Shannons Blog

What are google ads?

Google ads are advertisements for your business using the google platform. According to Academy for Ads (2017) your advertisements is “made up of two networks: search and display” (para.2). For example: 

Search Google Ads appear through keywords – when people are searching for something on google you can set their target to be your business. Google will bring customers to your business. Using Google ads can be set to a lower cost depending on what type of advertising your business requires. When customers search for the type of service you provide in the long run will improve your performance (Academy for ads, 2017). 

For Display Google Network business owners can advertise on sites like youtube in a form of rich media. You will be able to select items relating to your products and audiences for your ads while being able to advertise on many other websites all over the world. Implementing a text ad into your advertising makes your business stand out more when people are searching on google. A text ad looks like the following pic:

Including the most important aspects of your business can make your business known all over the world. The first headline is more important than the second headline. Make sure your ads can speak to all users on all kinds of devices to get the most impact (Academy for ads, 2017). 

Ad Extension

An ad extension is a relevant information to make your business stand out more to researchers, which includes phone numbers, the link to your website, reviews or comments. There is no additional cost to add ad extensions. There are different types of campaign ads to help with distinguishing the type of advertising that will best fit your needs.

A search campaign will be useful for advertisers who search for certain keywords that match your business. A display campaign is useful for advertisers to make their business known and target audiences with specific interests on the internet its similar to a search campaign. Search campaign with display opt-in is basically for expanding the audience to the specific needs of peoples searches. 

A video campaign is just a different form of advertising through youtube and websites through the Google Display Network. Shopping campaign is useful for business retail owners who want to advertise their products and to get more customers and more networks to sell products to potential new customers. Universal App Campaign is used to make it easier for users to promote their iOS and Android apps across various platforms (Academy for ads, 2017). 

Organization

It is important to keep ads organized so they can be easily located, creating separate campaigns for different product area, promotions, and different locations will make your business run more effectively and efficiently. If you are responsible for more than five accounts the google ads manager would make managing them at once an easier task (Academy for ads, 2017). 

Reach Customers Without Targeting

To reach customers without targeting them you can set the search to find certain people in demographics such as age, gender, parental status, or household income. Another way of targeting the audience is to search by location, a certain number of km away, or in certain areas or regions. Finally, the target aspect could focus on the “what” you are searching for., Google search will focus on keywords based on what people are searching for. For example, if you search for “fathers day gift ideas” your business could be at the top of the list for gifts (Academy for ads, 2017). 

Ad’s Auction

When people are searching on google ads auction is what decides which ads come up first, google ad distinguishes the ads by keywords. Google ads ignore irrelevant ads such as ads from a different country or language. 

Cost Models for Media

Ad space is sold by website publishers that include new sites, blogs, weather, sports sites. Costs depend on clients goals, the following are the different models: 

CPM Cost Per Mille – The ad is up on a site that is popular $10.00 per ad

CPC Cost Per Click – client more focused on response rate to drive more people to the site $0.10 per click

CPA Cost per Action – when advertisers want more bang for their buck, to drive sales, increase email sign-ups, or get more people to request a quote online

vCPM Viewable Cost Per Mille – advertiser pays every time their ad is displayed

CPV Cost Per View – advertisers pay for each view

Each model will fit the advertisers’ needs most economically (Academy for ads, 2017). 

Bidding Strategy

Google is looking to control both the bid market and the prices we pay (our bids). It doesn’t leave a ton of room for competitors or control for advertisers. There are two different ways to manage bids either manually or google ads will do all the work. To determine which will best fit your business will depend on the goals you want to reach (Academy for ads, 2017). 

Big Adjustments

Bid adjustments are used for a percentage change to allow for an increase or decrease for better control of where their ads are shown. For example, you crave pizza so you use your device to search for a nearby location that sells pizza. You can adjust the percentage of your ads to display more or less on weekly or weekends (Academy for ads, 2017). 

Aligning Budget to Goals

Cost is important to any business owner the lower the better or anyone for that matter. To determine the best cost on a budget goes through different scenarios to see which method best fits the budget. Google recommends (2019) “it’s ideal to start with a lower daily budget, and then as you see results, begin to invest more in the areas that drive your business” searching for the best campaign will earn you more clicks and visits (para. 4). 

