Google AdWords Rolls Out Enhanced Campaigns

Enhanced Campaigns—Multi-Device Targeting 

If running a PPC campaign wasn’t complicated enough with constant upkeep, testing and keyword nuances, Google AdWords now drops what it calls enhanced campaigns. And before you throw in the digital towel, understand that our GannettLocal Paid Media team is excited about the opportunity, but why? 

According to Google, “With enhanced campaigns, instead of having to cobble together and compare several separate campaigns, reports and ad extensions, the [advertiser] can easily manage all of this in one single place. Enhanced campaigns help advertisers reach people with the right ads, based on their context like location, time of day and device type, across all devices without having to set up and manage several separate campaigns.”

By organizing these campaigns, advertisers have the ability to target consumers in real time and focus on certain devices on the fly.

Take a look at these key features Google is releasing:

• Powerful marketing tools for the multi-device world
  People want search results that are relevant for the context they are in — their device, location and the time of day. Enhanced campaigns help you better manage your campaigns and budgets for this multi-device world. With bid adjustments, you can manage bids for your ads across devices, locations, time of day and more — all from a single campaign.
  
  Example: A breakfast cafe wants to reach people nearby searching for "coffee" or "breakfast" on a smartphone. Using bid adjustments, with three simple entries, they can bid 25% higher for people searching a half-mile away, 20% lower for searches after 11am, and 50% higher for searches on smartphones. These bid adjustments can apply to all ads and all keywords in one single campaign.

• Smarter ads optimized for varying user contexts
  People on the go or near your store may be looking for different things than someone sitting at their desk. With enhanced campaigns, you’ll show ads across devices with the right ad text, sitelink, app or extension, without having to edit each campaign for every possible combination of devices, location and time of day. 
  
  Example: A national retailer with both physical locations and a website can show ads with click-to-call and location extensions for people searching on their smartphones, while showing an ad for their e-commerce website to people searching on a PC — all within a single campaign.

• Advanced reports to measure new conversion types
  Technology is enabling people to take action on your ads in new ways. Potential customers may see your ad and download your app, or they may call you. It’s been hard for marketers to easily measure and compare these interactions. To help you measure the full value of your campaigns, enhanced campaigns enables you to easily count calls and app downloads as conversions in your AdWords reports. 
  
  Example: You can count phone calls of 60 seconds or longer that result from a click-to-call ad as a conversion in your AdWords reports, and compare them to other conversions like leads, sales and downloads. 

When will this be available, and what does this mean to you?

Enhanced campaigns is set to release as an option in the next few weeks to advertisers currently running campaigns, and by mid-year all campaigns will be switched over to this format.

This is proof that digital advertising will continue to go mobile—similar to how we predicted it in our hottest marketing trends of 2013 post.

GannettLocal’s paid media scientist, Michael “Q” McEuen says, “The enhanced campaigns allow us to take a more streamline approach by increasing our efficiency in how we optimize. And it allows us to differentiate budgets through multi-devices based on ad performance—rather than having to split up the budget and run multiple campaigns for multiple platforms.”

This opportunity will be a game changer for advertisers wanting to market new specials, timely deals and customers on the go at any moment of the day. 

If you want to talk to Q, or any of the paid media aficionados, contact us today and start a new enhanced campaign!