Demand Gen campaigns can drive significant conversions, increase brand awareness, and boost engagement when executed effectively. With the power of dynamic content and targeting strategies, your message reaches consumers precisely when they are most likely to take action.
But how can you get the most out of your Demand Gen campaigns? Here are the six essential components that can help you build a successful Demand Gen campaign:
- Creative
- Audiences
- Conversion Health
- Campaign Structure
- Bidding Strategy
- Budget Setting
Optimise these six components to run effective Demand Gen campaigns that capture attention, nurture leads, and drive conversions. Let’s take a deep dive.
Creative Strategy
Use Image And Video Together
Use both image and video content to craft a unified story. Tailor the format that resonates best with your audience
- Prioritise Multi-Platform Assets: Think mobile-first and use high-performing assets from other campaigns or audiences to optimise overall performance.
- Tailor Creative for the Platform: Customise your creative assets to match the platform you’re advertising on. For video content, apply the ABCD framework (Audience, Branding, Connection, Direction) to guide your approach. Repeat your CTA in both the voiceover and on-screen graphics.
Audience Strategy
Create A Core Audience Profile
Create a detailed profile of your current customers. Combine this with Google’s audience signals to uncover new customer segments that align with your existing base.
- Start With Customer Match and Remarketing: Use your first-party data through Customer Match to re-engage with customers who have previously interacted with your brand.
- Add Custom Segments and Search Terms: Personalise your audience based on relevant search terms. Curate your custom segment using 10–15 of the highest-converting keywords to enhance targeting precision.
- Utilise Optimised Targeting (OT): If your goal is to drive conversions, OT can help improve campaign performance with the power of machine learning.
Use Lookalike Segments To Discover Similar Users
Take advantage of lookalike segments to find new users who share similarities with your most valuable customers.
- Use Google’s AI To Amplify First-Party Data: Upload your customer list to Google, and use AI to identify potential new users who resemble your current customer base.
- Segment High-Value and Low-Value Customers: Separate your audience into high-value and low-value customers to create distinct lookalike segments. Focus on targeting users who engage similarly to your most profitable customers.
- Reusable Lookalike Segments: Lookalike segments can be saved and reused across various campaigns so that your targeting remains consistent throughout.
Conversion Health Strategy
Enable Site-Wide Tagging
Implement site-wide tagging across your website to enhance the accuracy of your conversion tracking. The unified tag unlocks advanced features like enhanced conversions and cross-account conversion tracking.
Set Up Conversion Tracking
Use a unified tag to make sure you have accurate conversion tracking in place. Track valuable actions and get access to enhanced conversions and cross-account tracking.
Optimise for the Right Bidding Strategy
Choose the most suitable bidding strategy based on your campaign’s specific conversion goals to boost efficiency.
Campaign Structure Strategy
Set Up Consolidate Campaigns
Set up consolidated campaigns to use machine-learning models like Demand Gen, which perform best when provided with large data sets.
- Create a Single Campaign for Your Business: Unless you have specific marketing objectives, ROI targets, or bid strategies, it’s most efficient to use a single campaign so your efforts are streamlined and focused on a consistent set of goals.
- Combine Audience Themes Within One Ad Group: Group similar audience themes together in the same ad group (e.g., combine ‘baseball’ and ‘football’ into a broader ‘sports’ theme) as machine learning operates at the ad group level.
- Size Ad Groups Based on Conversion Volume: Adjust the size of your ad groups based on conversion volume. To optimise performance, ensure each ad group generates at least 50 conversions within the first 30 days. Merge ad groups with fewer than ~30 conversions in 30 days into larger groups.
Utilise Product Feeds for Retail Campaigns
Use product feeds to turn your ads into a virtual storefront. If you're a retailer, whether online or in-store, use Google Merchant Center, a free tool that connects your products with millions of shoppers on Google.
Upload and manage your product feeds to make sure your products appear across Demand Gen campaigns and other Google ad types.
Bidding Strategy
Choose the Right Bidding Strategy for Your Campaign Goals
The bidding strategy you select should align with your specific campaign objectives. Here’s how to tailor your strategy:
Campaign Goal: Conversions
If your goal is to drive conversions, Maximise Conversions is the recommended strategy. It focuses on getting the most conversions within your budget. If you have a specific ROI target, Target CPA (tCPA) can be a good alternative, as it optimises for cost per acquisition based on your desired ROI.
Campaign Goal: Multiple Conversions / Conversion Value
For campaigns aimed at multiple conversions or overall conversion value, Maximise Conversion Value is the recommended strategy. It ensures that you get the most value from your conversions. If you have a specific ROI target, Target ROAS (tROAS) can be used as an alternative.
Campaign Goal: Clicks / Website Traffic / Consideration
When the focus is on driving website traffic or increasing consideration, Maximise Clicks is the recommended bidding strategy. This strategy aims to generate the highest number of clicks within your budget. However, if you’re targeting a specific type of website traffic—such as users who interact with a product or spend a certain amount of time on a page—Maximise Conversions may be a more appropriate choice to achieve more valuable traffic.
Monitor Performance with Bid Strategy Report
Use the Bid Strategy Report to assess the performance of your chosen bidding strategy over time. This report provides insights into important metrics such as clicks, impressions, CTR, cost, and conversions. Customise the report to include specific metrics that align with your campaign’s unique needs and preferences.
Budget Setting Strategy
Set Sufficient Budgets for Optimal Performance
Allocate adequate budget so that your campaign can compete in your target audience’s auction. Proper budget setting helps to drive sustained performance and allows the campaign to gather enough data for machine learning models.
Budget Recommendations Based on Bidding Strategy
Conversion Bidding
- Maximise Conversions: We recommend a daily budget of at least $100 per campaign to ensure enough budget for the campaign to capture conversions and achieve optimal performance.
- Target CPA (tCPA): For tCPA campaigns, aim for a daily budget of at least $100 per campaign or 20x your target CPA—whichever amount is higher.
Value Bidding
- Maximise Conversion Value: We recommend a daily budget of at least $100 per campaign for campaigns focusing on total conversion value.
- Target ROAS (tROAS): For tROAS campaigns, set a daily budget of at least $100 per campaign or 20x your expected average conversion value divided by tROAS—whichever amount is higher.
Click Bidding
- Maximise Clicks: There is no minimum budget requirement for Maximise Clicks campaigns. But, your budget should be large enough to generate meaningful traffic and engagement.
Budget Optimisation
Campaigns and ad groups with more than 50 conversions generally perform better. Optimise your budgets to maximise conversion volume so your campaign gets enough data for better decision-making.
By ensuring sufficient budget allocation from Day 1 and aligning it with your specific campaign goals—whether it’s maximising conversions, conversion value, or clicks—you enable the campaign to operate efficiently and generate meaningful results.
Regularly monitor performance, adjust budgets as needed, and focus on optimising for higher conversion volumes. With thoughtful planning and consistent optimisation, you can achieve better outcomes and drive long-term growth for your business.
Need a fresh perspective? Let’s talk.
At 360 OM, we specialise in helping businesses take their marketing efforts to the next level. Our team stays on top of industry trends, uses data-informed decisions to maximise your ROI, and provides full transparency through comprehensive reports.