Avoid Editorial Errors and Trademarks

Proofread your work thoroughly while editing your ads, check through every single word individually. It will pay off in the end, if you don’t have time to do this or still miss some errors, research editing services or ask someone to see it through to avoid any type of editorial errors. Always keep practicing, the more you write the easier it will become to spot the mistakes. You must be careful about the choice of words you use in your ads to avoid legal issues and trademarks. Google will not investigate or restrict the use of trademark terms in keywords, even if a trademark complaint is received (Academy for ads, 2017).

For the organization I work for I will create the google ad to try and get more members to use our service. Everyone uses social media so I believe that a google ad will notify more people from the community to use our programs and services. 

References

Academy for Ads. (2017, September 22). Google ad fundamentals. Retrieved from  https://academy.exceedlms.com/student/path/3132-google-ads-fundamentals

One of the most used websites in today’s internet world is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a site that helps you put yourself out there to find employment or new networks even new friends! Get ready to be amazed by all the tricks and links LinkedIn has to offer!

Getting Started With The Essentials

Getting Started with the Essentials

Having an account on LinkedIn will create more opportunities for you as well as connections. To be honest I googled myself after watching these videos and I didn’t even show up anywhere. It could be a good thing and it could be a bad thing. But in the professional world, it’s a bad thing.

According to Verdonck (2019) “if you don’t look good online they will go elsewhere, and you will miss out on an opportunity” having a LinkedIn account is like being a car salesman (para. 2). You are trying to sell yourself to the world. From personal experience, I believe this has helped me gain the position I currently have. From posting positive information about my life people see me as a mentor or as a role model. 

Your Contact Information

Updating your contact information is crucially important because of new opportunities. Like Verdonck (2019) states ” what happens if people don’t find you? Nothing, which means fewer opportunities for you” and this is true as I mentioned before I googled myself and nothing came up (para. 2). My name is spelled weirdly so I understand if when people are searching for me nothing would come up. Adding a tab to your LinkedIn account with all the different ways to spell your name would be beneficial to those who don’t know the correct way to spell your name. 

Selecting a professional profile picture could also shed some light on your profile. It is important not to use pictures that have other people in it or animals. If it cannot be cropped out correctly then use another picture. 

The most important headline in your profile is the professional headline that goes with your picture and your name. You are selling yourself to employers so, therefore, the headline must be attractive and interesting and not invisible and boring. Powerful, small words could generate you a six-figure salary. So, it is important to choose wisely. 

Adding a location and industry to your account is just as important as adding your name. According to Veronck (2019), you must choose wisely ” because people are using these as a search parameter to find you…if you got it wrong, you don’t show up, and the opportunity will be gone before you know it” you don’t want to miss an opportunity just because of missing information (para. 7). 

Your Summary

Include your professional social media accounts on your LinkedIn accounts such as Skype, Instant Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and emails. This will add more connections which will eventually lead to more opportunities. But only adding those that are professional accounts will make you look good according to Veronck (2019). 

Including a summary onto your account will also attract viewers to you and your organization. This will bring more publicity and more opportunities and relationships. Make the summary interesting so people are intrigued by what you and your organization can do (Veronck, 2019).

Including videos on your profile will also make you stand out. Not only for the type of videos you upload but also because of the technology you can use with all the different hyperlinks incorporated into the summary.

Your Experience

LinkedIn is an online resume, but it is so much more than that in today’s age. Viewers should learn about what you can do. Add in your previous experience to give it a bit of enhancement. Linking videos will shine a light on your experience. Most people are too busy and don’t have time to read the lengthy posts that are embedded on your account so adding videos will enhance your profile a bit more than the profiles who don’t have them (Veronck, 2019). 

Create Your Own Brand

Sharing all your accomplishments and projects will give your profile the boost it needs to get people to be intrigued by what a smart, original, valuable, hard-working person you are. Also adding an article about yourself and the work you have done, examples, and specific jobs you are proud of will add credibility and accountability. This will create your brand to outside people (Veronck, 2019). 

Skills, Education and Recommendations

Just like creating your brand by sharing all your accomplishments, education and projects you are proud of posting about the certain tasks will give you the enhancement your profile needs to make yourself more visible. By sharing these different skills and education you create different networks that open more doors (Veronck, 2019). 

