100 users’ data to get a similar audience. However, on Meta, you can upload a customer file, refer to site traffic, app activity, and more to build a lookalike audience. Meta recommends a source audience of at least 1000 people.

Combining your lookalike and similar audience with the retargeting campaign can increase your conversions by more than 40%, thus boosting your sales.

5. Design Mobile-Friendly Landing Pages

More than 50% of the world’s internet traffic comes from mobile devices, and more than 40% of online transactions happen through mobile devices.

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With this penetration of mobile devices among digital consumers, optimizing your website’s landing pages according to mobile is necessary. But, unfortunately, some businesses forget the importance of mobile friendliness when it comes to PPC Campaigns. 

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Despite ads optimized for mobile and tablets, a stellar copy of your landing page can make you win or lose your PPC campaign. 

For best results, ensure some critical points for your mobile-friendly landing pages: 

  1. Page loading speed is high. It should take an average of three  seconds to load your page/website on mobile
  2. Link the relevant landing page with the ad 
  3. Ensure the landing page is functional and intuitive, so the user knows how to take the next step (e.g. adding to cart, payment, signing up, etc.)

6. Advertising Budget 

The problem with a lot of failed PPC campaigns is the unrealistic and low budgets. One of the important factors to get the results from your PPC campaigns is setting the budget to target the right audience and help you achieve your goals. 

But, this doesn’t mean you need to go over-the-top in budgeting to get the most out of PPC. Instead, you need to have a realistic budget to help you with different stages of your PPC marketing. If you are starting out with PPC campaigns, some of the common examples of where your budget will be used are as follows (but not limited to): 

  1. Researching the averages in the industry (e.g. cost per click)
  2. A/B Testing (Selecting the right keywords, audiences, demographics, etc.)

Researching your averages and knowing how your competitors spend on PPC campaigns to grow business can help you set a realistic budget for your ad spend.

7. Make Your Ad Copy Click-Worthy

Ad copies should be all about adding value to your customer’s browsing. Irrespective of the industry, all PPC strategies need to focus on click-worthy, top-notch ad copies. 

No matter the market, all PPC strategies need to focus on top-notch ad copy.

The starting point of your conversions is people clicking on your ads which are only possible if your copy is relevant or intriguing. 

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Therefore, your headline, description, visuals must have a hooking ad copy to grab online customers’ attention. The ad copy should also comply with the stage your buyer is in. Are you targeting them with an awareness campaign? or are you remarketing with the google ads retargeting campaign? The ad copy will vary accordingly. 

Some of the best ways to create better copy that generate more clicks are as follow: 

  • Add the unique offerings (e.g. Free Shipping, Money Back Guarantee)
  • Highlight Promotions (e.g. SALE, , 50% OFF etc.)
  • Include CTAs (e.g. Buy Now, Apply Now, etc.) 
  • Focus on benefits instead of features of the product
  • Link the relevant landing page with the ad.  

Good copy development takes time, but once you master the art of understanding your audience and addressing their wants in your ad copy, it’ll impact your campaign’s performance in amazing ways.

8. Use Responsive Search & Display Ads (GSN/GDN) 

Responsive ads help you to automate your PPC strategy to grow your business. It uses the machine learning power of Google ads to automatically adjust their size, appearance, and format to fit available ad spaces.

There are 2 types of responsive ads which you can use: 

  1. Responsive Display Ads:  Responsive display ads are ads automatically created by Google using the assets that you provide. Google automatically adjusts the size, appearance, and format of your assets to fit available ad spaces on the Google Display Network. 
  2. Responsive Search Ads: Responsive search ads let you create an ad that adapts to show more text—and more relevant messages—to your customers. Enter multiple headlines and descriptions when creating a responsive search ad, and over time, Google Ads will automatically test different combinations and learn which combinations perform best. 

With the flexibility of experimenting with ad copy, images, headlines, and descriptions, Google Ads provides you assistance for the most effective ads.

