“A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company.”
That quote is from Marty Newmeier, author of The Brand Gap, the first book to present a unified theory of brand building.
With that in mind, consider this…
Have you ever glanced at the first three advertisements on Google and noticed how similar all of the advertisements look? Businesses pay a pretty penny every time someone clicks on their ad, yet they’re not using the advertising copy to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Many online marketers tend to focus too much on placing the proper keywords in the headlines and descriptions to achieve the highest quality score.
While proper keyword placement is important, your PPC message needs to be the perfect appetizer before your entree. Your message should provide the searcher an appealing taste of what your site has to offer, while still leaving them eagerly awaiting the main course.
Below are four ways you can cook up the perfect brand message through pay-per-click advertising.
#1: Differentiators
Was your restaurant recently named the best pizza joint in town?
Maybe your chef created a famous marinara sauce.
When your company receives an award or has a cool fact about it, try placing this in the advertising copy. Even though the character limit in the description is only 35 characters, if you insert your keyword into the headline and your display URL, you won’t have to worry about quality score.
Don’t be surprised if you see an uptick in click-through-rate once your ad copy stands out from all of your competitors! Add some zest to your PPC campaign with advertising copy that makes people remember your brand and doesn’t over-rely on keywords which 90% of ads do.
#2: Sitelink extensions
According to lunametrics.com, sitelinks provide more visibility, improve CTR, provide a higher quality score, and enhance user experience with fewer clicks. Wordstream points out that clients who use sitelinks see their CTRs improve by 30%.
Whether you are creating a branded advertisement or are bidding on a competitive keyword, sitelinks tell a great story.
If you’re wondering whether Outback’s famous Bloomin’ Onions are one of the 70+ lunch combos starting at $6.99, you can always find the nearest Outback location in the sitelinks to inquire!
#3: Reviews
In the Outback advertisement above, the bright orange stars represent a visible way for the viewer to gauge the business’ reviews.
If you have positive customer sentiment, take advantage of good feedback and show it off! AdWords refers to this as seller ratings.
According to Google, seller ratings show a combination of information and reviews next to your AdWords ads. Seller ratings may appear for certain businesses when their website, ads, or product listings appear across Google products.
If you are in a B2B industry, you may not be eligible for seller reviews. However, if you are eligible, this is a great way to instantly stand out from the competition and show how much your customers love your brand!
#4: Personality
David Ogilvy, the Father of Advertising, was famously quoted saying, “The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.”
There is a strong likelihood your competitor is going to display a stuffy advertisement. Show some humor and personality in your brand, and watch your click through rate soar!
And keep in mind that ad copy is the easiest thing to A/B test. You can wait a long time to see results for an A/B test tied to conversions, but ad copy click-through tests can provide relevant data in only a week or two.
You’re putting yourself in a win-win situation with ad copy A/B testing where you can test even the most radical ideas in a low-risk environment.
Check Please!
Before writing your next ad copy variation, conduct the proper research and preparation beforehand so your ad copy is creative, memorable, and effective.
Ad copy that’s creative but doesn’t get clicked won’t provide any benefit, but neither does ad copy that’s boring and doesn’t stand out from the crowd.
And remember this: ad copy doesn’t have to include keywords in order to get clicks. You can also create a positive brand experience with ad copy that’s creative, stands out, gets noticed, and generates clicks.
Author
Jason Parks is the owner of The Media Captain, a Digital Marketing Agency based out of Columbus, Ohio, that offers online advertising, SEO, social media, web development, and video production services.
