The bitter cold of winter is finally behind us, and in its place comes sunshine, blooming flowers, and the fresh feeling of springtime.
For many people, spring means cleaning out the closets, sweeping the garage, and vacuuming up the dust that’s accumulated over the past several months. If you're a marketer, the same is true – just in a slightly different context.
Over the past few weeks, we've shared some insights to help you tidy up your marketing strategy. In case you missed anything, here's a quick recap:
Dig into Your Design
Your spring cleaning design strategy shapes the way your business is perceived by the masses. Refresh your profile images and social media advertisements to make sure they’re up to par with the image you’re trying to convey to the world. This is a great time to update your logo and refresh your branding on digital and marketing collateral, too.
Finally, step back and look at your website from a visitor's perspective. It's hard to do when you're so ingrained in the day-to-day business of your company, but it's an important step to ensure that your site is easy to navigate and free of unnecessary clutter.
Delve Into Development
Visible errors on your website are bad enough (and should be corrected immediately), but it’s the behind-the-scenes aspects of website development cleanup that can really damage your company’s reputation. Make sure your software is up-to-date so both your business and customers are protected from security threats.
This is also a great time to optimize your site’s speed – slow load times turn visitors away and can damage your SEO.
Plan Your PPC Properly
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is an effective marketing tool, but only when it’s used right. This spring, clean up your PPC campaigns by pausing low-performing or low-quality keywords in favor of phrases that are earning their keep. Stop wasting money on ineffective ad placements (like mobile apps and irrelevant websites) that aren’t driving conversions. The idea of advertising is to make your investment back by way of customer purchases; if you’re spending more than you’re making to get eyes on your brand, it’s a bad deal.
Refresh old ad copy with new words and imagery, too. If your audience is tired of seeing the same ads over and over, chances are they won’t click.
1. Keywords: Put Low-Performing Keywords on Pause
You put your best words out to the universe, but sometimes, they don’t resonate with the public as you thought they would. There are dozens of reasons your keywords may not be converting visitors into customers. If they’re clicking but not buying, you’re spending money on people who aren’t paying you back.
This is where Pay-Per-Click advertising goes wrong. One of the main points of PPC is to control advertising costs by putting your ads in front of the people who are most likely to be interested in them. If you’re paying this attention without receiving a return on your investment, it’s time to consider putting those keywords on pause. Before you do, make sure to analyze why you aren’t seeing the return you had expected. This can be a big undertaking, but it’s important to know what isn’t working so you don’t fall into this trap in the future. Here are some things to consider:
- Have those keywords worked well in the past? If so, what changed?
- Are you sending people to a poorly designed landing page?
- Is the landing page irrelevant to the terms that brought people there in the first place?
Before you click pause, make sure you recognize what’s causing the low performance in the first place. By understanding the deficiencies, you’ll be in a better position to refine your keyword targeting strategy further in future campaigns.
2. Display Placements: Stop Wasting Money on Mobile Apps and Irrelevant Website Placements
Campaigns on the Google Display Network are a fantastic way to proactively generate brand awareness for a targeted audience. With the demographic and interest targeting segments available through the Google Ads platform, there are plenty of opportunities to get your ads in front of users who are likely to be interested in your business. However, without continued maintenance and evaluation of these campaigns’ placements, your money could be going to waste.
Irrelevant website placement can not only cost you money and lower campaign efficiency, but it can also hurt your company’s reputation. Let’s say you own a local coffee shop and you’re targeting websites with content discussing the keyword “coffee.” It makes sense on paper, but if your ad appears next to an article that talks about how coffee can poorly affect your health, you’re doing yourself and your brand a disservice.
Similar to auditing the website content where your ad is being displayed, make sure you’re also considering the user’s intent when they’re browsing that website. For example, ad placements on mobile apps often tend to generate a large amount of traffic through the Display Network. But, due to the user being distracted or short on time, they’re also one of the lowest converting.
3. Refreshing Ad Copy: Send the Stale Stuff to the Delete Pile
You should always be testing multiple ad variations in your account, but over time some ad copy can become repetitive and ineffective. If your audience sees the same variations too frequently, they’ll start to ignore it completely – which isn’t going to yield positive results when auditing your campaign’s click-through rate metrics. It’s not always easy to decide when it’s time to put old ads to rest. Here’s a look at a few things you should be thinking about:
- Does your ad blend in with those of your competitors? It’s easy to get caught up using the same phrases as everybody else. However, if your brand is blending in with the crowd, your ads are not doing their job.
- Have people stopped clicking? It’s possible you’ve given your audience ad fatigue. This can happen when the same ad is seen too frequently, causing your audience to lose interest and eventually stop clicking.
Are your advertisements based on seasonality? Don’t forget to update your ads after major holidays and when the seasons change. There’s nothing more awkward than seeing an ad touting beach season in the middle of winter.
Concentrate on Content Marketing
Conduct a content audit to determine the effectiveness of your blog posts, eBooks, and case studies. Once you know what’s working (and what’s not), you can clean up your content marketing strategy accordingly. You should also examine your existing content and remove redundant or irrelevant information. Finally, brainstorm topics and build a content calendar so you’re well-prepared for the rest of the year (and beyond!).
Spiff Up Your SEO
You can’t get far these days without Google on your side, so review your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tags and make sure they’re being presented in proper form. Take a look at your blogs and update them accordingly. If possible, avoid deleting content in favor of refreshing it – search engines will likely reward you for your recycling efforts.
Get Serious About Social Media
Make sure your social media content is appropriate for your brand and target audience. The same goes for the social media platforms you’re currently using; if you’re not seeing positive results from a certain social site, it might be time to call it quits and focus on more appropriate platforms. Take a look at your analytics so you can be sure your content is seen by the people who are likely to give you the most profitable attention.
Tackle Your Spring-Cleaning Step-By-Step
Spring is a time for new beginnings and fresh starts. Take advantage of this clean slate by refreshing your marketing strategy. From web development to your PPC ads, there are plenty of areas that might need a bit of sprucing up. Make sure you don’t miss any steps by downloading our spring-cleaning checklist!
If you’re searching for an expert team to assist you with your spring-cleaning, look no further than Zero Gravity Marketing. We’ve brought the most dedicated and talented marketing minds together to help you get your spring-cleaning strategies underway. Whether you’re spiffing up what’s already working well for your business, or you’ve decided to grow your online presence in a whole different way, we’ll make sure your marketing strategy is ready to take on the year. Contact us today to get started!
Tyler Bishop
