Itâs time for part two of our video series on Google AdWords for small business. In this video, we go in depth on how understanding both our target audience and their position in the buying cycle affects how we structure our ad campaigns and the keyword phrases we target.
Other videos in this series
Have you missed a previous episode in this series, or want to go back and refresh your memory on something we covered? Hereâs some quick links.
Part 1: Understanding Google AdWords
Whatâs in the video?
In this episode, we cover:
- Decisions we need to make before doing any keyword research, or creating our campaigns.
- The different stages of the buying cycle, as it relates to AdWords advertising.
- Understanding who our target market is, and what stage of the buying cycle theyâre currently in.
- How our customerâs behaviour changes based on the buying cycle.
- How you can shape your targeted keywords and ad strategy to match a specific stage of the buying cycle.
- Strategies for generating qualified conversions that are specific to different stages in the buying cycle.
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Full Video Transcript
Hello ladies and gentlemen. Welcome along to this, part 2, of our ongoing video series on advertising on Google, a small business, Pay-Per-Click strategy guide. Today weâre going to have a look at keywords and the buying cycle.
Now, I know in last weeks video I laid out a 4-part series and said, âHey, this is what weâre going to do in week 1, weâre going to understand AdWords, in week 2 weâre going to look at keyword research, but the more I dive into each of these parts of the series, the more I realize that each one deserves more attention. We need to break things down a little bit more so that you guy, the small business owners, who are listening to this are able to get the most out of them and understand whatâs going on so when you go to implement AdWords advertising in your business, you understand exactly whatâs going on.
A little bit of a change then. Today weâre going to look at the buying cycle and how our keywords relate to that.
This is me, Hedley Swann. Iâm the cofounder of Dash Media and I love all things web design and online marketing and Iâll be taking you through this series. If youâve listened to part 1 then youâll be familiar with me, if not, hello and welcome to part 1. If youâre not familiar with AdWords I recommend that you go back and watch part 1 and get a really good primer on exactly what Google AdWords is and how we can use it in our small business.
Whatâs on today?
Today weâre going to look at the importance of targeting our keywords, our ads and our call to action, to match our target audience. If youâve been in business for a while or done some marketing in the past, youâre probably familiar with creating a customer persona and getting into the situation where we know that, we have product A and we want to sell it to customer B and so we work who customer B is, we create a persona for them, and then we match our marketing so that it especially appeals to this persona that weâve created.
What I want to do from the point of view of AdWords and our keyword research and how weâre setting up our advertising strategy, is look at, once weâve identified our target audience, how does the point in the buying cycle that our audience is at, influence how our ads should appear? How does it influence our strategy? What should we be doing differently and should we be making a conscious choice about what stage in the buying cycle weâre actually targeting our marketing to our ads too? Thatâs what weâre going to look at today.
Before we do anything
Before we start generating lists of keywords, before we start brainstorming, before we start writing any sort of ad copy or creating our Calls To Action, there are some fundamental things that we really need to nail down, that we really need to make good decisions on.
Just like we were talking about, we need to understand who our market is, who are we advertising to, who is our target market, whether weâve created personas to figure out who that is, or we have an idea of who needs our products, our service, who are we advertising to. We need to identify that target market. The key to todayâs presentation is, âwhat is the phase of the buying cycle that we are actually targeting?â Weâll talk about what the different phases are from the point of view of our AdWords campaigns and weâll see that depending on where we decide to target people along the cycle, is going to heavily influence the strategy that we put in place, the types of keywords that weâre targeting.
This is all coming back to keyword research, but itâs really the things that we need to do before we start actually generating any keyword ideas, to make sure that we are generating the right ideas, that weâre coming up with the right sort of keyword phrases to target, so that they appeal to our target audience at the stage in the buying cycle that theyâre currently at.
A good way to begin with this is to think about what the terms and the phrases are that these people use to find our product or service, and weâll have a look at what some of these phrases are that you can use, that identify where somebody is at during that buying cycle. Are they researching, trying to find a solution to their problem, or are they actively trying to buy a product or service, to buy a solution to their problem? Because depending on where they are in that buying cycle, obviously, the sorts of phrases that theyâre going to use to look for a solution, to look for our product or service, theyâre going to be quite different. We want to understand the differences so that we can make sure that they keyword phrases that weâre targeting match the stage in the buying cycle that our audience is currently in and the stage that we want to target with our advertising.
