The PPC Snobs Playbook
Module 3.4: Accounts
You really only need to separate campaigns by what you want to control at a budget level (location, product, service, objective, etc...). Otherwise, it's best to use concentrated campaigns and ad groups. We separate our ad groups into 4 themes: branded, generic, competitor, DSAs.
Table of Contents
Part A - Account Creation
1. Google Ads
Google Ads is the best platform to start testing PPC campaigns in my opinion.
Google Ads offers several media formats (search, display, video, discovery, shopping, apps) and reaches 3B+ users.
It’s a good platform for lead generation, ecommerce and user acquisition.
Google automated campaigns types — for example Performance Max — makes it easy for almost any business to quickly get started with a full-funnel strategy.
2. Meta Ads
Meta (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) has a reach of over 3B people.
Your target audience is likely using one of these platforms.
I found Facebook and Instagram ads to be extremely effective for B2C services and products where most of the decision making happens at the awareness and consideration stages of the funnel.
Events, fashion, decor, gaming, content, subscriptions, news, magazines and fitness for example.
3. Meta Ads
LinkedIn Ads are great for Business-to-Business (B2B), Account Based Marketing (ABM) and Recruiting.
Through LinkedIn, you can directly engage with the stakeholders of your industry (certification bodies, industry leaders, employees, etc…) through various mediums (video, image, messages).
LinkedIn is also the type of network where engagement often happens in a businesses/industrial context, so it’s also a great channel for ‘professionalizing’ your organization.
Part B - Account Settings
Conversion Tracking
Every major PPC platform offers some form of conversion tracking (the ability to measure important website/app actions like leads, subscribers, and sales).
This is the most important configuration in your PPC account. Conversion tracking provides the basis of what your PPC’s machine learning and automation needs to perform.
The conversion tracking that we set up should align with marketing, sales and business outcomes: calls, leads, sales, and revenue.
Resources:
Part C - Account Structure
A simple, but logical, account, campaign and ad group structure works best.
Many advertisers separate ad groups into highly specialized themes, by keywords, or by match type (web development vs graphic design for example).
4 Tips When Setting Up Campaigns:
- Understand what every single account and campaign setting does. Each platform (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc…) offers different pros and cons.
- There’s a support document or online community for almost any account feature available on the most popular PPC platforms.
- How much to actually segment or aggregate campaigns/ad groups can always being optimized through testing.
- Make use of auto-apply recommendation features. These solutions are designed to take care of basic housekeeping so we can focus on higher level strategic initiatives.