PPC Advertising: Raising Your Quality Score

For one of my clients, we’ve developed animated explainer videos that we’re using for YouTube advertising. For each video, I’ve created a corresponding landing page that lives on our website. This page is only accessible to those who watch our ads/videos and click on the call to action. It’s been running for a little more than a month; we’ve closely identified our audience, our cost-per-click (CPC) is around $2.25, and we’re getting a nice increase in site traffic and calls. I’m carefully monitoring and tracking this effort, and we’re raising our quality score. 

What is a Quality Score and why does it matter? 

Landing pages are often a potential customer’s first interaction with a brand, and they set the stage for an ongoing relationship. Quality Score is an approximation of your keywords’ and ads’ relevance to your target audience. It’s usually represented as a number from 1-10. Search engines and social media platforms use this metric to decide which ads to show and how much to charge for each click or impression. 

Google ads pioneered Quality Score in their ad rank algorithm to reward those advertisers with relevant ads with a lower CPC. Most PPC platforms use this formula to determine where your ads appear. CPC Bid x Quality Score = Ad Rank.

Quality Score Guidelines

• Landing page experience: Is your ad’s landing page relevant to visitors’ intent, helping them accomplish their objectives quickly and transparently?
• Ad click-through rate (CTR)/Engagement: Are your ads clicked as often as competing ads?
• Ad relevance: Do your ads align with your audiences’ interests and intent?
• Post-click conversion rate: Are visitors likely to convert or take meaningful action after clicking your ad?
• Recency: Are your ads recently published or updated regularly?

God only knows what goes on with algorithms, but landing pages are one part of the of the PPC campaign process over which we do have control. We can provide relevant content, fast loading time and make sure our sites look great across all devices. 

Quality Score across platforms

Savvy PPC advertisers understand the nuance of each platform and customize their campaigns for the best results. 

• Google. Google Ads’ emphasize the overall user experience. Your landing pages must be relevant to keywords and ads that your visitors clicked on, but it’s just as important to that your landing page loads quickly, is secure, and looks great on all screens. 
• Facebook. Quality is measured using feedback on your ads and the post-click experience. Your ad is ranked against ads that competed for the same audience, ads that have the same optimization goal and your expected conversion rate.
• Twitter. There’s no mention of landing pages. Most of Twitter ads’ conversions happen within their platform in the form of likes, retweets, content engagement and follows.

Algorithms are opaque, so it can be difficult to know what’s working or not. Strive for clean, simple messaging that’s visually pleasing. A call to action that’s accessible. Monitor your ad and check frequently. 

PPC Advertising: Raising Your Quality Score. Talk to Top of Mind Marketing about your content program, including online advertising and PPC campaigns. Get it right and make it work for you

Rethinking Content Delivery: Big Brands Embrace Video

Video’s snagged a place in the Top 5 Trends for 2016

Take a look at any of the experts’ Top 10 Marketing Trends for 2016 and video has snagged a place in the top five. Sure, we all know we should be doing video—it’s great for SEO, it’s fun, engaging, informative and for certain demographics, this is the preferred way to receive information. But let’s be realistic. Good videos are expensive; they require scripts, perhaps a narrator, background music and professional videographers to create a polished product. And once you’re finished, it’s time for another one, and it takes time and money to keep producing high-quality products. You think they cost too much and have limited reach. Let’s take a look at a video that Marriott produced that’s been wildly successful.

Marriott’s 19-minute video: more than 8M YouTube views

Marriott released the follow-up to its Two Bellmen original short film earlier this year, with the sequel approaching 8M views on YouTube — more than the number of viewers who tuned in to see CBS’ premiere of Man with a Plan. This 19-minute action comedy, Two Bellmen Two, built its viewership over a period of months as consumers shared the content with friends via social media. This is important because it’s the result of consumers increasingly shifting their viewing habits from TV to smartphones and laptops. Savvy brands are creating content that makes an emotional connection with viewers andgets them in front of impressive numbers of potential new customers — in some cases, more than they could with a traditional TV ad.

“ If you deliver something that is valuable and they want to watch, they will actually engage,” said David Beebe, VP of creative and content marketing at Marriott International.

 Content production moves in-house as big brands build studios

This shift in the traditional content creation/delivery model was the topic of a panel discussion at the ad: tech conference in New York in December that featured executives from Marriott International and Charles Schwab. These two big brands are building in-house content studios to produce the kinds of content that today’s new consumers want. Make that millennials. They’re shifting away from TV to embrace a variety of digital content formats.

Demand for video is growing

As consumers look for compelling online content they can share with friends, the demand for video is growing. Brands need content that transcends traditional advertising, and this can be difficult for agencies to grasp. Two Bellmen was first launched in early 2015 and has received more than 5M YouTube views. A sequel came out in early 2016 and a third installment has debuted. Marriott’s efforts have proven successful enough that it is now licensing some of its content, turning its marketing into a revenue source. They’ve developed travel documentaries, webisodes, VR experiences and influencer-driven videos.

You have to be able to take risks; legacy attitudes can stand in the way

For marketers looking to jump into this kind of quality content, one of the biggest hurdles can be resistance from executives who are reluctant to make a significant investment when they don’t see a direct link to a sale. Legacy attitudes can hold companies back, so they must be able to take risks, make mistakes and learn from them. Charles Schwab, long recognized for clever advertising that reaches consumers on a personal level, created a small team three years ago that is focused on telling brand stories that connect with people. Previously, most of the content was focused primarily on traditional selling of products and services.

Today’s marketing is about telling stories

As brands increasingly become content creators, they need to consider new metrics that keep pace as they open the door to new relationships. At Charles Schwab, the content team demonstrated that the videos it created acquired new customers and drove existing ones to sign up for additional products. Brands embarking on a content strategy need to ensure that they continue to engage with their audience.

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