Many utilize AdWords display advertising in some capacity or another to help with driving traffic to a website.  While many are familiar with the branding and awareness benefits of display advertising, some are still confused about what display advertising does and doesn’t do, and how to best take advantage of this marketing method on the Google AdWords platform.

If a business is expecting conversions and direct actions based off of their display advertising, they may be disappointed unless the advertising features a great offer with a time limit.  The main benefit of display advertising is branding and awareness.  Just like McDonalds, Coca Cola and Amazon, having a brand be represented on a wide scale helps a company ultimately gain a following and hopefully be the first brand that a consumer thinks of when they go to make a purchasing decision.

Google helps up the ante by offering targeting and negative targeting for display ads.  Targeting can include remarketing lists (including look-a-like customer acquisition), in-market buyers, keywords, topics, demographics and interests.  Smart companies will combine specific targeting with negative targeting to ensure that their ads don’t show on sites that are irrelevant to their business.  After a business runs AdWords display advertising and begins getting clicks and impressions, they can, among other things, optimize delivery via the “placement” section of AdWords.

All of these tactics help build awareness for a brand and the targeting helps make the most efficient use of this.  What are some ways you all use the Google display network to help promote your dealerships?

The word is out, Google has done away with ads on the right hand side of search engine results pages, instead opting for four ads at the top of the page instead of three and only seven ads on the first page instead of eleven.  While this has sent many into a panic, these Google AdWords changes, while important, may not require additional action from businesses using the platform.  If anything, a watchful eye will be most important in the days to come.

Most search engine marketing campaigns at this point should be utilizing ad extensions, constantly working to improve quality scores and continually trying to have ads land at the top of the page.  While there are now less ads on the first page of search results on Google, the top four ads may now display extensions when possible, instead of just the top one or two.  This means that ads that may not rank in position one might still get a lot of additional real estate in search results.

A negative side effect of the change may be increased cost per click.  Businesses should watch their PPC spend to make sure that their bids are making sense with respect to their goals as well as their positioning in Google search results.  Companies should make sure that the stiff competition for the top four positions doesn't drive their average cost per click up.

At the end of the day, these important Google AdWords changes may do damage to poorly run campaigns, but could also provide additional juice to well-optimized campaigns with active management.  What are some ways you are dealing with the changes to AdWords?

The word is out, Google has done away with ads on the right hand side of search engine results pages, instead opting for four ads at the top of the page instead of three and only seven ads on the first page instead of eleven.  While this has sent many into a panic, these Google AdWords changes, while important, may not require additional action from businesses using the platform.  If anything, a watchful eye will be most important in the days to come.

Most search engine marketing campaigns at this point should be utilizing ad extensions, constantly working to improve quality scores and continually trying to have ads land at the top of the page.  While there are now less ads on the first page of search results on Google, the top four ads may now display extensions when possible, instead of just the top one or two.  This means that ads that may not rank in position one might still get a lot of additional real estate in search results.

A negative side effect of the change may be increased cost per click.  Businesses should watch their PPC spend to make sure that their bids are making sense with respect to their goals as well as their positioning in Google search results.  Companies should make sure that the stiff competition for the top four positions doesn't drive their average cost per click up.

At the end of the day, these important Google AdWords changes may do damage to poorly run campaigns, but could also provide additional juice to well-optimized campaigns with active management.  What are some ways you are dealing with the changes to AdWords?

While looking for specific long tail keywords that convert for the lowest cost is imperative in any PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaign, automotive PPC has an extra set of issues to deal with. Many times, potential zero moment clients still use basic terms to search out and ultimately purchase a vehicle.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing) approaches are often geared towards avoiding basic one or two word keywords, instead opting for laser specific long tail terms that indicate buying signals. Unfortunately, this becomes a tad more nuanced when dealing with automotive PPC because many customers will perform an extremely basic search looking for the nearest dealership in order to see its available inventory, and ultimately submit a lead and purchase a vehicle. Thus, while no true buying signals might be present in a given search, clients may still use those broad queries in search engines to find places to purchase.