We also need to make some decisions about what is the goal of our advertising campaign? What are we trying to do? What is it in our business that weâre trying to improve or accomplish through doing our AdWords campaign? What do we consider a conversion? What is the action that our audience at this stage in the buying cycle can take, that represents value to our business? Weâll have a look at what some of those could potentially be, a bit later in todayâs presentation.
Bringing all of this back to our keyword research, if we know who our target audience is, the goal of our advertising, what we consider a conversion, then we need to make sure the keyword phrases that weâre targeting, our ad copy, our landing page, and our call to action, match the target audience that weâre going after at the point in the buying stage that weâd like to communicate with them at. Does that make sense? Letâs move on.
Awareness
Letâs have a look at the different stages of the buying cycle. What Iâve done here is broken them down into three different stages. You can get a lot more complex with looking at the sale cycle and the buying cycle and consumer behavior, but for our purposes here I want to break it down into awareness, research, and buying, actually making a purchasing decision. Weâre gonna look at these three different areas and see how the language, the searches, the behavior of our audience, changes throughout these three phases of the buying cycle and what we should be doing to make sure that our ads are highly relevant and targeted to people in these different phases.
First off, letâs have a look at awareness. If our audience is in awareness, then they probably donât have a pressing need for a product or service. Theyâre just browsing, theyâre looking around. If you are targeting people or targeting your audience when theyâre at this awareness stage in the buying cycle, then itâs highly likely that itâs impressions that are going to be valuable to you, itâs just the number of eyeballs that have been exposed to your product or service, itâs really just an awareness campaign. Because people that are in the awareness phase, theyâre not researching for a particular solution for a problem, theyâre not looking to buy a product or service to fix a particular problem because they donât actually have an issue at the moment, theyâre just browsing, theyâre just window shopping.
Awareness is not generally a point in the buying cycle that we tend to see small businesses and local business actually target in their campaigns but I wanted you to be aware that this is actually a stage in the buying cycle, and itâs really just about generating awareness, if you are targeting ads at this point.
Research
Where are we going to probably want to start with advertising and what is the first stage in that buying cycle where our eyes, as a small business marketers, light up and go, âRight, hereâs a strategic point for me to get some advertising, some messaging, in front of my target audience.â Research is actually a brilliant place to start doing this because, letâs think about it. Where are small businesses going to want to spend their advertising dollars, where are they going to want to put those messages? Theyâre probably going to wait for the buying phase. Theyâre like, âI want to wait until somebodyâs completely ready to make a purchasing decision, then Iâm going to put my ads in front of them and theyâre going to buy my product.â Well, thatâs true, that is a valid strategy, but everybody else is going to do that as well, arenât they? Everybody else is going to have that same thought mentality. Thereâs actually value in specifically targeting advertising through Google AdWords that is very useful to your target audience, when theyâre researching.
What is research, what is the research phase all about? Itâs really about people who have identified that they have a problem that they want to fix and theyâre looking for the best solution. At this point theyâre not necessarily aware of your product or service, they donât know what the solution is, but they know they have a problem and theyâre looking for a way to fix it and theyâre looking for the best way to fix it, the best solution. This is where weâll actually see people start to put some modifying words into their search queries when theyâre looking for a solution that gives us a clue that this person is in research mode. Theyâre going to look for things like reviews, theyâre going to look for ratings and comparisons and reports and guides and all these bits of information that can help them to make a decision about âwhat is the best solution to my problem?â That can be very useful to us. If we know that we want to target our audience when theyâre in this research mode, we should be providing this type of information to them. Weâll have more of a look a bit later, about how we can actually do that.
Buying
The last stage in the buying cycle that I want to look at today, is buying. This is for people in our target audience, who are at that point where theyâve completed their research, they know what the best solution to our problem is, and theyâre looking to take action and theyâre looking to make a purchasing decision.