9. Perform A/B Split Tests 

How can you tell which design or ad copy or demographics can bring in better results? Through A/B split testing. 

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A/B testing is as critical to your paid ad campaign as is every other element. The goal of testing your ad is to increase both your clickthrough rate and your conversion rate. 

There are various factors of the ad which you can test. Minor tweaks in any of the parts can significantly alter your results. 

  • Headline 
  • Description 
  • Landing Page 
  • Target keywords 
  • Audience Targeting
  • Location Targeting 
  • Bids and much more 

With A/B split tests, you can compare the performance of different ads in your control group by their data. This data can help you improve your PPC strategy by optimizing your ads accordingly. A/B split tests take the guessing game out and help you guide in making decisions using data.

10. Revisit Your Keywords Selection 

Keyword research for your PPC strategy can be time-consuming but it is the best aspect of your strategy. The secret of most successful PPC advertisers is that they never stop researching, refining, and growing their keyword list through different tools. 

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  • Use Long-Tail Keywords: Your keyword research should be the mix of short-tail keywords (most popular, frequently used one-word phrases) and long-tail keywords ( 3-5 words). Long-tail keywords are more specific and less common. But, they add up to the account for the majority of search-driven traffic. Moreover, these keywords are less competitive, thus lowering your cost-per-click cost. This approach for keywords search can give you a less expensive PPC strategy. 
  • Include Negative Keywords: Your PPC keyword strategy should also include negative keywords discovery. A negative keyword list prevents search engines from showing your ads to irrelevant audiences and thus saving you the cost-per-click. For example, if you are selling ‘treats’ for Halloween then ‘dog treats’ can be your negative keyword since you don’t want to bear the cost of clicking from someone who is not your audience. 

Consumers now have unlimited options for their every search. The keywords you are using in your content will determine if your content is being shown to them.  Therefore, it is important that you use a combination of well and regularly researched keywords.

11. Revisit Keyword Match Types

Search engines have several ways to connect the keywords with users’ search terms. Three core offerings based on which search engines show your ads to your users are as follows

  • Exact Match: In this match type, the keyword is matched word for word with no change in sequence. Ad with these keywords will be shown for queries that have additional words as well. This doesn’t alter the intent of the search. For example: “Restaurants in New York” or “Best Restaurants of New York.”  
  • Broad Match: It is Google’s default setting for all the keywords. This setting will include all the related terms to your keywords too such as synonyms, misspellings, and other related terms. Broad match works best if you are looking to increase your top-of-funnel traffic but for best results, it’ll need consistent monitoring. For example: “New York Restaurant” or “Places to eat at in New York.” 
  • Phrase Match: Phrase Match tells Google to show your ads for queries where your keyword appears exactly as is within a larger query. This opens your ads up to newer search intent, so be sure to optimize as you discover what’s working. For example: “Takeaway restaurants in New York”, “Fast food restaurants in New York”. 

Strategically using match types can help you convert your traffic into warm leads. 

12. Launch a Micro-Conversion Campaign Followed by Super Targeted Campaign:

A Micro-conversion campaign is basically hooking users to complete a small step along their path towards the primary conversion goal. These smaller conversions will help you lead your user towards the final goal in a more effective way. 

This will also help you make a custom audience that you can retarget. 

Micro-conversion strategy is used as a sales funnel by targeting the demographic and navigating them down which will ultimately lead them to make the purchase. 

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A good example of a micro-conversion campaign can be asking website visitors to sign up for the newsletter. Signing up for early bird discounts, contact details for premium access to content, etc. ultimately leads them to buy your product or service. 

PPC services provide super-targeting tools to run conversion campaigns. The only purpose of these campaigns is to get the maximum conversions from the users visiting your website. With the data acquired from all the test-run ads, research, and micro-conversion campaigns, you can hyper-focus the audience that is most likely to buy.   

13. Improve the Structure of PPC Ad Campaigns:  

Google Ads rarely performs as you hope when your account is lacking a clear, defined structure. From campaigns down to ads, every level of your account impacts both Quality Score and your own ability to segment effectively.

