According to a Google Impact Report, businesses that use paid search ads “make an average of $2 in revenue for every $1 they spend on Google Ads.” If your dealership hasn’t yet run a PPC ad campaign, you should consider starting one today.
The process for setting up your ad campaign is simple, and you can work with a digital marketing provider if you need assistance with the process.
This article will provide details on campaigns, ad groups, keywords, ads, ad extensions—and how to set your dealership apart.
The basics of getting started with paid search ads on Google are:
- Establishing the groundwork at the campaign level
- Enhancing your campaign with ad groups
- Optimizing your strategy for selecting keywords
- Driving traffic with highly-targeted ad copy
- Utilizing ad extensions to your advantage
Establishing the Groundwork at the Campaign Level
Billions of searches are completed on Google every day. Think With Google data shows that 2x as many consumers begin their research online rather than at a dealership.
Make sure your dealership reaches those potential customers by starting your paid search ad campaign today. It’s important to establish the right groundwork so you’ll increase the chances of a more successful ad campaign.
Start your paid search ad campaign in three simple steps:
- Ad – Write a search ad describing your product, offer, or service
- Audience – Choose the relevant keywords that people are searching on Google
- Budget – Set your daily budget
Assessing Your Dealership Marketing Strategy
To set your new ad campaign on the right track, you need to determine the right marketing strategy for your dealership by identifying your objectives.
Are you trying to create evergreen ad content? Do you want to promote a special offer for your service department? Are you celebrating a big anniversary sales event?
Consider the following types of ad campaigns and which one fits your needs at this moment. You’ll likely run a variety of ad campaigns in the future:
- Search Campaign – If you want to locate potential customers interested in purchasing from your dealership salesroom or service department.
- Display Campaign – If you want to generate brand awareness for your dealership or a specific ad campaign or create buzz for a new vehicle rollout.
- Call Only Campaign – If you would like to get people to call your dealership.
- Remarketing Campaign – If you want to connect with current customers or visitors to your website and generate more interest in your dealership.
Understanding and Allocating the Campaign Budget
You set the daily budget for your ad campaign and can change it at any time. If you usually spend $550 per month on advertising, you would use this formula to figure out the daily budget:
- Monthly Budget / Average # of days per month = Daily Budget
- $550 / 30.4 = $18.09
You can set shared budgets so you can distribute the budget among several campaigns.
If you’re creating a video campaign with a specified start and end date, you can set a total campaign budget. That option is not available for other types of campaigns.
Enhancing Your Campaign with Ad Groups
Multiple ads with similar targets make up ad groups. The purpose of ad groups is to bring thematic organization to your ad campaign.
Every ad group has a keyword list that describes the product you’re promoting. You determine the specific target and increase the chances of getting them interested because the search engine only displays ads for these products on relevant websites.
Creating Effective Ad Groups
Successful ad groups can bring increased traffic, decrease ad costs, and improve your website or landing page conversion rate.
- Cohesive System – Your website, landing pages, ad text, and keywords must work together to create a cohesive system that connects well.
- Continuity – Provide continuity with your messaging. Make sure the landing pages and ad text match up to deliver the exact product or service that the user searched.
- Quality Score – Having a cohesive system and delivering continuity will improve your Google Ad Quality Score. Your score is based on relevant ads, landing pages, and user experience.
Improve your conversion rate by sending potential customers to a landing page that specifically applies to your product or service promotion.
You’ll likely have to create multiple landing pages, which a digital marketing provider can help you build.
Tips on Streamlining Your Ad Groups
You want to ensure that your ad groups are easy to handle, so consider implementing the following tips to streamline them:
- Include many different ad variations, and test to optimize for
top performers - Break ad groups out by related “themes”
- Align keywords and ad groups with respective ad copy
These are not rules that you must follow, but rather suggestions to help you complete more streamlined and manageable campaigns.
Optimizing Your Strategy for Selecting Keywords
You may think you know which keywords to use, but it’s better to use the Google Keyword Planner to ensure that you will bid on relevant keywords with the highest search volume.
