Posted:
(Cross-posted from the DoubleClick Search Blog)

 When consumers act, they act fast. Retailers can get a leg up in the marketplace by responding to consumers’ needs as they surface. While some events, such as holidays and championship games, can be anticipated, others, such as weather-related issues, cannot. Using real-time technologies in search, brands can dynamically adjust their reach, competitiveness and relevancy with their target audiences at the most critical times.

In a new Think Insights article, Casandra Jones, Account Director at iProspect, tells us the benefits of adopting SEM tools that act in real time to achieve search success as these important events and conversations occur.

Screen Shot 2014-07-20 at 8.40.04 PM.png

Check out Casandra’s article on the Think Insights page here, and let us know what you think on Twitter or our Google+ page.
7 comments | Labels: , , , , ,

Posted:
(Cross-posted from the Inside AdWords Blog)

With less than eight weeks left until regular Product Listing Ad (PLA) campaigns retire, we're excited that the majority of PLA advertisers have already started taking advantage of Shopping campaigns, and 85% of these have already fully upgraded. Advertisers who’ve upgraded like Farfetch, US Mattress, LiBoutique and ValuePetSupplies are seeing great success thanks to the retail-centric interface, item-level reporting and competitive benchmark data.

For those of you who’ve upgraded, we’re excited to introduce two new tools to make campaign management, specifically bid optimization, easier.
  • Bulk Uploads: You now have the ability to download a product group report, edit your bids and destination URLs, and import your changes using bulk uploads. 
  • AdWords Editor: We’ve heard your feedback, and with the latest version of AdWords Editor, you can edit your bids and destination URLs for individual product groups at scale. At this time, AdWords Editor doesn’t support the creation of Shopping campaigns or product groups, so please plan time to create your campaigns and subdivide your product groups directly in AdWords.

If you haven’t upgraded to Shopping campaigns, we strongly encourage you to start as all regular Product Listing Ad campaigns will retire at the end of August.

Many third-party agencies and platforms are upgrading advertisers to Shopping campaigns, so if you work with one, reach out and see how they can help. Here are a few resources to answer questions and get you started:
Posted by Eric Tholomé, Director of Product Management, Google Shopping
4 comments | Labels: , ,

Posted:
Marketers are increasingly turning to search advertising as a way to learn more about their brands and how they can better connect with consumers. L'Oréal Paris, for example, used search to reach a wide audience looking for information about the popular “ombre” hairstyle in 2012. At the time, this hair treatment was only done in salons, but L'Oréal Paris saw the potential in a home market product and it developed one in just a few months. The brand then created YouTube content devoted to the topic, got widespread press coverage, and owned the search for the term—all of which established brand awareness. In the end, the people who had alerted L'Oréal Paris to the trend saw search ads that linked to helpful information, at the moment when they needed it.


While search ads haven’t typically been part of the brand marketer’s toolkit, some like L’Oreal Paris are catching on to their value in building brand awareness. A recent Google/Ipsos MediaCT meta-study showed that search ads drove an average increase of 6.6 percentage points in top-of-mind awareness, from 8.2% to 14.8%—a lift of 80%.

 A new article on Think with Google looks at how brand marketers are understanding and and connecting with audiences using search. Check out the full collection for more details on the research, case studies and a guide for marketers on how to use search for brand marketing.
8 comments | Labels: , , ,