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Here are some other easy tips to help you build out a new account or restructure an existing one:

  • Define the clear objectives of your campaign. Is it for increasing awareness? generating sales? Acquiring leads? Remarketing?
  • Make Ad groups based on your product or service offerings
  • Make Ad groups and audience segments based on search intent   
  • Use keywords according to the ad group’s purpose  
  • Ensure each ad group navigates the online traffic to the right landing page. 

When it comes to the naming and structure of PPC ad campaigns, it’s vital to have a system of organization that reminds you of what each item does. Not only does this give everyone working on the account a clearer understanding, but you also spend less time finding the offending elements when something goes wrong.

14. Use Retargeting Pixels on Your Website

To optimize your ad spending and to create a custom audience, it is important that you use the right tools. 

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Your website’s unique pixel set will help you bring tremendous results with your retargeting campaigns. It will also show your ads to people who have interacted with your content on social channels thus amplifying your chances of winning the leads. 

Conclusion

PPC advertising is one of the most effective marketing strategies if done right. It’s a quick and smart way to reach your target audience. Platforms like Google, Meta, Instagram, Twitter, Bing, and many more allow you to set and run ads in seconds. Depending on your budget you can reach tens and thousands of people. While PPC campaigns have the immense potential to bring in the best results for your business to grow, it is also significantly important that you curate your campaigns, ad copies, keywords research, and all the other elements with great attention and strategy…  Once you’ll find the right.




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PPC Advertisers Guide To Google Consent Mode V2

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PPC Advertisers Guide To Google Consent Mode V2

This update is not merely a technical enhancement but a robust response to the stringent privacy regulations and changing user preferences. With a compliance deadline set for March 2024, it’s crucial for websites utilizing Google services to understand and implement Google Consent Mode V2, ensuring alignment with global data privacy standards.

PPC Advertisers Guide To Google Consent Mode V2

Understanding Google Consent Mode V2

Google Consent Mode V2 enhances the initial version by introducing refined mechanisms for managing user consents related to cookies and data tracking. Key to this version are the new parameters: ad_user_data and ad_personalization, which join the pre-existing analytics_storage and ad_storage, providing users with greater control over their data. This tool communicates user cookie consent preferences to Google’s suite of services, ensuring data is handled in compliance with privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA.

The integration of these parameters signifies Google’s commitment to bolstering user privacy, offering a consent-based approach to data insights. For businesses, this means navigating a landscape where user consent directly influences data collection strategies.

The Significance of Compliance

The mandatory implementation of Google Consent Mode V2 underscores the importance of adhering to digital advertising and data privacy regulations. Its significance is twofold: it aligns website operations with legal requirements, particularly in the European Economic Area (EEA), and preserves the integrity of user privacy. For website operators, the practical aspect of compliance involves the strategic implementation of consent mechanisms that do not undermine the data’s value for insights and analytics.

Implementation Strategies

To leverage Google Consent Mode V2 effectively, website owners can opt for Basic or Advanced implementation options. The Basic approach ensures full data collection upon user consent and halts it otherwise. Advanced implementation, however, allows for the transmission of anonymous, cookieless data for modeling purposes even without consent. This method hinges on employing a Consent Management Platform (CMP), adjusting website configurations to respect consent choices, and enabling cookieless data collection for analytics and advertising purposes.

The Impact on Data Tracking and Privacy

Implementing Google Consent Mode V2 has profound implications for data tracking and user privacy. It allows websites to maintain a balance between collecting valuable user insights and respecting privacy preferences. The mode’s design ensures that user consent directly influences how data is collected and used, facilitating a privacy-compliant approach to digital marketing and analytics.

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The Role of AI in Consent Mode V2

AI and machine learning play a critical role in bridging the data gap when users opt-out of cookie tracking. By analyzing patterns from consenting users, Google can model the behavior of those who decline, enabling advertisers to gain insights while adhering to privacy standards. This AI-driven approach underscores the potential of Consent Mode V2 to revolutionize data analysis in an increasingly privacy-focused world.

