The PPC Snobs Blog
Module 2: Setup
Setup the technology needed to run a PPC engine. With just a few powerful software tools -- GTM, GA4, CTM and CRM - we can build out our analytics, attribution and accounts.
Table of Contents
2.1 Analytics
2.1a Google Tag Manager (GTM)
Important for managing the multiple software tracking tags that we need to install on our website in order for our PPC automation to function.
Google Tag Manager (GTM) can be used to “store” all of your tracking tags in one place. Using GTM saves on the time and resources that are usually paid to development teams that have to manually place each tracking tag directly on the website.
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2.1b Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Important for capturing the data that we need in order to understand how visitors engage with our website and/or app.
Google Analytics (GA) is the most popular (and free) website analytics software on the market. GA4 will be useful for measuring your PPC marketing performance, especially for tracking how your marketing channels and website content drives users to convert.
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2.2 Attribution
2.2a CallTrackingMetrics (CTM)
Important for understanding how our phone calls convert into leads and sales.
CallTrackingMetrics (CTM) – or any call tracking software for that matter – is important for logging and reporting how calls convert into sales. This technology is especially useful for syncing lead/customer data with your advertising channels. (Optional for advertisers whose L2S journey is 100% online).
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2.2b Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
A customer relationship management (CRM) process is essential for tracking the customer journey and improving your sales process.
We can build a basic CRM database using Google Sheets or go for a market solution, like Hubspot. CRMs provide important visibility into how our marketing efforts influence various stages of the lead to sale journey.
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2.3 Accounts
2.3a Conversion Tracking
Your measurement strategy starts with how you’re able to track important metrics and business actions (i.e. users, clicks, conversions). Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) help us understand how our PPC campaigns drive key business outcomes. In simple terms: is our PPC working.
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2.3b Creating Campaigns
3 Tips When Setting Up Campaigns:
- Understand every single account and campaign setting. There’s a support document and usually plenty of online support for any account feature available on the most popular PPC platforms.
- Use a simple, but logical account structure. We separate campaigns by marketing objective (lead generation, e-commerce, app downloads), product focus, budget, and/or wherever else it makes sense to control a variable.
- We keep ad groups separated by theme (web development vs graphic design for example), but we tend to not over-segment. How much to actually segment or aggregate can is always being optimized through testing.