Using
Google Adwords for Market Research
Using Google Adwords for Market Research
When is a failure not a failure? When it's market research. If
you are conducting a marketing campaign of some description and
it doesn't generate the results you are expecting then to most people
this would be considered a failure.
This is why large companies often conduct trials, focus groups
or some other type of market research. Large companies what to have
small failures and large successes. This type of research can be
an expensive process that requires specialized skills but there
is an alternative - Google Adwords.
Google Adwords is a popular advertising medium that displays ads
based on what someone enters in to the Google search engine. These
ads are contextually aware. That means if you are searching for
'milk chocolate' you will likely see ads for companies selling something
milk chocolate related. Adwords are a very effective way to reach
your target audience - assuming you know what search terms your
audience is likely to enter.
The best thing about Google Adwords is how easy it is to measure
return on investment. It's the ability to measure return on investment
that allows you to use Google Adwords for market research, here's
how: run a Google Adwords campaign and measure its success. Keywords
that don't perform have just told you something very important about
your market.
Those Adwords that failed told you either you have the wrong keywords
for your market or your pitch wasn't appealing to your market. These
two things alone will allow you to fine tune your marketing. You
have just had a small failure that will lead to a more successful
approach in the future.
Here is a real world example:
I have helped a number of companies in the Records Information
Management industry. To the participants in that industry the term
'document destruction' is synonymous with 'shredding'. The reality
of search is a little different. People searching for 'shredding'
do not immediately make the association with 'document destruction'.
By running various Google Adwords campaigns it is possible to MEASURE
the difference in perception. This is market research.
Google Adwords uses a sophisticated matching system to match ads
with keywords entered. To help advertisers control this matching
process Google Adwords provides three matching types: broad, phrase
and exact.
- Broad: matches keywords in any order - searching
for milk chocolate or chocolate milk will return ads for companies
that have either 'milk chocolate' or 'chocolate milk' as a keyword.
- Phrase: matches keywords in a specific order
- searching 'cold chocolate milk' or 'chocolate cows milk' will
return ads for companies that have 'chocolate milk' as a keyword
but not 'milk chocolate'.
- Exact: matches keywords exactly - searching
for 'chocolate cows milk' will not return ads for companies that
have 'chocolate milk'. Only companies that have 'chocolate cows
milk' will have their ads displayed.
By using matching variations it is possible to determine certain
aspects about your market. Do searches look for my term exactly
or do they modify it in some way? By cross-referencing searches
that match with actually visits to your site you can determine what
the keywords are that are actually being used.
Google Adwords can also give you a sense of how big your market
is. Google Adwords provides statistics on the number of times your
ad was displayed, the number of times it was clicked and some other
helpful information. In mast cases we want the number of clicks
as a ratio of how many people saw the ad to be as high as possible.
It doesn't always happen that way though. In some cases there are
a lot of impressions for your ad but few clicks. Don't be disheartened.
You can always fix your ad but you can't always find a keyword that
will generate a lot of impressions. You can use the number of impressions
as a gauge of the size of your market for that particular keyword.
This isn't an exact science but the price is right!
With Google Adwords you do not pay for impressions, you only pay
for ads that receive clicks. Ads that don’t generate a lot
of clicks are a very inexpensive way for you to determine what is
popular with searchers. You can then refine your product and marketing
to suit their tastes. I'm not advocating you purposely create poor
performing ads, quite the contrary.
What I'm suggesting is that you learn from what isn't working in
order to improve your business. Google Adwords provides almost instant
feedback on what your market is thinking.
I have intentionally left out any discussion on how the amount
you are prepared to pay will contribute to the success of your Google
Adwords campaign. I will discuss pricing strategy in a future article.
If you're current Google Adwords campaign is producing lemons then
I suggest making some lemonade.
I concentrate on optimizing for the genuine pain your product or
service addresses. By using search
engine optimization to address the problems your product or
service solves then you can rest assured that your visitors will
convert as you would like them to.
About the Author Visit my site to learn
why I should be your Google
Adwords Consultant.
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