Beyond the Cookie Banner

A key aspect of utilizing Google Consent Mode V2 is the requirement for a compliant cookie banner. This necessitates the implementation of a CMP that aligns with both Google’s standards and privacy regulations. The consent banner acts as the intermediary, signaling user preferences to Google services and adjusting data collection accordingly.

Preparing for the Future

As the deadline for Google Consent Mode V2 implementation approaches, website owners and advertisers must take proactive steps to ensure compliance. This involves understanding the intricacies of Consent Mode V2, integrating a compliant CMP, and reevaluating data collection strategies in light of user consent.

In essence, Google Consent Mode V2 represents a pivotal development in the realm of digital privacy and data management. By embracing this new standard, businesses can not only ensure compliance with global privacy laws but also foster trust with their audience, building a foundation for sustainable digital practices in the years to come.



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11 Actionable Ways to Build Client Relationships That Last

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11 Actionable Ways to Build Client Relationships That Last

Some agencies manage to build a steady client base that strengthens over the years, while others ride roller coasters and eventually close up shop. What’s the difference? Client relationships. Strong client relations make for greater success with projects and campaigns, loyal clients who stay with you longer and refer new clients, and a better reputation for your brand. Even better, they make everyday work more enjoyable for all.

So what makes for a strong client relationship? The same traits that define any good relationship: awareness, communication, empathy, dependability, accountability, honesty, and the list goes on.

In this post, I’ve compiled 11 ways your agency can demonstrate the above and more to achieve the best possible outcomes for you and your clients. I’d say happy endings, but good relationships don’t really end.

Table of contents

Why are client relationships important?

It’s easy to skim over the importance of creating a strong relationship with your clients—you know you have to do it. But when you dig into how it helps your agency grow, you can be more strategic about it.

Reduces churn

It can be 25 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one. You also have a much higher probability of selling a new agreement to a current client than closing a deal with a new one.

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A strong client relationship helps you weather rough patches and identify clients who are at risk of leaving. Both will help you reduce customer churn.

Increases referrals

Customer referrals are an extremely important source of new clients for your agency. That’s because referred customers are more likely to buy, are more loyal, and spend more on average than non-referred customers.

When you have a strong relationship with your clients, you can ask them to give reviews and refer other businesses. That’s especially helpful if your agency serves a niche industry where everyone knows everyone else.

Provides opportunities to learn

Have you ever wanted to know how a new regulation would affect your clients? Or how to best sell a service like PPC? When you have a rock-solid relationship with your clients, you can ask them.

It takes time to build that sort of comfort, but when you do, your best clients become your agency’s de facto advisers.

📣 Learn how 300 marketing agencies manage services, pricing, and challenges in our State of the Digital Marketing Agency report.

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How do you build client relationships that last?

In the following list, you’ll find actionable ways to improve client satisfaction and build mutually beneficial partnerships, with input from PPC agency experts like Mark Irvine, Francine Rodriguez, Akvile DeFazio, and Susie Marino.

1. Gather “hard” and “soft” information

A strong agency-client relationship starts before the client even becomes one. You know that you need as much information as possible about your client to come up with a winning proposal. But the solution you come up with isn’t going to establish a meaningful connection between you and your potential client. It’s how you present that solution with respect to both the business’s goals and the personalities and values of the team you’ll be working with.

This means collecting “hard” information like:

  • Products and services they offer
  • Target audience and the end-users of their product or service
  • Top three competitors
  • Prioritized list of goals and challenges
  • Strategies that have worked and not worked in the past
  • Software are they currently using
  • Budget

But also “soft” information like:

  • What they define as success
  • Their future hopes or anticipations, like scaling, adding on new offerings, etc.
  • The company’s mission, beliefs, and values, and unique selling proposition
  • What makes them different from their competitors
  • Hobbies, interests, and preferences of the individuals you’ll be working with

strengthen client relationships emotional vs logical intelligence

Think with both sides of your brain when gathering information about your client.