Make the Most of Your Personality

Veronica also points out not to forget to talk about yourself and who you are. This will give trust and you will sound approachable and easy to talk to when and if people are going to contact you. Having an outgoing personality will show them you have confidence in yourself and what you do. Sharing that you volunteer will also show people that you are capable of sharing your time with others for free (Veronck, 2019).

Adding personal touches to your profile will give it the final touch it needed. Adjust the settings to allow anyone to find you and contact you and follow the leaders that you have most in common with to potentially create networks (Veronck, 2019). 

Next Steps

Follow the steps that are from my blog as well as updating your social media accounts and business cards and you will be fine.

Conclusion

I went through all the videos and followed step by step to make the changes to my account. To be honest I had a LinkedIn account, but I never updated it before. I added a picture, updated all my current information to my previous employment as well as my current, my location, my networks I wrote an article, summary,  but I couldn’t figure out how to add a video onto it. I hope people can identify who I am and what I am good at.

Reference

Verdonck, B. (2019). LinkedIn Profiles for Social Business Success. Lynda.com. Retrieved from https://www.lynda.com/LinkedIn-tutorials/Welcome/512777/581571-4.html?srchtrk=index%3a1linktypeid%3a2q%3alinkedin+profiles+for+social+business+successpage%3a1s%3arelevancesa%3atrueproducttypeid%3a2

What is Content Marketing?

Author Rothman (2015) states “content marketing is the process of creating valuable, relevant content to attract, acquire, and engage your audience” to help with advertising a business or product (para. 1).

Content marketing is used as a channel because we can make a meaningful and measurable impact on business through multiple channels, such as social media accounts. Content marketing has seven elements: engaging with individuals on their own terms, have interactions with buyers, make sure it tells a story, has the right fit for each channel, has a clear purpose, make sure it has end goals in mind, and finally make sure the content has a theme (Rothman, 2015).

For the end product make sure you can fit content marketing into seven of these elements. Content marketing is the act of owning as opposed to renting media. The business won’t need to waste money on renting peoples’ attention. For example, when you are at a tradeshow you are renting a space to sell your business, whereas content marketing is creating their thoughts and leadership. Thought leadership is educational information and sales content marketing sells your product (Rothman, 2015). 

Creating a Foundation for Content Marketing

An important critical part of content marketing is to make sure you hire the right team. A managing editor works closely with the content strategy and editorial calendar as well as being in charge of most of the operations. You should also look into hiring an Associate Editor to coordinate projects. An external team is also important to help with the brand voice (Rothman, 2015). 

To make sure the marketing strategy works having a structure to follow will help a great deal. This is usually done up by the Managing Editor and Associate Editor to ensure proper procedures and guidelines are followed. For any business to be relative and effective you must create personal relationships with buyers which then, in turn, will have their buying journey (Rothman, 2015).

Next, you need to create your brand voice, the content marketing will make you sound either nice, too direct, professional, even like a robot. 

Creating a Plan

When creating your plan, you can start brainstorming for new ideas. Once there is a plan created and you have some good solid brainstorming ideas the next step is to map the content into a sales funnel. It includes different stages of what needs the customers have.

Following the sales funnel Rothman (2015) suggests “to choose the content goals, proposed channels, the brand look and feel and the different topics that are chosen” once this step is accomplished it begins to form what the content will look like (para. 7).

Finally, in the planning stage creating the editorial calendar will help with providing visibility for the organization to follow so employees know where the organization is heading.

Creating the Content

With the planning stage completed now is the time to start creating the content. The first step is to determine who in the organization knows about the topic, which can include a session called a “brain dump”. The next step is to create an outline to keep things organized and step three is to create the first draft that should include a thesis of content marketing. Step four is to review and proofread and step five write another draft and include all documentation with the first and second draft to ensure all thoughts are included (Rothman, 2015). 

Once everything is written up its time to start the designing process. This takes time and effort this stage is the most critical because it is whether the design will attract customers to your product or business. Content curation is an option for different ideas and collaborating. Doing more with less will help the organization utilize the resources in a more important stage. Following the steps will help formalize the content in action: create a ‘big rock’ content asset, create eBooks, cheat sheets, visuals, and blog posts to help get the marketing started (Rothman, 2015).

