Getting the most out of Google Display Planner

So Google canned Ad Planner some time back, and brought out its shiny new display planner instead - and I gotta say, I love this thing.

Ad placement is the name of the game in display network marketing. If you don't have that you may as well dig a dirty great big hole in the middle of your office and throw all of your CPM (cost per million impressions) dollars in it and burn 'em. They're now officially useless. 

I'm always harping on to my customers & staff about CPA (cost per acquisition). 'CPA guys....CPA!' 

They're probably sick of me telling them this, however, it is quite simply the only thing you need to be focused on in digital marketing - the rest simply stems from it. For people who don't know what CPA is - it's as the name suggests, the amount it cost you to gain an acquisition. Now defining an acquisition is important - is it a sale? Is it a phone call? Is it a form submission?

The main game here is to get the CPA down as far as possible while also striking a balance with volume - and ultimately profitably.

Building a winning CPA Strategy

So to be effective in your online CPA strategy (or in fact, with any form of Search Engine Marketing) or display network marketing, you need to have effective tools. This is where Google display planner comes in. Gone are the days of experimenting and identifying what display networks are worth investing in. With its wealth of data and its marketing tools, Google is the clear winner.

Google display planner's search is incredibly accurate showing you sites that actually ARE relevant to your service or product, and the metrics that they provide on this really are quite scary. Audience details like demographics, age, gender etc are served up at your whim. Your ability to effectively target and improve your display network CPA is achievable with this tool now. It also comes with a campaign builder, so literally within minutes, you can select your partnering sites, identify the placements, port it all across to your Adwords account, generate your ads automatically through a site page url (Yep that's right - pictures, text, the whole box and dice {I definitely should write a follow up blog on this feature alone}), set your budgets and your site is out there!

At Mudbath, the strategy that goes into developing these campaigns is really what we are about when it comes to digital marketing. Building the assets is a relatively straightforward process as I explained above, however there are also onsite factors that form the other side of the whole conversion funnel. Put simply: is your landing page conversion driven? Does it have the right call to actions? Is it targeted towards your market? If none of these factors are considered, grab your shovel again - and dig another hole. Start with CPA, and target Conversions.

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