Building emotional intelligence about the team you’ll be working with will help you to make communication more personalized as you move through these initial phases of your journey together.

Side note: Be prepared to answer their questions too! Even their non-PPC questions.

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2. Internalize that information

This is the information you’ll be not only including in your proposal, but applying throughout your actual execution and ongoing communication with your client. Take the time to really internalize it so that it shines through organically in everything you do.

  • Gather the information in person (or video): Body language and facial expressions tell a lot. Take note of what gets them excited (and not so excited). Also, be sure to send out a list of the questions you’ll be asking far in advance so the client can have time to think about answers and produce follow-up questions.
  • Iterate back: As you listen, iterate back to your client what you have interpreted so you can make sure you’re crystal clear on the information you’re receiving. Remember, incorporating the tiniest details into your proposal and execution is what will give your clients confidence that you truly understand their needs.
  • Templatize: Have an internal templated document where you can collect all of the information you’ve gathered in one place. This gives every team member something to continually refer back to, and the uniformity makes it easier to internalize.

3. Go above and beyond with your proposal

    From a project standpoint, your proposal shows what you’re going to do to achieve your client’s goals. From a relationship standpoint, it’s your opportunity to reinforce, once again, that you have a deep understanding of your client—both the business and its team members. Speak to both the client’s business goals as well as the more personal pain points and desires of its employees.

    To do this, think in terms of “what,” “why,” and “so that.”

    • The what refers to what you’ll be doing from a process standpoint.
    • The why ties the process to one of the business’s specific goals.
    • The “so that” speaks to the pain point it will address for the business’s team members.

    For example, we’d like to ramp up ad spending in the latter half of the month to drive more signups so that your sales team isn’t scrounging for leads. Just be sure to use the language that your clients used in the initial information-gathering process.

    This strengthens that partnership feel. You’re not just looking to achieve goals, you care about the individuals impacted by them.

    how to strengthen marketing agency client relationship with a winning proposalhow to strengthen marketing agency client relationship with a winning proposal

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    4. Have an onboarding process

    This is one of our customer retention strategies as well. Once you get started, there will be more points of contact added to the roster for both sides. A streamlined onboarding process will set the stage for the clear communication and seamless execution needed for a strong and long-lasting client relationship to form. During this process, you may want to:

    • Mail them a welcome kit: Send along some giveaways like branded swag, a greeting card, and additional goodies based on the more personal information you’ve collected.
    • Take care of housekeeping: Make sure each of you has the access needed for tools, accounts, and dashboards.
    • Have a kickoff meeting: This is to ensure everything is lined up for perfect execution. You’ve also become pretty familiar with one another at this point. This is a good time to have a more informal atmosphere.

    🛑 Free guide >>> The 6 Absolute Best Strategies to Grow Your Digital Marketing Agency

    5. Treat clients like partners

    Treating your client like a business will make your relationship purely transactional (i.e., no relationship at all). Treating them like family leaves too much room for miscommunications and unmet expectations.

    Treating your clients like partners, on the other hand, sets the stage for a healthy mix of personal, purposeful, and transactional encounters where both your and your client’s identities are preserved, and each of you supplies the essential ingredients for success.

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    • Embrace the truth: Remember that at the end of the day, both of you are businesses that want to make money. There’s no need to skirt around that. They need your service to generate revenue, and you need their continued business to generate yours.
    • Maintain structure with some fluidity: Keep deliverables clear and stick to the intended plan as much as possible, but always leave the door open for input and feedback.
    • Let them in: While some of your tools and processes may be proprietary, give them access to dashboards and data when possible. Let them in on (non-confidential) tidbits about your agency that “outsiders” wouldn’t know. Their earning your trust is just as important as you earning theirs.
    • Stay honest: This means giving pushback on your client’s desires or requests that may not be best for long-term success (wants vs needs). A good partnership is not one where both parties constantly agree; it’s one where the two parties come together with different perspectives to bring to the table, resulting in better output than either one could have achieved on their own.

