4/29/2009

| Kelsey Highland Justine Brado

GOOGLE

ADWORDS CONCEPT RESERVE POST-CAMPAIGN SUMMARY

Executive Summary. In preparing for the Google AdWords campaign strategy for

ConceptReserve, our group considered various goals and objectives in order to achieve

maximum benefit for the client. These goals and objectives were developed after discussion

with a member of ConceptReserve, and included converting website visitors to into

registrations for workshops in Chicago and San Diego, enrollments in free online seminars,

or webinars, and generating leads for the company‟s nation-wide corporate training

workshops.

The two-hundred dollar ($200) budget was initially allocated evenly between four

campaigns; however after close monitoring of the campaigns‟ performance, the funds were

re-distributed in order to reach the maximum click through rate (CTR) possible. Other

changes were also made in order to reduce the average cost per click (CPC) and improve

relevance of keywords to the ConceptReserve website. The final results of the

ConceptReserve campaign are as follows:

73 clicks

76,485 impressions

overall click-through rate (CTR) of 0.10%

average cost per click (CPC) $2.73

Most notable key results of the three week campaign include:

The Chicago campaign receiving the highest click through rate (CTR), in both the

search and content networks.

The Webinar campaign receiving the greatest number of clicks and impressions,

and had the lowest average cost per click (CPC).

In all three campaigns which receiving clicks, the search network achieved greater

click through rates (CTR) than did the content network.

Recommendations for ConceptReserve‟s future online marketing include waiting to

run campaigns for specific regional workshops until closer to their scheduled dates, and

focusing on the search network, as opposed to the content network. Another consideration is

looking into search engine optimization for their website, in order to improve their ranking in

the natural search results. This could include the addition of related content to

ConceptReserve.com to allow for more relevant traffic to be directed to the website.

Industry Component. During the course of the three week campaign, we were able

to gain valuable insight into the world of search engine marketing. The industry component

section of this post-campaign strategy outlines the key quantitative results of the campaign.

These include the following metrics: clicks, impressions, click through rate (CTR), average

cost per click (CPC), and cost. Budgetary and strategic decisions and results are also

analyzed.

ConceptReserve set a number of goals for the Google AdWords campaign. Of these,

the most important was generating leads for sales of their corporate workshops. In order to

obtain these leads, the client wished to achieve a quality click-through rate (CTR). Specific

goals for each campaign were as follows:

Campaign Goal

Chicago Workshop

Convert website visitors to registrations for

the May 13-14, 2009 workshops taking place

in Chicago, Illinois

San Diego Workshop

Convert website visitors to registrations for

the June 17-18, 2009 workshops taking place

in San Diego, California

Webinars

Convert website visitors to enrollments for

ConceptReserve‟s ongoing live online

seminars

Nation-Wide Workshop Generate interest in workshops taking place

across the United States

As a means of accomplishing the preceding goals, we worked with ConceptReserve to

optimize the content of their website to ensure its relevance to keywords chosen for each

respective campaign. This enabled us to receive the maximum amount of clicks for dollars

spent.

The timeframe for the campaign was set for Tuesday, March 31, 2009 through

Tuesday, April 21, 2009. Of the two-hundred dollar ($200) budget, we were able to utilize

one-hundred, ninety-nine dollars and forty-three cents ($199.43).

Methods for monitoring the campaign included periodically examining the Google

AdWords campaign summary, paying close attention to key performance indicators including

the number of impressions, clicks, and most importantly, the ratio of the two (click through

rate, or CTR).

The first major change in the campaign was made during the first week, to the San

Diego workshops campaign. The keywords for the San Diego campaign generated

impressions early in the campaign, but no clicks were received. We believe the reason for this

campaign‟s struggles was a result of the longer time-lag between the time it was run and the

actual occurrence of the workshops. ConceptReserve indicated to us that they usually see the

most registrations no more than a month prior to the actual event; the San Diego campaign

began more than two months before the workshop. Because of this, the decision was made

(after consultation with the client) to pause this campaign in order to free up funds for the

remaining campaigns. These funds were initially allocated equally between the four

campaigns; however during the course of the campaign we altered the budget according to

the performance of each respective campaign.

