BUS213 Digital Marketing - Search Engine Marketing Tools

A useful tool when creating an ad campaign or multiple ad campaigns. It allows you to set daily budgets, controlling how much you spend over any period of time, so you can stay on budget by monitoring and adjusting this number. It focuses on your target audience, which is useful if you have already identified one and know who will most likely respond to your ads. This allows you to customize advertisements based on these targets. Your bidding is also controlled by this tool, which goes hand in hand with your budget. By setting certain bids and constantly monitoring them, you can minimize costs while maximizing effective campaign strategies. An example of such is where certain AdWords are not as expensive during certain hours of the day or times of the year, by lowering your bid during this time you spend less per click while competing smartly with your competitors.

Uber Suggest is a supplement to tools like Google Keyword Planner. It offers variations of terms to use as Adwords, offering different phrases to be associated with your website or campaigns. You can also use this to understand your potential customers better, see what other terms are frequently paired with your AdWords. If you are making a "Chocolate Cake" campaign and see "Chocolate Ice Cream Cake" is a commonly searched phrase, then you might make your campaign include ice cream cakes int he advertisement, or on your website so it is more likely to appear in searches.

Using these skills to supplement or manage any campaign is very useful in advertising and in the creation of budgets. It can regulate the amount of money you spend and help you budget smarter. This also allows better control over the AdWords used in your campaign, or even creating a new word association that drives a campaign.

I would like to use these tools in conjunction with one another to maximize effective and budget friendly Ad campaigns. Proper planning is essential in today's competitive market.
   

BUS 213 Market Research Tools

Here are my thoughts on a few market research tools that my team and I will be using for the Google Online Marketing Competition.

Global Market Finder

Usage Difficulty: Fairly Simple

You fill out some basic information about your business, such as country and language then enter the key words or phrases you want associated with your AdWords. Once you search, you'll see an array of information, similar to the image below.





Benefits

It allows you to view Google web traffic associated with the words and phrases you want to use for AdWords. It shows the regions in which these searches are done, creating a target market region. This is ideal for identifying where your services or products are most likely to be popular. It also gives an estimated price range for the phrases or words you want to use for your business. This allows an easier time for calculating AdWord related costs and comparing regional advertisement. The competition bar gives an idea of how many others are competing with the same AdWords.

Google Trends

Usage Difficulty: Easy Peasy

You can view yearly trends using this tool. It gathers popular Google trends and displays them for our benefit. We are able to then use this information to make predictions on future trends, or analyze how trends became so popular, and where they became popular. This is useful for businesses large and small, because there is much to learn from this data. It allows an insight on the consumer and what makes them interested in your information, your service or product. Understanding your client or customer is vital in marketing to them.

Think with Google

Usage Difficulty: Overwhelming at First

This tool is best described as an almanac for several industries. There is a TON of information that can be narrowed down, depending on what field interests you. There are news articles, campaigns, advertisements and more, all associated with each industry. This can be used for the information within these pieces, or as an example for your own work. It also works as a newsletter to keep you informed in the desired industries if you sin up for it, sending you informative pieces.

Take-Away Notes

Here are some important notes I took note of while reading in preparation for my BUS213 Course. Very information and to the point! Be sure to check out the links if you want in depth information.

Discover GOMC

Link: http://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/discover/index.html

• Professors must get authorization from Google first and foremost
• The teams are made up for 3-6 students, one of whom must be the Team Captain
• They must identify and select a client business or nonprofit organization for this competition
• Learning and reviewing about AdWords is important, along with forming the Ad-Words Pre-Campaign Report
•  Interacting with the client is a must, and once you meet with them you can create a custom strategy for the Ad-Words Pre-Campaign Report
• When you submit your fund (credit) request, think wisely! You can only send one
• Campaigns can only last up to 21 calendar days
• Student must submit their reports prior to the end of the Campaign Window

WARNING: You can be disqualified if your campaign is under 7, or over 21 calendar days, or if you exceed the $250 credit limit.

Pre-Course Preparation - GOMC

Link: http://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/dmc/prep.html

• The Internet is the world's largest market place (hard to imagine something larger)
• Websites are "virtual real estate" (some estates are under construction, renovations, or are elaborate mansions with a lot of people to care for it)
• Websites allow you to engage your customer before actual contact (first impression)
• Ways on the internet to attract consumers
• Websites
• Review Sites
• eCommerce Sites
• Social Media
• Blogs