Determining the optimal mix of online marketing campaigns is a difficult and daunting process for most companies. There are so many options to choose from, including: (1) which types of campaigns to invest in (PPC, SEO, Banners, email or other), (2) which keywords to bid on from the thousands of possibilities available, (3) which media sources to advertise on (search engines, shopping comparison sites or any of the many other choices), (4) which products to promote, and the list goes on.

So how can companies effectively navigate this enormous complexity and find their way to maximum profits? The answer is twofold. First, they need technology that can track and analyze the results across this myriad of online marketing options and variables that presents the data in a simple, easy-to-understand and actionable dashboard. Second, they need a proven, disciplined process that ensures continual improvement in the only metric that really matters to your business- PROFIT.

We have developed a proprietary methodology that leverages a proven, 5-step process
to continually optimize the profits from your online marketing investment.

1. IDENTIFY YOUR MARKETING WASTE:
Start by tracking, identifying and segregating your current campaigns by profitability. When we speak of marketing waste, we are talking about ads and campaigns that are either unprofitable or not profitable enough when compared to other available options. Once you are able to identify your ad waste, the path to more profit is under way.

2. ELIMINATE YOUR MARKETING WASTE:
Once identified, the next step is to eliminate all unprofitable campaigns so that you can either pocket or reinvest the savings. With the right technology, this can and should be done automatically. By getting rid of these campaigns, you are freed from a common dilemma for advertisers – spending excruciating hours trying to improve an unprofitable campaign and at the same time distracting your focus from making your top campaigns even more profitable.

3. ACQUIRE ALL AVAILABLE INVENTORY FOR PROFITABLE CAMPAIGNS:
Next, buy the maximum inventory available for your most profitable campaigns. Having a well targeted and planned focus on your most profitable campaigns not only will increase your profits but it will maximize the use of your scarce time.

4. EXPAND YOUR CAMPAIGNS:
Once the entire profitable campaign inventory is purchased, you should then expand your online marketing efforts to include other profitable campaigns on other search engines and online media. Many advertisers ignore other available sources due to concerns over ad spend or quality of the source. But if you focus exclusively on profitable campaigns, a larger investment will continue to yield more bottom-line profits. If you know your campaigns are generating profit, why not expand your reach to new customers?

5. CONTINUOUSLY OPTIMIZE YOUR SITE:
Finally, and throughout the process, you need to continually improve your site in order to maximize your conversion rates on generated traffic. Improving your site, especially landing pages, only makes for a better experience for users that you bring in from your online marketing campaigns. Making the user’s experience simple, relevant and informative will increase your odds of converting him or her into a customer, thereby further improving the return on your online marketing investment.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 4th, 2007 at 1:14 pm and is filed under All Blogs, PPC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.