Hero Conf 2016 Conference Recap

Earlier this week, our Search Engine Marketing Analysts took a road trip to Philadelphia to attend Hero Conf 2016 – the World’s Largest All-PPC Event. After spending most of the car ride trying to figure out how to properly order the perfect Philly Cheesesteak, they sat down with industry experts to learn about the latest trends in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Here are a few of the key concepts and messages the SEM team gathered from the conference:

1. Tailor your search ads to people who visit your site. Remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) are growing in popularity. Remarketing targets people who have visited your websites in the past. Unlike traditional banner ad remarketing that shows image ads to people as they browse the web, RLSA targets those previous visitors when they do future searches on Google. Through RLSA, we can target your niche audience and get potential customers to come back to your website.

2. Don’t focus on pausing keywords with high cost-per-conversions. Your instinct might be to pause keywords that have a high cost-per-conversion – but don’t forget to think about assisted conversions! Often times, people who are looking for a product will search for different terms throughout their decision making process and come back a few days later to make their final purchase. Although the high cost-per-conversion keyword may not get “credit” for the end purchase, it is still responsible for that customer finding your brand.

3. Target competitors with Gmail Ads. We always recommend targeting your competitors! This means that when your competitor emails their customers, your advertisement will also show up at the top of their inbox. This is a great way to get your brand noticed by people who are already interested in similar services.

4. Don’t be concerned with Ad Blockers! When Ad Blockers became popular, many people were concerned about the future of paid advertising. Fortunately, there has not been any slowdown in the growth of ad spend over the past few years. Don’t worry – your ads will still continue to perform effectively!

5. Utilize psychographics in audience targeting. In addition to demographics (location, age, gender, etc.), really think about your target market – what are their interests? What pages would they like on Facebook? What is their job title? Also utilize exclusions to ensure you are not wasting valuable marketing dollars on users not likely to convert!

Ferocious Media is always on top of the latest happenings in Search Engine Marketing. Interested in learning more about the SEM services that we offer? Visit our website to learn more, we are happy to help you get the greatest value out of your cost-per-click.