My PubCon Austin 2018 talk about winning big profits with low budgets. We discuss AdWords, Display, Bing, and Facebook and which Chris is Hotter

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Little Budgets with Big Profits
Navah Hopkins

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Agenda
• Budgets By Network
• How to Make the Most of Your Budget
• Signals of Growth/Case Studies
• Work across the entire WordStream book of
business
• Started working in Digital Marketing in 2008
• I call my husband, my lovely…we’re very nerdy
A Little About Me

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Ryan Reynolds (aka Deadpool) was asked one of the
most important questions: which ad network is
better?

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Let’s play the Ad Network
Dating Game!

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• Really smart, rich, and powerful.
They’re constantly changing their
look to set trends.
• Sometimes over fixates on the little
things
• Only dates power players like them.
Meet Alpha Adwords

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• Sometimes roped into going out
with the wrong people as a favor to
the other Chris’s.
• Tries to create value for you
through experimental projects.
• Invests a lot into special effects,
that don’t always land.Meet Dreamy Display

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• Often overlooked, but has looks
and smarts in their own right.
• Is a little nerdy and prefers a cheap
date of gaming over a night on the
town.
• Loves art and appreciates those
who draw for them.
Meet Bashful Bing

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• Really laidback and is down to
party whenever and however you
want.
• Struggles to reconcile their love of
retro payments with forward
thinking design.
• Sometimes gets in trouble for their
openness, and doesn’t always get
taken seriously despite being
quietly loaded.
Meet Fun Facebook

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In the Old Days, Advertising was a Monogamous
Relationship

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It was Usually With AdWords

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This Worked for a While, but Then Sticker
Shock Set in for All Those Expensive
Cocktails (clicks)

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On Average, Adwords Requires at Least $750 Ad
Spend Per Month.

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Display Auction Prices are More Reasonable

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Bing Requires at Least $450

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Facebook can get by on $250 (highly dependent on
initiative)

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No One Network Should Get All Your Budget – Let’s
Shed the Confines of Budget Monogamy!

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Making Your Budget
Work on AdWords

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Let’s get to know each other

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How Much Do You Make When A Prospect Becomes a
Customer?

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Are All Parts of Your Business Equal, or Should We Be
Playing Favorites?

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Can You Focus Your Advertising Efforts into Being a Big
Fish in a Little Pond?

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Depending On Your Answers, You Will Need to Use
Some Filters

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Pick the Right Time to Make Your Move
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Conversions
Conversions by Day Of Week
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Saturday
CPA $9.29

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Location Can Make or Break the Mood

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Keyword Choices Dictate How Far Your Budget Can Go
Based on $369
spend between
October 25th and
November 23rd
2017

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Broad Keywords Can Drag Your Budget into
Unintended Auctions
162%
More
Than
Average

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In Many Cases, Controlling for Auction Price is Enough
to include AdWords in Initial Touch Plans

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Sometimes the Average CPC is Just Too High…

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Meet the Yentas of Online Advertising: Remarketing
Lists for Search Ads & Customer Match

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• Bid more/less aggressively on
certain users.
• Target exclusively those users so ad
copy can be the perfect match.
• Begin weighting different behaviors
and interactions with your brand.
Using RLSA/Customer
Match You Can:

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The Average User Takes 3.58* Exposures to Your Brand
to Act. Your Budget Might Need Other Networks to
Make the Introduction
*Based on 5000 accounts running AdWords and Display

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Display: The Audience
Builder

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One of the Most Costly Mistakes Advertisers Make is
Combining Search & Display in the Same Campaign

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Display Average CPC’s Are Cheaper – Google Could Be
Fooled into Funneling More Budget into Display Than
Search
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Display Search
November 2017
Clicks Conversions Average cpc
10%
conversion
rate vs 4%
conversion
rate

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Honor Display’s Strategic Autonomy

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Many Think Display is Just for Remarketing

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Ignoring the Inexpensive Blitzing Power of Display

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Display Can Bring Users Your Branded and
Remarketing Search Campaigns are Poised to Pick-up
$16.54
Budget
168550
Impressions
701
Clicks
*Average monthly budget, impressions and clicks
across 4000 accounts (no budget over $50 and no
budget under $1)

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• Exclude mobile apps
• Check content for brand integrity
• Audit placements for cost
effectiveness
• Have remarketing tag placed
BEFORE starting display campaign.
Friends Don’t Let Friends
Party With Display Without
A Game Plan.