Theyâll start to use keyword phrases to search for a product or service that show purchasing intent, that show buying intent. This is where theyâll start to look for specific products and brands. Remember, theyâve done their research, they know whatâs out there, they might actually look for your specific product, they might look for model numbers or makes of products, be interested in offers or sales and prices. These things are now important to them because theyâre at that point in the buying cycle where this becomes and issue, this becomes a consideration. Whoâs got the best deal? Theyâll also use modifying keywords or buying intent keywords like âBuyâ or âPurchaseâ or âOrderâ. These words will appear in the search queries that they put into Google to try and find a product or service.
The other thing that theyâll do as well, is start to include geographic areas, because letâs think about it, particularly with services, if youâre in Darwin, in Northern Australia, which is where Iâm sitting at the moment, and Iâm looking for a gardener to come and mow the lawns at my house or business, I am not going to be interesting in a gardener that only services Townsville in Queensland or Sydney or anywhere else in Australia or anywhere else in the world. Iâm going to be interested in gardening businesses that exist in Darwin. So Iâm going to start to use the word Darwin in my searches to narrow things down.
Now we have a really good idea of these different phases of the buying cycle. Letâs take a look at why this is important to us when it comes to establishing our advertising strategy and looking at the keywords that we are going to target in our campaigns.
Why this is important
Why is this important? Letâs take the example of somebody whoâs in research mode. Why would we chose to target someone who is in research mode rather than skipping right to the end and only putting our advertising in front of them when theyâre ready to buy. In research mode, we have a fantastic opportunity to provide value and demonstrate our authority in our industry. We are then able to position our business really well so that when that person actually transitions from research mode into buying mode, into the buying phase of the cycle, weâre already in a position where weâve provided value to that potential customer, so weâre more likely to be their choice to actually make a purchase from. Iâm sure weâve all had this experience that you might not be ready to buy just yet, but youâve talked to particular vendor or supplier or service provider and they give you some really good insight, they give you a lot of knowledge, theyâre the ones that provide value. How much more likely are you to then make your purchase from them? Iâd say that it improves their chances of getting your business quite significantly.
How do we do this? How do we make it valuable for our business to target people who are in research mode? What we really need to do is provide an offer that is valuable to them in terms of helping them make their decision. Remember, this personâs in research mode, they donât know what the solution to their problem is, but if weâre the business that says, âHey, have you thought about thisâŠ? Hereâs some information for you that will help you make a decision.â Then that ticks these boxes of providing value and demonstrating our authority in our industry. Itâs really good. In terms of our offer, letâs always think that it should be there to help our target audience who is in research mode, to make the decision. Letâs look at an example.
Letâs say that weâre a boot camp business. We run outdoor exercise programs where everybody comes together and weâre going to put them through their paces and help everyone get healthy in the great outdoors. One of the keyword phrases in our AdWords campaign is âHow to get fit without going to the gymâ Doesnât that sound like something that somebody who doesnât know what they solution to their problem is would type into Google? It sounds like a research phrase doesnât it? âHow toâ, very similar to âReviewsâ or âRatingsâ or âComparisonsâ, this is somebody who is looking for information, âHow to get fit without going to the gymâ. This person doesnât know that they need a boot camp, they havenât necessarily considered boot camps as a solution to this problem, but all they know is that they donât want to go to a gym, but they still want to get fit.
If somebody typed this into Google and then we presented them with an ad that offers a report that highlights the benefits of doing outdoor boot camps versus gym-based exercise, and of course the report, the way itâs put together is going to show, âHey, there are actually some benefits to doing your exercise outdoors in a boot camp environment versus going to the gym and doing it in an air-conditioned environment by yourself.â Then that offer, that product, that information-based product that we are providing to our target audience is valuable to them and it helps them make a decision about âwhat is the best solution to my problem?â In this case theyâre very much poised to go, âOh, well I want to get fit without going to the gym. Boot camp seems like a really good way to do that and it was this particular business that gave me this information.â You can see how weâre positioning our boot camp business really nicely so that this person makes a buying decision or theyâre likely to join our boot camp program arenât they.