You can find free keyword tools online or speak to your digital marketing provider about a third-party paid tool option. It’s important to investigate consumer intention, and select keywords that qualified leads are searching.
You want to improve the ROI of your paid search ad campaign. So, don’t waste time with guesswork.
For example, consumers searching for “used cars near me” or “used cars Philadelphia” have a high level of intent. You want to reach those people searching with the intent to purchase. Also, by dynamically bidding on keywords that match with your current inventory, you can always make sure to maximize your ad dollars.
Understanding Types of Keyword Matches
It’s important to understand the four different keyword match types so you have better control over which searches will likely trigger your ad. Let’s review the four keyword match types:
- Broad – Use a more general keyword to reach a wider audience for relevant searches. With this match, your ad will be qualified to display any time a user searches any of the words in your key phrase—even with misspellings.
- Modified Broad – Restrictions are applied to this match. The ad will display if the user searches for the keywords you’ve designated with a plus sign.
- Phrase – This keyword match is more specific. To see your ad, the user must search for the exact phrase—in order—that you’ve bid on; however, they can have other words before or after that phrase.
- Exact – Your ad will display when they search for the exact keywords.
Driving Traffic with Highly Targeted Ad Copy
Another important factor in driving traffic to your landing pages is writing highly-targeted ad copy that will drive clicks and convert leads. Use the following tips to set your dealership apart and get more clicks:
1. Master the Basics
There are three basic sections of text you’ll need to write:
- Headline – Write a headline that’s relevant to the keyword search, with power words that grab the attention of your potential customers.
- Description 1 – Share with the reader why they would benefit from your product or service, or include what makes your value proposition distinctive.
- Description 2 – Provide details on additional benefits, or provide your potential customers with a CTA or reason to click your link.
2. Complete A/B Ad Testing
It’s important to complete A/B ad testing with your Google Ads campaign so you can identify which ads perform better than others. The control is the group A ad, and the variation is the group B ad.
You can test various parts of the ad, such as changing the headline or display URL. The ad copy can vary, or you may want to change the offers and call-to-action (CTA) for both ads.
It’s important to define the timeline for running the test clearly and to identify the specific results you are looking for so you can effectively measure key performance indicators (KPI).
Evaluate the performance metrics for both of these groups and measure the following data through statistics directly from Google Ads and Google Analytics:
- Overall profit from the campaign
- Click-through-rate (CTR)
- Number of leads
- Lead conversion rate
If you are working with a digital marketing provider, you can ask them for recommendations on third-party tools.
Whichever ad performs better is one you should continue to use since it provided better results. Every time you set up another ad campaign, completing A/B ad testing can improve your chances of success.
3. Combine Power and Emotion
Your CTR will increase when you use power words in your headline and ad copy. Utilize emotional triggers to reach your potential customers.
Consider using some of the following power words:
- Click
- You
- Try
- Free
- Increase
- Opportunity
- Ends
- Learn
- Find
Emotional triggers get more clicks. Some people think logically when deciding on a purchase, but many people move further down the marketing funnel due to their emotional experience when viewing an ad.
However, you don’t want to get too dramatic because that can turn away potential customers. Find the right balance and write memorable ad copy that meets a need and is relevant to the keyword search.
Using Ad Extensions to Your Advantage
You can set your dealership apart by using ad extensions to your advantage and providing further information, so potential customers have more reasons to click your link. The ad extensions should include the following:
- Location information
- Call buttons
- Additional text
- Links to specific areas of your website
When you use ad extensions, you create an ad that has more visibility and distinction in the search engine results page (SERP). The more extensions you use, the more likely you are to increase your CTR.
Adding a call button or map display gives potential customers an easy way to contact your dealership. There is no additional charge for adding these extensions to your ad.
Get Started Today on Conquering Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Conquer your digital marketing strategy and set your dealership apart by optimizing your ad campaigns. Start working with the professional team at J&L Marketing today to optimize your digital marketing and begin to boost sales for your dealership.
