A Guide to Conducting Audience Research for Paid Search Campaigns
Paid search campaigns are often overlooked when it comes to audience planning, but they are a crucial part of any marketing strategy. While paid search is a “pull” marketing channel, there are still numerous audience signals that can be utilized to build and optimize PPC campaigns. In this article, we will focus on Google Ads, but the concepts can be applied to any search campaign.
Pre-build research is a vital step in audience preparation for paid search campaigns. This research takes place both outside and inside Google Ads. Outside of Google Ads, it is important to determine who your target audience is and what message will resonate with them. Conducting research or focus groups to understand your audience can provide valuable insights that can be applied to your search campaigns.
Inside Google Ads, you can use the existing knowledge about your audience to set campaign-level targeting. This includes factors such as the devices your customers usually convert from and the countries you can sell or ship to. By setting location and device targets, you can effectively reach your audience and optimize your campaign.
Applying audiences for “Observation” or “Targeting” is another important step in audience research. Applying an audience under Observation mode allows you to gather insights about that segment without narrowing your potential reach. Observation is a great option for all campaigns to analyze how different audiences engage with your ads. On the other hand, using Targeting mode means that you will only serve ads to people who are both on the audience list and searching for your keywords or product. Targeting allows you to create different ad copy for specific segments, such as returning customers or loyalty club members.
Mid-flight analyses play a crucial role in audience research. Tracking the performance of prospecting and remarketing lists can show you how your targeted customers react to your messages. By analyzing audience performance, you can identify which segments are converting better and apply those learnings to other channels or to inform your ad copy and creative.
Audience insights and indexes are another aspect of mid-flight audience optimization. Checking your audience insights can reveal which segments are indexing the highest with your current converters. These insights provide valuable information about your customers’ preferences and can be applied to ad copy or creative tests.
A/B testing is an effective way to optimize your search campaign. By testing different ad copies and creatives, you can identify what resonates best with your audience and improve your campaign’s performance.
Search query reports (SQRs) should be run regularly during every campaign’s flight. These reports reveal the searches that are triggering your ads to serve. By analyzing SQRs, you can understand how customers are searching for your products and identify any interesting behaviors or trends.
Post-campaign readouts are important for analyzing the success of your search campaign. Did your target audience behave as expected? Did your creatives perform well? By evaluating the performance of your campaign and analyzing search query reports and audience insights, you can gather valuable information that can guide the next version of your campaign.
In conclusion, conducting audience research is crucial for the success of paid search campaigns. By understanding your target audience and applying audience insights throughout the campaign, you can optimize your campaign’s performance and achieve better results. Make audience research an ongoing effort to continuously improve your campaign and stay ahead of the competition.