Another significant change made to the overall campaign was the addition of more ad

variations, in order to more accurately reflect the content of the client‟s website. This was

done by taking the top keyword clicks and implementing them into the headline of the ads.

For example, we discovered that „leadership skills,‟ and „leadership development,‟ were

among our most searched keywords; we then took these keywords and included them as part

of the first line of copy, or the headline, in the ads, which enabled us to decrease the cost per

click for the same keywords. As a result, we were able to stretch the budget even further and

obtain more clicks at a lower cost.

Minor changes to the campaign included fine-tuning keywords which were receiving

low impression or click through numbers. Examples of this include changing „leadership

effectiveness,‟ to „leadership training,‟ and „manager productivity,‟ to „management training.‟

The campaign as a whole ultimately received seventy-three (73) clicks, and seventy-

six thousand, four hundred eighty-five (76,485) impressions, for an overall click-through rate

(CTR) of one tenth of one percent (0.10%). The average cost per click (CPC) was two dollars

and seventy-three cents ($2.73).

The chart above depicts the cost of our campaign over the course of three weeks. It is

interesting to point out the cost of $0.00 during the weekend (when the entire campaign was

paused, because of our business-to-business targeting) and the spikes during the week, which

indicate that employees who seek out ConceptReserve‟s services are searching most heavily.

Our client explained this most eloquently, “People are more productive at the beginning of

the week.”

Campaign Clicks Impressions CTR Avg CPC Cost

Chicago 4 1,954 0.20% $3.36 $13.43

Search 3 936 0.32% $3.26 $9.77

Content 1 1,018 0.10% $3.66 $3.66

San Diego 0 729 0.00% $0.00 $0.00

Search 0 461 0.00% $0.00 $0.00

Content 0 268 0.00% $0.00 $0.00

Webinar 45 33,109 0.14% $2.49 $111.84

Search 33 11,921 0.28% $2.33 $77.00

Content 12 21,188 0.06% $2.90 $34.84

Nation-Wide 24 40,693 0.06% $3.09 $74.16

Search 1 699 0.14% $2.95 $2.95

Content 23 39,994 0.06% $3.10 $71.21

The figure above illustrates the key results of our campaign. Among the most notable

results are:

The Chicago campaign received the highest click through rate (CTR), in both the

search and content networks.

The Webinar campaign received the greatest number of clicks and impressions,

and had the lowest average cost per click (CPC).

In all three campaigns which received clicks, the search network achieved greater

click through rates (CTR) than did the content network.

The only campaign which utilized different AdGroups was the Webinar campaign;

four AdGroups were used. The most successful of these AdGroups was targeted employees

who were looking for help in becoming better leaders. This AdGroup achieved the highest

click through rate (CTR) of the entire campaign, 0.54% overall, and it attained an

exceptionally high CTR of 0.84% on the search network.

In summary, we are pleased that nearly the entire budget was utilized. We believe

campaigns for specific regional workshops will achieve the highest click through rates (CTR)

within a month of the workshop‟s occurrence. It is evident that targeting individual

employees, rather than human resources representatives, returns superior click through rates

(CTR). It is also clear that ads run on the search network return higher click through rates,

and placing the most searched keywords within the headline of ads helps to lower the cost per

click (CPC).

Recommendations for ConceptReserve‟s future online marketing include waiting to

run campaigns for specific regional workshops until closer to their scheduled dates, and

focusing on the search network, as opposed to the content network. An additional

consideration is looking into search engine optimization for their website, in order to improve

their ranking in the natural search results.

Learning Component. In entering the Google AdWords competition, we hoped to

learn more about the mechanics of Google‟s advertising programs, but throughout

participation also leaned lessons about teamwork and collaboration with professional clients

working in the field. Key outcomes that will be remembered and referred back to during our

future professional careers are those unexpected pearls of wisdom gained, regarding joint

effort and client relations.

Much was learned concerning group dynamics. Though the group was initially

comprised of four members, by the time the campaign was launched, only two remained.

Issues with miscommunication, meeting attendance, and effort and contribution levels led us

to terminate two members of the group, leaving the remaining two with the task of fulfilling

commitments to the client and meeting client expectations for the campaign.

