Branding: Demystifying how search ads enhance your branding?

PPC is a good way of building brand awareness. These ads can work miracles for any brand. Considering they have a better reach and are niche-specific, it is no surprise that PPC experts are drooling over this as their source of branding.

Moreover, marekters are keeping search ads at the top of their sales funnel. With relevant content and knowledge, PPC experts can garner a better ranking for their products in SERPs.

However, the question: Why search ads? Do they help in branding and better brand loyalty? When one can easily garner attention over social media with influencer marketing, what difference do search ads have on branding or, more so, on the consumer journey?

Perhaps, the answer to this question lies in studying the leading advertisers of the market. Be it L’Oréal Paris or Fiat, they understand that the millennial generation is wise and its requirements are unique. Brands need to ensure they pounce on any possible opportunities to entertain, entice, and educate their audience.

Why are Search ads important for better branding?

Search has become a behavior. From shampoo to a laptop, people look to google before they discuss it with their peers. Such is the trend that a study by Google/Ipsos MediaCT shed light on how search ads drove an increase of 6.6 percentage points in branding and awareness.

Probably, why intelligent marketers are leveraging search ads for better branding and brand visibility. If a consumer is searching for a specific keyword, they are already in the purchase funnel.

However, only being in the purchase funnel is not enough; the purchase needs to go through. Besides providing the consumer with the relevant information, search advertising caters marketers to a bigger and more converged playing field.

One such fine example is Kleenex, a tissue brand. The PPC experts here worked their content around flu. They understood that people turned to search, and not to a doctor when they encountered the flu. With this, they formed a unique strategy and targeted cities that were susceptible to flu outbreaks. They built a model that predicted flu outbreaks at the targeted city level.

Kleenex proactiveness won them the “Best Use of Digital Media in 2013” award and increased their sales by 40% in the first two months!

What should one do to improve branding with Search Ads?

Indeed, search ads are very impactful! Like Kleenex, other brands use situations and strategies to leverage better traffic. Besides, when you are part of a competitive landscape, you have to devise ways where visitors are well-suited to your website. After all, isn’t this the reason why you are investing in search ads and branding?

Nevertheless, despite many advantages, many find improving branding with search ads a daunting task. How to get to consumers? What to do to impress and retain? How do we pop up over others in the race? And, questions keep on coming. To improve your brand visibility and traffic with search ads, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Workaround your brand and its voice

You have to do things that should rock your franchise! However, what are they? Is it SEO or social media?

Perhaps, the answer lies in a deeper understanding of your niche, brand, and voice. How you communicate to your consumers paves the way for better branding. Be it Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls or Billy Beane’s Oakland A’s, these teams communicated values to their fans. The voice was a social consensus resonating with everyone. Nike, Apple, and many well-known brands do the same with their audience; and, this is the reason why they stand out.

Google has made things precise for the users. Everything is on a plate! All they have to do is search and get it. In this scenario, it becomes crucial for you to be on top of their mind. Hence, making it critical to work on your brand’s voice, name, and URL. Besides, having a niche-specific brand name allows for better ranking and more brand visibility through search ads.

Targeting those who are looking for you or someone like you!

Search Ads help you target those who are either looking for you or someone like you. Thus, it is imperative to understand the pulse of your audience before marketing anything to them.

Keywords play a defining role here. Leading advertisers recognize that it is necessary to be particular with their keywords. Furthermore, the use of selected keywords一 niche-related一 have a high search volume and increases the chances of better brand visibility.

For instance, L’Oréal Paris, in 2012, saw a spike in Google Search for ombre hair. Unlike today, people back then were unable to get hair treatment at home and had to go to a salon to get it. Realizing a potential market with the search term, they launched a product and created content around it. Moreover, the brand optimized its search advertising to raise awareness among the people searching for ombre hair or something similar.

This active use of specific keywords for search ads and other PPC campaigns created alertness among their audience. Hence, paving better branding of their new product.

Weighing on metrics

It is an understatement to say that life is incomplete without numbers. Numbers give context to reality. Moreover, they mirror our efforts. Yes, the process is crucial; but, numbers lend direction to that process.

Perhaps, this is the reason why intelligent marketers measure things differently! Their performance marketing for branding is more efficient. With brand-related metrics, marketers have the appropriate number in front of them. And, this happens for every search term that can be associated with their brand awareness.

Doing this allows them to understand what is working for them and whatnot. For instance, a brand一 whose niche is sports apparel一 may use specific terms like ‘marathon’, ‘race’, ‘fitness’, and many similar keywords that may allow him to appear more on the search page. These affinity searches keywords can increase the percentage of impressions, ad impressions, website clicks, engagement rate, and other crucial numbers on your product or page.

Winding-up

Branding comes with its share of confusion and misconceptions. Nonetheless, proper branding with effective search advertising can work wonders for a brand and its traffic, if done right. Just like we did for Tresure4Nails.

Following the fundamentals, we went about a marketing process that brought sure shot results. We were able to boost their sales, every month from our curated campaigns; and in retrospect, we found that Treasure4Nails experienced growth of 210.81% in conversions with an increase of 308.10% in the conversion value. Besides, the total number of clicks increased by 444.64%. Just like that, we can change your brand too!

Moreover, if you are looking for digital marketing solutions, we are here! We love to discuss digital marketing and would love to interact with you. Be it PPC, search ads, or anything, we can work anything and everything; and, that’s not being overboard, we can do that! If you feel you have a problem, we are here with a solution. Until then…

Happy Reading!