Promoting the Content

Before you promote the content Rothman (2015) suggests that “you outline the promotional strategy” because it helps with promoting your team (para. 1). As well as adding promotional items to your company website will enhance sales.

Promoting through social media, email and blogs will help you gain different types of customers to develop the persona between each other. Today’s society has people filling prescriptions online as well as getting groceries delivered to your home, so it is critical to promote your business online everywhere. 

Syndicating your content and influencer marketing are unique ways to promote content. Make those connections by networking at several different events. You are creating a valuable two-way relationship (Rothman, 2015). 

Finally, for ways to promote your product you can use the pay-per-click ads on different websites, your ads should be attractive to the eye, maybe a banner with music or flashing lights (Rothman, 2015). 

Measuring the Content

Creating a measurement can track metrics over time to see exactly how content marketing is performing (Rothman, 2015). After measurement goals, the early content creates awareness and educational information. You can track how often your content is being shared or how often there are comments. To track the revenue within the business the mid and late-stage content is later in the sales funnel. It proves whether the revenue and investment in your business are worth the time and effort (Rothman, 2015). 

Conclusion

In conclusion content marketing is advertising the content. If developed and promoted correctly it could bring in a great deal of success and revenue into the business or organization. For the organization I work for they use the line “What the health is going on??” they have this line on all their promotional items because they promote health, it is a health organization (Bigstone Health Commission, 2018). 

References

About us. (2018). Bigstone Health Commission. Retrieved from https://www.bigstonehealth.ca/about-us/

https://www.bigstonehealth.ca/about-us/

Rothman, D. (2015, May 7). Content marketing foundations. Lynda.com. Retreived from https://www.lynda.com/Marketing-Lead-Generation-tutorials/Content-Marketing-Fundamentals-2015/369044-2.html

Overview of Marketing Copywriting

What is Copywriting?

Do you want to sell your product or service? Then stop demanding money. is using words to build relationships with vendors or customers to gain sales. When trying to sell or advertise your product or service you first need a slogan. Get creative! Use your imagination! The slogan should catch the readers eye and called to action so people want to buy your product not because they have to. Copywriters are in charge of the text on billboards, brochures, websites, or catalogues. 

Types of Marketing Copywriting

There are three types of copywriting: collateral, medium, and style. Collateral is copywriting on the hardcopy advertising products such as brochures or websites. Nike‘s slogan (2019) is “Just Do It” when I see this it makes me think about the different shoes Nike has and makes me want new shoes (para. 4). When creating your slogan make sure it leaves an impact (Lurie, 2014). 

Medium is copywriting sent through a pipe such as through the internet, or radio broadcasts it’s more like a speech you hear or see. 

Style is copywriting tailoring to each person and their style on how they write. Some writers use laughter to sell products, but you must be careful about the choice of words you use people with different cultures could take offense so keep that in mind (Lurie, 2014).

Preparing Yourself to Write Copy

Before you begin writing copy Lurie (2014) suggests that you have minimal distractions before you start writing so you don’t lose your train of thought. Inform the co-workers or family that you will be busy for the next few hours, so they do not disturb you. Make sure your laptop or computer is plugged in, so you avoid losing any work in case it dies. Make sure you save the document over and over. If you’re at home make sure the pets and children are fed before you begin so they are not distracting you. Lock the door and begin writing and writing (para. 5).

Writing Copy

Assembling Your Tools

The first step to writing marketing copy is assembling your tools to help you focus. Use a timer so you can track your writing sprints. There are free apps available if needed. Keep a glass of water on your desk so there are no excuses for you to stop writing. I am bad for this I get distracted very easily because I write on my kitchen table which is the busiest room. Try to find a quieter area away from everyone.

Like I mentioned before having your document backed up to either a USB stick or in the cloud or Google Docs because it automatically saves the work every few minutes. Using these tools is a nice way to keep you organized so your brain is focused on writing (Lurie, 2014). 

Creating Your Plan

Once you have the tools figured out, outline a plan to follow to ensure you capture the attention of the right audience, in either collateral, medium or style copy. Take 30 minutes to think about what you are going to do. Don’t expect to follow the first plan your draft up, the plan will change numerous times until you have it right (Lurie, 2014).  