    6. Be proactive rather than reactive

      Akvile DeFazio, President of AKvertise, makes this a priority with clients.

      Her team makes sure to proactively:

      • Share ideas and propose new campaign strategies.
      • Forewarn about upcoming platform changes and any action required.
      • Educate the client to empower them further.

      “This shows care and builds trust, and our clients share that they appreciate our diligent proactivity,” she says. “When we work with clients, we aim to be a seamless extension of their team and genuinely embed ourselves as so. When they win, we win, and proactive communication is the key to success for all.”

      7. Be empathetic rather than defensive

      This recommendation from Mark Irvine, Director of PPC at Search Labs Digital, ties back to the partnership mentality in tip #5. The scenario here is that your agency is doing great work. Performance metrics continue to climb. But the client is upset. They aren’t seeing new business come in.

      “A wrong response here is to dig your heels in,” Mark says. “Telling them that their business is doing fine is at best tone-deaf. Instead, let them talk it out and listen to them. This may even lead them to discover the problem is in their other marketing or sales teams.”

      If this ends up being the case, Irvine recommends that you take yourself out of the problem to prevent it from becoming an “us versus them” situation. Take the approach of teaming up together to come up with a solution. Use language like:

      • “I see what you’re talking about.”
      • “This is a valid concern.”
      • “That really is frustrating, we’re glad you brought this up with us.”
      • “Let’s make a plan to review this and report back with some solutions to remedy this.”

      Position yourself as a partner in their campaigns. Value their feedback. Even if you’re an expert, allowing them to work with you will help build a long, trusting relationship.

      “And remember,” Mark adds, “if you dismiss or fight their concerns, there’s an agency sales rep somewhere else who will be happy to listen to them vent about you all day.”

      8. Establish structure around communication

      Brett McHale, founder of Empiric Marketing, LLC, provides some great tips around communication and setting boundaries:

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      Stay away from being “always available

      Being always available, whether through Slack or other forms of direct communication, blurs the ever-important work-life balance. It can also distract you away from other clients.

      Hold regular meetings with actionable takeaways

      Instead, establish weekly or bi-weekly meetings to check in, review performance, and answer questions. “I always have some takeaway or action item from those meetings,” Brett says. “This keeps me accountable, and when I deliver on things that I say I’m going to do, it helps build trust with the client.”

      Use email and instant messaging

      Brett says, “Email can be very robotic, and I try not to be too professional or polished all the time. Communicating with clients directly via a messenger helps to build rapport and have a more laid back ‘human-to-human’ relationship.”

      He suggests designating instant messaging for urgent matters and email otherwise. This cuts out the back-and-forth emailing and also reassures your clients that while you may not always be available, you will never leave them hanging.

      how to strengthen relationships with clients the seven c's of effective communicationhow to strengthen relationships with clients the seven c's of effective communication

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      9. Share your concerns early

      This suggestion from Mark Irvine is particularly relevant to the many changes happening in the advertising realm lately. The scenario here is that your client has big plans and aspirations, and you want to say yes to everything they want. But in the back of your mind, you’re not sure if they can create that audience in Google or build that campaign on Bing. You’re unsure of how the new iOS updates will impact their Facebook targeting.

      “Don’t nod, say yes, and then stress,” Mark says. “You lose trust with your client if you say you can do something and then can’t, even if that’s not your fault.”

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      Instead, show your expertise by sharing your concerns. Practice saying:

      • “That’s a really good idea. I know that some ad policies might come into play as we explore it, so let me double-check those first.”
      • “This new change could pose some challenges to us. I’ll keep an eye on it as it changes over the coming days.”
      • “It’s tough to say what this means for us yet, but I wanted to make sure we all knew about it in advance.”