Whatâs our CTA?
Weâve got our offer, we know whatâs going on there, we know whatâs going on there, we know that, âokay well, an offer letâs us establish our authority and provide value. Whatâs our Call To Action? How do we get value out of providing this information to our audience in research mode?â Remember these people arenât ready to buy, theyâre not in that buying mindset, they are still researching.
Weâve checked a couple of boxes so far, our offer has provided value and established our authority, what we then need is a way to have future touch points with this person, once theyâve come through our advertising, hit our landing page, our Call To Action then in this case is going to be âget their detailsâ. Thatâs what we want to do, we want to retrieve from them a way to contact them in the future to put our products and services in front of them.
The most common way of doing this is some sort of signup form, some sort of newsletter signup form. The way weâre going to do this is, on the Google search results page youâve got your ad that talks about your offer. A person clicks the ad and is then presented with your landing page, just like we talked about in part1. Then what weâre going to say to them is, âYou can get your report that talks about the benefits of doing outdoor boot camps versus gym-based exercise, just give us your name and email address and weâll send that report straight through to you.
That name and email address, then go on to a database so that in the future, we can send our direct marketing to that person because remember, this person is in research mode, theyâre not going to stay there forever, if theyâre serious about making a purchasing decision, at some point soon, theyâre going to make that decision and be ready to buy, theyâre gong to move across, into the buying stage.
If weâre the business that has provided value during research, weâve given them the information they need to make their decision, and then 3 days later they get some email correspondence from us talking about how weâve got new boot camp programs starting, âWell hey, Iâve done my research, Iâve identified that boot camps are the best solution to my problem, and hereâs this same vendor, again giving me the answer, âhereâs the boot camp you should join.ââ You can see that there are a lot of benefits to actually targeting your audience when theyâre in the research phase of the buying cycle.
Whatâs happening here
Letâs just run down exactly whatâs happening here, because weâve talked about a lot of stuff. Weâve talked about the buying cycle and the benefits, and providing offers in our Call To Action. Letâs just lay it all out in a linear fashion so we can see whatâs going on. From the left to the right, this is the cycle that somebody is going to go through.
Our person, a member of our target audience, who is in research mode, is going to do a Google search and find our ad and here our ad is going to be surrounded by our competitorâs ads. This is where having a good offer really comes in handy because it makes our ad far more likely to be clicked than our competitorâs. We definitely want to make those offers solid. The more relevant, the more useful we can make that offer to our target audience in research mode, the better.
So they click on our ad and then they end up on our landing page and this is where we present our offer and our Call To Action. The two are linked, remember that, âokay just give us your name and email address and weâll shoot through our offer to your inbox straight away and youâll have that information instantly.â Sounds fair, people do it, and weâve now set ourselves up in this nice position where weâve provided value and established authority over our industry. Weâre the ones that have become the trusted resource for this member of our target audience, because weâre providing this free information that helps them make a decision. When we do put our direct marketing materials in front of them and say, âHey, well, have you actually considered joining our boot camp program?â theyâre far more likely to choose our boot camp program rather than our competitors because weâve established that value and our authority over our industry. This is the path of whatâs happening here. Targeting your audience in research mode is actually a fantastic strategy.
Buying
We need to look at buying. I want to target my ads to my audience when theyâre ready to make that purchasing decision. Just like we saw with the research mode, there are keyword phrases we need to consider that show purchasing intent, words like âBuyâ and âOrderâ and âPurchaseâ. They might be looking for specific product names, brands, model numbers, geographic locations. We talked a little bit about this before, that people are going to get more specific and show that buying intent in their search queries when theyâre ready to make that purchasing decision.
Letâs jump back to our boot camp material and letâs take it a step further now so that we can talk about geographic locations and letâs say that our boot camp business is based in Darwin. Itâs here and I want to advertise my boot camp programs to people who are looking for boot camp programs in my geographic location, in the area that I service in my business, which is Darwin. Suddenly, my campaigns are going to be based around targeting people who are searching for phrases like, âBoot camps Darwinâ, âDarwin boot campsâ, âBuy boot camp membership Darwinâ, âmorning boot camps Darwinâ, âafternoon boot camps Darwinâ. Weâre looking at people who are looking for boot camps in the morning and in the afternoon, we service both times of the day, so letâs make sure that weâre targeting both search phrases, because weâre going to have members of our audience who can only go to one or the other. Itâs really important because theyâre going to get super specific, so we need to be super specific as well.