Free Writing

You have the tools, and the outline it’s time to start writing. It is important to try and avoid what is called a writer’s block, whatever comes to your brain write it down. Freewriting helps to guide your thoughts reflecting the outline you created (Lurie, 2014).

First Draft

Writing the first draft don’t expect your writing to be perfect for errors and grammar. Focus on the audience you are writing for while focusing on your time. Have notes for do’s and don’ts visible for you so you can refer to the back and forth, so you’re not wasting time looking for them while writing. Set a timer for 45 to 90 minutes and begin writing! Leave the introduction until the end, and ask someone else to proofread (Lurie, 2014).

General Rules

Next there are four general rules to follow when writing copy they are: to define who you are speaking to through your writing, to remind yourself that your customer is not a system, not to use sarcasm, and finally talk to the customer to get to know them so they ‘need’ what you have rather than a ‘want’. There is no template to follow for marketing copy, it comes from creative writers (Lurie, 2014). 

Polishing the Draft

Once you’ve written in the type of marketing copy, you should polish the draft. The draft needs to go through many rounds of proofreading to ensure you find all errors. It is important to make an effort to summarize the writing as brief as possible as well as making sure it is clear as mud to the audience (Lurie, 2014). 

Writing a Headline While Testing It

When creating a headline make sure it’s bold and attractive to the reader. Test a couple of different headlines through a paid ad on Facebookor Googlesee which gets more hits. You could also send a distro email and see which one gets opened, or you could simply just ask around and tally up the score. The headline is what will sell you if you’re not careful it could backfire (Lurie, 2014).

Selling the Page

To get your customers all hyped up you need to sell the page. Start with a joke, make it funny, short and interesting, or you can paint a clear picture of what the reader is going to see by using a list. It’s like an elevator pitch you’re giving to investors to invest in your product in an executive summary (Lurie, 2014).

Structuring for Print or Online

Finally, organize to either fit for print or online copywriting. For print, once you publish you can’t change or make people forget if it turns out worse than expected. For online keep it short and to the point so you don’t lose the reader’s attention. Link it to all social media channels to get the word out. For both print and, online choose pictures that grab the reader’s attention to keep them intrigued (Lurie, 2014).

Typography

The basic rule is to make your copy easy to read using bullets make it simple, short and to the point. With proofreading done by you and someone else. Lurie (2014) suggests following this guide is to give the structure of the writings and so it’s easy to follow (para. 3). 

Rewriting Existing Copy

When and if you are asked to rewrite an existing copy ask for the general information such as: what classification is the copywriting under, collateral, medium or style. Once you’re done brainstorming, write up the first draft, then edit and proofread then edit and proofread again. Organize the writing to fit format to either rewriting.

Copywrite webpage, product description or social media. Copywriting in a webpage and social media keep it short if the structure is confusing to ask the writer just to clarify. When copywriting for product description there are four factors to keep in mind: look for passive voice, keep it short, keep a scannable copy, and a call to action. Following this guideline will help you sell you in the long run (Lurie, 2014).

Conclusion

Prior to this course material I did not know what marketing copywriting was. After reviewing the videos over and over and reading the transcript parts I have an understanding of what it is. Now that I have an understanding I realized that the organization I currently work for uses all 3 types of copywriting. 

The organization relies heavily on brochures and promotional items to promote the company. They also have a website but requires updates on the information. We recently had a Health Forum to inform the members of what programs and services we provide. 

In conclusion, the author Lurie (2014) had a lot of information that helped me relate to how the marketing works in the organization. In the future I plan to recommend the organization hire a Marketing or Communications Coordinator to update the membership thoroughly, so they are not left questioning the programs or services. As well as I need to come up with a slogan for brochures 

References

Dvornechuck, A. (2019). Top brand slogans and how to create them. Ebaqdesign. Retrieved from https://ebaqdesign.com/blog/brand-slogans/#nike

Lurie, I. (2014, May 30). Learning to write marketing copy. Lynda.com from Linked In. Retrieved from https://www.lynda.com/Business-Online-Marketing-tutorials/Welcome/149250/175041-4.html

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton