Google Ads empowers you to connect with people at pivotal moments. Whether they're making major life decisions or everyday choices, your marketing should reach the right people at the right time.
Follow these steps to unlock the full lead generation potential of your Google Ads campaigns.
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Map the full lead to sale journeyUnderstand your customer journey and choose a relevant conversion goal Chart the lead to sale path and identify key conversion actions: Map out the steps your leads take, from their first interaction with your brand to becoming a qualified or closed lead. As you do this, pay close attention to final sale values, conversion rates, and the average time it takes for leads to progress between stages. This will help you pinpoint the actions that signal a strong likelihood of conversion and align to your business goals accordingly. Choose an action to use in your bidding: Select a conversion goal that directly aligns with your business goals and avoid selecting multiple conversion actions within the same stage of the funnel for optimization. Consider these factors:
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Build a strong measurement foundationUse robust measurement to collect, connect, and consolidate your data Collect and connect your first-party data: Implement the Google tag to measure valuable actions customers take on your website. Use enhanced conversions to improve the accuracy of your online and offline conversion measurement and drive better campaign performance.
Consolidate and simplify your data management with Google Ads Data Manager: Data Manager makes tag implementation more efficient, enables CRM connections with third-party partners like Hubspot and Salesforce, and makes it easier to use Customer Match and Enhanced Conversions for Leads. |
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Activate AI-powered campaignsPut Google AI to work for your lead generation goals Embrace value-based bidding: If you can assign different values to your leads, use value-based bidding strategies like Maximize conversion value or Maximize conversion value with target ROAS to optimize bids and prioritize your budget to reach your most valuable customers. To learn more about value-based-bidding, watch our miniseries here. Is value-based bidding for lead gen right for me TipUse Conversion value rules to further refine your bidding based on geographic location, device, and audiences.
Keep pace with evolving consumer search behavior: Use broad match with Smart Bidding in Search campaigns to appear on a wider range of relevant and valuable queries. Drive more leads across all of Google’s channels: Capture the highest-ROI opportunities in real time and multiply leads across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps from a single campaign with Performance Max. TipAdd call assets and lead form assets to your Search, Performance Max, Video, and Display campaigns so that leads can call you or submit their information directly in your ad. Create and convert new demand: Use immersive, visual storytelling on YouTube, Discover, and Gmail with Demand Gen campaigns to drive leads when customers aren’t actively searching. Set social-like CPA or ROAS targets for the best results, and customize your Google AI strategy by channel, audience, and creative to tailor messages. Increase your base of loyal customers: If you have a mobile app that drives strong engagement with your customers, win new app users across Google's extensive channels—including Google Play, Search, and YouTube—and drive them to download your app with App campaigns for installs. |
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Optimize and expandSafeguard campaign quality and stay agile to capture opportunity Leverage content suitability settings: Control where your ads appear with content and placement exclusions. Refine further with brand exclusions to keep your campaigns from serving for branded queries you want to avoid. Implement additional lead verification methods: Consider tools like ReCAPTCHA, double opt-in, or server-side validation to ensure lead authenticity. Align your targets and budget with your performance goals: Set bid targets based on patterns in your past campaign performance, considering factors like seasonality or previous promotional activities. Make sure these targets are aligned to your actual ROAS and CPA goals. Budget strategically—your CPA or ROAS targets act as your spend levers. If campaigns are constrained by budget, you'll be leaving conversions on the table. TipYou can use Performance Planner to create plans for your advertising spend and assess how changes to your campaign might affect key metrics and overall performance.
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1. Source: Google Data, Ads, May-June 2024.