Brand namesâWhat if our boot camp was called Ace Boot Camps? Well it makes sense that people are going to be talking about our boot camps, our current customers are going to talk to their friends about boot camps and theyâre going to say, âHey, I go along to the Ace Boot Camp sessions every morning, you guys should come along.â Theyâre going to say that to their friends and their friends are going to jump on Google and type in âAce Boot Campsâ. Great, thatâs a perfect opportunity to put a targeted ad in front of that person, because they are showing a high level of buying intent. Theyâre specifically looking for your brand.
Of course things like âSign up to boot camp Darwinâ. Somebody who types in âSign up to boot camp in Darwinâ obviously, they have a very high level of purchasing intent. They are looking to take action right now. We can see how this differs in the buying stage of the cycle to the research stage of the buying cycle, where theyâre looking for reviews and ratings, theyâre looking for solutions, these members of our target audience, who are in the buying phase of the cycle are looking to take action right now, so we need to give them the ability to do so.
We talked about offers in research mode. Offers are still really good in the buying stage as well, but the nature of the offer is going to change. What we saw in research mode that weâre offering reviews and ratings and reports or white papers or guides, things to help them make a decision, here in the buying stage weâre giving them reasons to engage our business, to make a purchasing decision with our business over our competitors, things like free trials, discounts or specials or price reductions that weâre running at the moment.
Letâs take our boot camp example. Maybe weâll run an offer to accompany our ad where somebody can bring a friend along to boot camp and receive half price off that monthâs membership, or whatever we put together. Remember, price is going to be something people are looking for, so anything we can do to make our business more appealing there is going to be better.
Free shipping, well if weâre selling products online, if we have an ecommerce business, doesnât it make sense that I would probably want to buy my product from somewhere that isnât going to charge me for shipping versus someone who is. We all hate paying shipping costs, right? That can be a really good offer to accompany your buying intent ad.
If youâre a service based business you can offer free quotes or consultations to get your foot in the door there, to say, âHey, weâre here to help you, weâre here to provide value, and this is how we can do it straight out of the gate, no risk to you Mr. Customer. We can tell you how much our service is going to cost, we can sit down with you and plan out how you can use our service to further your business or achieve whatever goal youâre trying to do through a free consultation.â
Offers are good at any stage of this buying cycle. Itâs just about tailoring the offer specifically to where your audience is at in that buying cycle.
Whatâs our CTA?
We need to look at our Call To Action when it comes to the buying stage of the purchasing cycle and here we need to do just that. We should be telling them, on our landing page, âHey, this is exactly what youâre about to purchaseâ and we need to make it super easy to do so. Big âBuy Nowâ buttons, have an excellent shopping cart experience if youâre selling those sorts of goods or services.
Perhaps if youâre selling a service and itâs not something that you buy online, this is where the Call To Action needs to be based around making a really qualified, solid lead come through from your landing page. Maybe youâre requesting a call-back or booking a consultation or a quote request, basically we want to get those details from someone, get that inquiry, generate that lead, create that online purchase, whatever it is our Call To Action needs to be based around, âHow can I help this person to take action right now, because theyâve identified themselves as being in the buying stage of this cycle? So, I want to capitalize on that.â
One of the other things we want to do with our Calls To Action at the buying phase, is let people opt in to our newsletter or our database so that we can provide new information and new marketing materials to them in the future. Because if somebodyâs been willing to complete our Call To Action, theyâre highly qualified, provided that weâve targeted the right keywords, weâve presented a good ad, theyâve got to our landing page, identified âthis is what I want.â Now theyâre making some sort of purchasing decision, whether itâs buying the product, or sending an online inquiry, or generating a quote request, whatever it is, theyâve qualified themselves a lot to say, âHey, Iâm a real potential prospect here, I am ready to go, Iâm ready to part with money for your product or service.â Chances are, if theyâre willing to do that, that later on down the line, theyâre probably going to need your product or service again, or theyâre going to be interested in new offers that you have. The other thing that you can do with this information then is provide extra value to your current customers by providing tips and tricks on how to use your product or service, you can provide updates and news about whatâs going on in your, and have these continuous touch points with your current customers and with your qualified leads so that whenever they do need your product or service again, they come straight to you.