Miscommunication and meeting attendance were directly correlated in this case. E-

mails, phone calls, SMS text messages, and verbal agreements arranging meeting times were

apparently inadequate means of confirming the terminated member‟s presence at meetings. In

many cases, meetings were also begun late while waiting for these members to arrive after no

communication alerting us that they were unable to attend.

Lack of attendance and tardiness of group members also occurred within the client‟s

view. During the initial meeting with the client, one member was absent altogether. On the

agenda for the second meeting with the client was a conference call with the president of

ConceptReserve; at this meeting the same group member came in late, making excessive

noise with his book bag and causing a distraction for the rest of the group, as well as the

client. Needless to say, this was a fairly embarrassing display of his lack of professionalism.

Numerous attempts were made to delegate tasks among all team members and

accommodate each member‟s schedule of other obligations, however no change was seen.

The group‟s faculty advisor was made aware of the issues at hand; when he tried to contact

the offending member multiple times though e-mail he received no response and was forced

to resort to one-on-one discussion after class. During this conversation, the group member

was warned of his unstable position within the group, and was disingenuous in his offering to

contribute more.

The ultimate cause for two group members‟ dismissal from the group occurred when

the agreement was made for an early Saturday morning meeting to pull together the pre-

campaign strategy before it was due to the faculty advisor. At this meeting, the two members

in question failed to arrive on time, and after multiple attempts to contact them, the remaining

members were left with no option other than to complete the work alone and „fire‟ the others.

Since the elimination of these non-compatible associates, the remaining group

members have collaborated exceedingly well with one another, agreeing on respective

assignments and having those assignments completed for meetings so that work can continue,

making each meeting enjoyable and productive.

Working with a professional client was also a valuable learning experience. Despite

the mishaps with former group members, the remaining members were able to remain in

good esteem with the client and successfully complete the task at hand. Our relationship with

the client also grew to one of mentorship, and we were able to have conversations about post-

college job searches, the recent economic crisis‟ effects on his industry, and additional

marketing tactics ConceptReserve is considering.

This is not to say there were no issues with the client; communication issues also

arose in this area of the campaign. The ConceptReserve contact was also a faculty member at

our university, and initially promised he would be readily available to consult and assist us

with the campaign. He actually approached us with the idea of using ConceptReserve as our

client, and we chose the company because of our close proximity and communication

convenience to him.

However, his responsibilities to the university led him to be out of town for much of

the semester, and communicating via e-mail often proved difficult; on occasion emails went

unanswered for periods over two weeks. This presented the most difficulty after much of the

pre-campaign strategy was outlined before he left on a business trip, and upon his return

decided to drastically alter the proposed campaigns just before the document was due. The

situation led to high stress levels during the completion of the pre-campaign strategy, but the

crisis was overcome, and we are not only satisfied, but proud of the work that resulted.

Through this specific experience, we learned to take more initiative to proactively determine

what work could be done while waiting to receive correspondence from the client.

In the future, some things we might do differently include more carefully selecting

group members, becoming more familiar with the nature of the client‟s business, and

ensuring the specific time commitments on the part of each group member, as well as the

client contact.

Confirming availability and time commitments of all parties involved is an important

step in group and client dynamics; it is critically important for everyone‟s expectations of

others so there is no confusion as to who is responsible for specific tasks, when meetings will

occur, or what the deadlines are. Unfortunately, the timeline for the competition didn‟t allow

time for all parties to learn all of these preliminary items.

Additionally, conducting more thorough research about the nature of the client‟s

business might have changed the entire experience. Our contact admitted after conclusion of

the campaign that during times of economic difficulty, training is one of the first expenditures

to be cut from corporate budgets. We feel this was a major reason for the lack of conversions

seen by ConceptReserve.

A final recommendation for future AdWords campaigns concerns optimization of the

ConceptReserve website to improve relevance in relation to keywords in the campaign.

Though the website was augmented prior to this campaign, this was simply the addition of

landing pages for each respective campaign. The client is frequently cited in various online

publications; if possible we recommend obtaining rights to publish this content on their

websites in order to develop more pertinent results, not only in paid search engine results, but

also within organic search results.