Another issue frequently arises because manufacturers and competing dealerships realize what kind of searches drive interested traffic to their website and begin bidding on many of these terms, driving up the cost of advertising on search engines. To combat this, dealerships should consider the match types being used on each keyword, what kind of targeting they’re doing and how they can perhaps make their ad copy stand out a bit more.

Finally, many of the search terms used in automotive PPC are the same used when researching a vehicle. If a dealership can include vehicle reviews, specifics and related inventory on their landing pages and/or vehicle detail pages, they have the chance to retain researchers and convert them to shoppers.

Most dealerships cannot afford to miss out on traffic for certain search terms, even if they are a tad more broad than many PPC managers would feel comfortable bidding on. Often, decisions have to be made in an automotive PPC campaign regarding campaign focus – given a limited budget, a tightly focused campaign can do a lot more in a short period of time for simple popular terms than a more general campaign. What are some ways you all account for patterns in shopper searches?

While looking for specific long tail keywords that convert for the lowest cost is imperative in any PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaign, automotive PPC has an extra set of issues to deal with. Many times, potential zero moment clients still use basic terms to search out and ultimately purchase a vehicle.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing) approaches are often geared towards avoiding basic one or two word keywords, instead opting for laser specific long tail terms that indicate buying signals. Unfortunately, this becomes a tad more nuanced when dealing with automotive PPC because many customers will perform an extremely basic search looking for the nearest dealership in order to see its available inventory, and ultimately submit a lead and purchase a vehicle. Thus, while no true buying signals might be present in a given search, clients may still use those broad queries in search engines to find places to purchase.

Another issue frequently arises because manufacturers and competing dealerships realize what kind of searches drive interested traffic to their website and begin bidding on many of these terms, driving up the cost of advertising on search engines. To combat this, dealerships should consider the match types being used on each keyword, what kind of targeting they’re doing and how they can perhaps make their ad copy stand out a bit more.

Finally, many of the search terms used in automotive PPC are the same used when researching a vehicle. If a dealership can include vehicle reviews, specifics and related inventory on their landing pages and/or vehicle detail pages, they have the chance to retain researchers and convert them to shoppers.

Most dealerships cannot afford to miss out on traffic for certain search terms, even if they are a tad more broad than many PPC managers would feel comfortable bidding on. Often, decisions have to be made in an automotive PPC campaign regarding campaign focus – given a limited budget, a tightly focused campaign can do a lot more in a short period of time for simple popular terms than a more general campaign. What are some ways you all account for patterns in shopper searches?

Location based advertising is advertising that integrates location-based services. Google teased this functionality for AdWords but has yet to roll it out in a widespread fashion. Marketers should be looking for and seizing any opportunities to use this advertising.

The impressive thing to note about location based advertising is that specific ads can be digitally served to customers by pinpointing their location. This is akin to a well-placed billboard or poster, however the marketing could be further narrowed by interest or demographics so that only the optimal customer sees it at the optimal time and place.

The closest digital advertising has gotten has traditionally been geotargeted ads. While this can help get messaging in front of a radius of potential clients, it doesn’t allow for a laser approach where only specific people receive the message within that radius. Rather than rely on IP address, location based advertising would actually be factoring in the geographic coordinates of a user’s specific device.

Some marketers believe location based advertising is the next big digital marketing advancement for 2016. Are any of you using this yet?

Location based advertising is advertising that integrates location-based services. Google teased this functionality for AdWords but has yet to roll it out in a widespread fashion. Marketers should be looking for and seizing any opportunities to use this advertising.

The impressive thing to note about location based advertising is that specific ads can be digitally served to customers by pinpointing their location. This is akin to a well-placed billboard or poster, however the marketing could be further narrowed by interest or demographics so that only the optimal customer sees it at the optimal time and place.