Relevancy of keywords (and everything) is key
What have we covered today? Really weâve looked at the way that our keywords, our ad copy, our landing page, and our Call To Action, all need to be highly relevant and targeted not only to our target audience, but to where that audience is across the awareness, research, and buying stages of the sale cycle. From the beginning of the presentation, we identified the terms that our target audience is likely to use to find our target audience at the targeted point inn the buying cycle. Thatâs the most important part here.
We saw that if our audience is in the research phase of the buying cycle, that theyâre looking to find a solution to their problem. Theyâre looking for reviews and how-toâs and reports and any information they can get, to help make a decision. Itâs really important that we keep that in mind, at the targeted point in our buying cycle.
Then we moved on to having a look at how our ad and our offer need to be highly relevant to our target market at the targeted point in the buying cycleâthereâs that phrase again âat the targeted point in the buying cycleââbecause we saw that the offer and the ad and the messaging that we put in front of somebody whoâs in research mode is very different to the offer and messaging that we put in front of somebody whoâs in the buying phase of the cycle. Even though theyâre both members of our target audience, they both fall into that category, the strategy that weâre going to use to target them, is very different based on where theyâre at in that buying cycle.
Then we had a look at presenting a Call To Action that is highly relevant to our target market at the targeted point in the buying cycle. Again, this is the point that I want you to really ram into your brains and take home with you that âat the targeted point in the buying cycleâ is key. We know that who our target audience is, letâs go even further than that and identify, âWhatâs the strategy that Iâm going to use to get the right messaging, offers, and Call To Actions, in front of people, at these specific points in the buying cycle?â Thatâs how we can get the best return on investment, which is why weâre doing AdWords advertising.
These are the things that weâve looked at today and I hope you can see now why I wanted to drill down even further, into this keyword research topic, so we can understand the thinks that we need to take into consideration when weâre choosing the keywords that weâre going to target and the strategies that weâre going to use before weâre going to use before we start generating keyword ideas.
Next timeâŠ
Next time, I promise, we will look at keyword research. âWhere do I get ideas? Where do I find keywords?â Because weâve got the foundation now, weâve identified, âThis particular campaign is going to be targeted to my audience when theyâre in research mode. âHow do I start generating ideas for what keyword phrases to target my ads to?â
The other things that weâll have a look at are negative keywords. To give you a bit of a preview, negative keywords are keywords we can include in our campaigns that will not show our ads. Theyâre the opposite of our keyword phrases. To give you a quick example, say we sell premium office furniture. We might want to include negative keywords like, âCheapâ or âFreeâ or âGiveawayâ or anything like that, that is going to likely be typed into the Google search engine by somebody who is not right for our product or service, who is not part of our target audience. Itâs a really powerful tool to make sure that weâre only showing our ads to people who are qualified, potential customers.
Thatâs what happening next time, keyword research, where to get ideas and find keywords, now that we understand why weâre choosing them and how to choose them. Weâll have a look at negative keywords as well.
Questions? Ask us on social media?
Weâve reached the end of our presentation today and Iâd like to give a big shout out to you guys for sticking with me all the way to the end. I really appreciate it and I hope the reason youâve done it is because youâre getting a lot out of these videocasts and youâve got a lot of information, so that you can start to implement these strategies in your own small business.
If you have any questions about the content that I covered today, or in any other parts of this video series, then jump on social media and ask those questions. You can reach us Facebook, Twitter, or you can visit our Google+ page.
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If you need any help with any of these topics or in improving the way that your small business uses online marketing, then please feel free to contact us through our website.
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Thank you very much for watching today. We will see you next week for part 3 on generating keyword ideas and research.