Creating a successful advertising campaign involves several strategic steps, from planning and setup to execution and optimisation. Below, is an outline of the process for creating a campaign using platforms like Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising, we will look at the individual steps in more detail throughout the course:
Step 1: Set Up a Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising Account
- Create or Sign In: If you don’t already have a Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising account, you’ll need to create one by visiting the relevant websites.
- Billing Information: Enter your billing details as you’ll need to set up the billing before you can activate your campaigns.
Step 2: Define Your Campaign Goals
- Choose a Goal: Both platforms will prompt you to choose a goal for your campaign, such as getting more calls, increasing visits to your physical location, or driving traffic to your website. Selecting a goal helps Google provide you with relevant campaign settings.
Step 3: Select the Campaign Type
- Campaign Types: Choose from several types of campaigns based on where you want your ads to appear. Options include Search, Display, Shopping, Video, and App.
Step 4: Configure Your Campaign Settings
- Name Your Campaign: Give your campaign a descriptive name that you can easily recognize.
- Networks: Decide if you want your ads to appear on Google Search, on search partners, or both.
- Locations: Choose the geographic locations where you want your ads to show. This could be as broad as countries or as specific as cities or regions.
- Languages: Select the languages spoken by your target audience.
- Budget: Set your daily budget based on how much you’re willing to spend each day.
- Bidding Strategy: Choose how you want to bid in your campaign. Options include focusing on clicks (cost-per-click), impressions, conversions (cost-per-acquisition), or views (for video ads).
Step 5: Set Up Ad Groups
- Ad Groups: Create one or more ad groups within your campaign. Each ad group should contain a set of closely related keywords and tailored ads.
Step 6: Add Keywords
- Keyword Research: Use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, or Microsoft Advertising’s keyword planner tool to find effective keywords related to your products and services. Add these keywords to your ad groups.
- Match Types: Decide on the keyword match types (broad, phrase, exact) to control how closely the user’s search query must match your keywords.
Step 7: Create Ads
- Ad Creation: For each ad group, create relevant ads that will appear in the search results. An effective ad includes a compelling headline, a clear description, and a strong call-to-action. Make sure your ads align closely with the keywords in the ad group.
- Ad Extensions: Enhance your ads by adding extensions. Common extensions include sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, call extensions, and location extensions. These provide additional information and ways for users to interact with your ad.
Step 8: Launch the Campaign
- Review and Launch: Double-check all your settings and the content of your ads. Once everything is set, launch your campaign.
Step 9: Monitor and Optimise
- Performance Monitoring: Regularly check the performance of your campaign using Google Ads’ tools. Look at metrics like clicks, impressions, click-through rate, and conversions.
- Optimization: Based on performance data, make adjustments to improve your campaign. This could involve changing bids, refining keywords, tweaking ad copy, or adjusting targeting settings.