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How to Make the Most
of Your Bing Budget

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Bing Works Because a Lot of the Search Rules of
Engagement are the Same

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It Can be As Easy as Hitting the Import Button

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• Ad group level location and
schedules
• Right-side SERP still there (which
means top placement isn’t
mandatory)
• No “unknown” demographics (just
can’t completely exclude).
Budget-Saving Bing Unique
Traits

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• Not all bidding strategies carry over
– make sure you’re bidding to rank!
• Bing serves ads in the time of the
user – audit your schedule!
• Extensions can lead to conversions
– make sure they’re set up
correctly!
What to Check For:

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Bing Empowers Other Networks to Be Better:

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It’s Much Easier to Own 90%+ Impression Share on
Bing Than AdWords

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Facebook: Where the
Rules Don’t Matter and
Everyone Gets to Play

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Facebook Takes Us into Uncharted Structure Territory
– the Ad Set, Not the Campaign Holds Strategic
Control

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Given that Facebook
Charges in CPM – the Most
Strategic Energy Should be
Focused on the Copy (Don’t
Reuse Your Display Ads)

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Too Broad

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If You’re Working With
$500 or Less, Use At Least
One Prebuilt Audience

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The key is Getting Your
Message in Front of the
Right User (and Not
Lumping Your Users
Together)

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Same Copy: Drastically
Different Results!
• 19 conversions vs 0
• 2,144 impressions vs. 3,782
• 76 clicks vs 179

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Always Include at Least One Location Target (Ideally
More Focused Than a Whole Country)

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Average CPC is a Good Indicator if Your Copy is
Engaging or Getting Friendzoned

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Facebook is a Safe-Haven for Many Disapproved
Industries

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Getting Your Lovelies to
Play together

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We’ve Explored Each Network’s Budget Optimization Powers

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But as Ryan said, “we want all the scoops...with pine
nuts on top!”

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Client Story: The Facility

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• Focused optimization efforts on
prime prospects, and layered in
demographic targeting/bid
adjustments.
• Launched Facebook lead campaign,
which allowed for branding and
acquisition
• Supplemented winning search
campaign with Bing
Main Action Items:

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The Facility
Benchmark (5/25/17)
• Spend: $1,885 (AdWords)
• Impressions: 26,937
• Clicks: 473
• Average CPC: $3.99
• Conversion Rate: 3.59%
• CPA: $110.88
Post Optimizations (11/25/17)
• Spend: $1,400 (AdWords/Bing/Facebook)
• Impressions: 4,705
• Clicks: 356
• Average CPC: $3.81
• Conversion Rate: 11%
• CPA: $46.82

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Client Story: A & A Machinery

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• Segmented giant campaign into
micro campaigns focused on
specific locations.
• We audited each location for how
users searched and paused
variations driving up the spend.
• Imported successful campaign into
Bing (allowing for further location
targeting).
• Ran Facebook look a like campaigns
on services that were too expensive
to achieve on search.
Main Action Items:

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A & A Machinery
Benchmark (1/13/16)
• Spend: $2,726.42 (AdWords)
• Impressions: 14,041
• Clicks: 435
• Average CPC: $6.27
• Conversion Rate: 1.61%
• CPA: $389.49
Post Optimizations (11/1/17)
• Spend: 357.78 (AdWords/Bing)
• Impressions: 1,537
• Clicks: 74
• Average CPC: $5.44
• Conversion Rate: 32.43%
• CPA: $14.91

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But Navah, They Eventually Grew Their Spend Past
$1000…

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Of Course They Did – Once You Get the Machine
Working, Putting More Money in Means More
Leads/Sales

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The Goal of Most Businesses is to Grow Scalably

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Let’s Go on a Date With
Profit!

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Action Item #1: Audit All Networks for Auction Prices
That Could Be Running Away With Your Budget.

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Action Item #2: Build in Remarketing Lists So Your Ad
Spend Can Empower Itself Rather Than Live in a
Vacuum

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Action Item #3: Audit Your Copy For Each Stage of the
Buying Cycle

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Action Item #4: Conduct an Honest Audit of Your
Business’s Profit Centers, Lead Values, and Growth
Trajectories

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Action Item #5: Create Criteria for Campaigns That
Account for Growth – and Don’t Be Afraid to Take Your
Relationship With Your Budget To the Next Level!

75. © Copyright 2017 WordStream, Inc. All rights reserved.
Thanks!
Questions?
Navah Hopkins
nhopkins@wordstream.com