      If you really have to put your foot down, try something like:

      “We agree that this is a great idea, but we can’t in good conscience proceed with it until we know that it won’t cost you in the long run.”

      Be transparent and ask them for their trust. Most of the time, you’ll come out as the person who helped them navigate through uncertainty, and they won’t forget that.

      10. Embrace small talk

      Small talk often gets a bad rap, but Susie Marino, WordStream’s Senior Content Marketing Specialist and former Customer Success Specialist, has found that it actually helps with building strong client relationships.

      “I know it can feel cringey or uncomfortable at first, but just go for it,” she says. “You’d be surprised at how receptive clients are. Next thing you know, you’ve got a great rapport going, and the banter at the beginning of meetings becomes more meaningful.”

      “People love to talk about themselves, and clients are no different,” Susie adds. “When you ask them about how that home garden is coming along, they’ll be pleasantly surprised. These conversations reveal how much you truly care.“

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      Clients are people who like to work with real people who also have personalities and personal lives. If you don’t show a touch of personality with small talk, it will be harder to stay connected and to demonstrate your genuine care, outside of campaigns and metrics.

      11. Establish quarterly business reviews

      Francine Rodriguez, former Senior Manager of Customer Success at WordStream, believes that quarterly business reviews are essential for client retention.

      “I think all agencies get into a cycle of monthly reporting and proving that deliverables were completed,” she says. “It is important to take that step back once a quarter and have a focused conversation on high-level strategy.”

      The QBR allows the agency and the customer to reflect on new goals, the efficiency of strategies taken in the past, and what needs to pivot for the future.

      It is also a time to allow your customer to provide insight into how their business goals are changing and perhaps what strategies outside of the agency’s scope they are also planning in the near future. Having that dedicated time to talk without existing action items on the table is a great way to strengthen the relationship, create trust, and become better partners.

      It may also lead to surprising discoveries, where an agency could find opportunities to upsell its customers into new services. If your agency is doing QBRs now and your conversations don’t look any different from your regular monthly check-ins, it is time to change the format!”

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      Start cultivating strong relationships with your clients today

      Strong agency-client relationships are built on virtues like trust, reliability, transparency, and personability, and they result in greater outcomes for everyone involved. If you find that you’re lacking in productivity, loyalty, or the overall feel of harmony with your clients, see if you can adopt or improve any of these strategies for your agency:

      1. Gather “hard” and “soft” information about your client
      2. Internalize that information
      3. Go above and beyond with your proposal
      4. Have an onboarding process
      5. Treat clients like partners
      6. Be proactive rather than reactive
      7. Be empathetic rather than defensive
      8. Establish structure around communication
      9. Share your concerns early
      10. Embrace the small talk
      11. Have quarterly business reviews

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Google change the meaning of “Top Ads”

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Google change the meaning of “Top Ads”

What is Top Ads in world of Google? well it’s changed. Today Ginny Martin, Ads Product Liaison at Google shared a subtle but potential significant change of definition of Top Ads. If your deep in the detail of paid search campaigns on Google this is the kind of tweak that’s easy to miss.

Now Google’s documentation reads;

Google change the meaning of Top Ads

Top ads are adjacent to the top organic search results. Top ads are generally above the top organic results, although top ads may show below the top organic results on certain queries. Placement of top ads is dynamic and may change based on the user’s search.

Google’s official documentation

Ginny clarified on LinkedIn that this is a definitional change (as ads can appear above the organic result or below for certain queries) and doesn’t affect how performance metrics are calculated. And that the definition update clarifies that top ads may show below the organic results for certain queries. Although, for most queries, ads will continue to appear at the top of search results.

Why make the change? Anthony Higman suggested it might be due to the change in how some ads are being presented like in the screenshot below and the general shift towards more SGE on the SERPs and the consequences that change in user experience might have on ad placement. And does seem part of increased amount of experimentation on where ads appear on search engine results pages.

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1711605382 993 Google change the meaning of Top Ads1711605382 993 Google change the meaning of Top Ads



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