The closest digital advertising has gotten has traditionally been geotargeted ads. While this can help get messaging in front of a radius of potential clients, it doesn’t allow for a laser approach where only specific people receive the message within that radius. Rather than rely on IP address, location based advertising would actually be factoring in the geographic coordinates of a user’s specific device.

Some marketers believe location based advertising is the next big digital marketing advancement for 2016. Are any of you using this yet?

Of all the many businesses that participate in digital marketing, many are not following the basic process of testing advertising to see if any of it actually works.  While "A/B testing" and "split testing" are nice buzzwords in the field, the actual process required with these often requires patience from the same companies that are expecting fast results from their marketing.  If one masters the basic flow of confirming optimal marketing tactics with data, they should have no problem with testing advertising.

Step one is to form a hypothesis based on what is known already, and to test it on the least important part of a campaign that it applies to.  That way, the rest of an account can remain unaffected while a specific campaign runs the new idea on a limited budget.  Many companies falter here by applying a hypothesis on a widespread rollout, making it difficult to see if it actually works or not.

Step two is to evaluate those results.  If the original test isn't successful, revisit the original idea and start over.  Once there is some success in testing advertising ideas, those are the ideas that should be given more money. It's much easier to justify moving more budget when the data points in favor of the hypothesis.

While basic, many businesses are in such a hurry to drive immediate results, especially with mediums like pay-per-click, that they either skip testing or apply testing too broadly without confirming that it works.  What are some other ways you all test when optimizing your marketing?

Of all the many businesses that participate in digital marketing, many are not following the basic process of testing advertising to see if any of it actually works.  While "A/B testing" and "split testing" are nice buzzwords in the field, the actual process required with these often requires patience from the same companies that are expecting fast results from their marketing.  If one masters the basic flow of confirming optimal marketing tactics with data, they should have no problem with testing advertising.

Step one is to form a hypothesis based on what is known already, and to test it on the least important part of a campaign that it applies to.  That way, the rest of an account can remain unaffected while a specific campaign runs the new idea on a limited budget.  Many companies falter here by applying a hypothesis on a widespread rollout, making it difficult to see if it actually works or not.

Step two is to evaluate those results.  If the original test isn't successful, revisit the original idea and start over.  Once there is some success in testing advertising ideas, those are the ideas that should be given more money. It's much easier to justify moving more budget when the data points in favor of the hypothesis.

While basic, many businesses are in such a hurry to drive immediate results, especially with mediums like pay-per-click, that they either skip testing or apply testing too broadly without confirming that it works.  What are some other ways you all test when optimizing your marketing?

While marketing messages may fluctuate, most websites stay fairly static in terms of their offerings.  Different things may go on sale and different promotions may be featured on a site's home page or specials page, but rarely are those messages tuned for specific visitors.  However, it can pay to create custom onsite content intended specifically for each potential customer.

Personalising onsite content amounts to having a site's images and copy change dynamically based on a user's cookies and browser history.  If a user has been searching for "cheap" items, showing a special discount to them might be more helpful, while someone that's been to a site already might want to be shown the last thing they were looking at.  Right now, this can be achieved with software.  In marketing, personalized content can be indirectly achieved via SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and directly via SEM (Search Engine Marketing/Pay Per Click).

If a site isn't set up effectively to allow installing additional software to track and personalise the onsite content, the next best idea would be to work diligently on SEO, creating optimized pages that rank in search for specific types of needs.  These same pages could double as landing pages for SEM campaigns that are geared towards certain types of searches, or other awareness campaigns that are targeted towards certain types of users on their respective platforms.  Thus, users arriving on a website are likely to at least be seeing extremely relevant material, if not completely personalised.

Truly personalised onsite content can help deliver the right message to the right user at the right time to encourage a sale.  What are some ways you are all creating custom experiences for your potential car buyers?