PPC Ads for FECs: 6 Setup Tips for New Campaigns

Navigating the world of pay per click (PPC) and digital advertising can be daunting, especially if you're an owner of a Family Entertainment Center. With an ever-changing digital landscape, many variables and steep learning curves, it's essential to focus on strategies that maximize returns and minimize headaches. To get you started on the right path, here are 6 beginner tips to ensure your PPC campaigns are simple, effective and cost-efficient.

Let's dive right in!

1. Disable Unnecessary Automation

While automation features can appear beneficial, they frequently result in higher spending without a significant boost in effectiveness. From a practical standpoint, serves as a way to upsell business owners who are less familiar with these marketing platforms. To maintain control over your daily ads budget, I recommend setting your campaign to Manual CPC. This approach not only helps you manage your spending but also educates Google on how to process your ad's data during its Learning Phase. When you eventually choose to switch to an automated bidding strategy, your previous bidding parameters will play a crucial role in guiding how Google distributes your funds.

2. Set the Right Campaign Format

Choosing the correct campaign format is crucial. Your goals and the stage of your ads will determine the format you should select.  There are several types of PPC campaigns that FECs can use, so it's crucial to evaluate your objectives before deciding on a campaign structure.

The most notable campaign structures that immediately come to mind are:

• Search Campaigns are ideal if you want to be found on search engines. Choose this format to target your ads to people based on their intent (sign-ups, bookings, purchases, phone calls, etc.).
• Display Campaigns are for image-oriented ads appearing on websites throughout Google's Search Network. While Search Ads are geared towards search intent, Display Ads are interest-based. If you have visually stunning products you want to showcase (ex: wedding dresses), these ads are for you.
• Video Campaigns cater to people by advertising through videos. Video Ads are great if you want to capture the fun, vibrancy and scale of your FEC. With this format, you could drive more sales, drive website traffic, and build awareness and enthusiasm for your business!
• Remarketing Campaigns allow you to re-engage users who have previously visited your website but did not convert. By displaying targeted ads to these users as they browse other sites or social media, you can remind them of your Family Entertainment Center and encourage them to return.

Other ad formats on Google Ads are Shopping, Text, Call-only, Image, and App Ads. By selecting the appropriate format for your goals, you increase the likelihood of reaching your target audience effectively.

3. Optimize Your Targeting

This may seem counter-intuitive, but you don't want your ads to reach everyone. By running your ads at inopportune times, in the wrong locations, for the wrong keywords, you run the risk of exposing your ads to the wrong people and burning through your monthly budget. Proper targeting can save you both time and money, as well as ensuring your ads reach the right audience. Focus on the following targeting options when setting up your campaign:

• Location Targeting: Focus on the areas where your target market is located. Avoid worldwide or nationwide targeting unless it aligns with your goals.
• Scheduling: Run your ads during business hours. This tactic ensures that potential customers can instantly act by calling or visiting your website while your business is open.
• Negative Keywords: Use negative keywords to filter out searches that aren’t relevant to your business. Words like "free," "cheap," or "video" might attract the wrong audience.

I would caution against immediately targeting your ads to selected audience demographics, such as age, income, gender, interests, etc. Allow your campaigns to gather data first, in order to see which audience members are most interested in your ads. You may be surprised by the results.

4. Choose the Right Keyword Match Types

Keywords are words or phrases that are used to match your ads with the terms your audience are searching for. Keyword match types dictate how closely the keyword needs to match with the user’s search query. As such, using the correct match types can drastically affect your campaign's performance:

• Phrase Match is recommended, as it provides a balance between broad exposure and relevance. It allows your ads to appear for searches that include your keywords but doesn’t show them for unrelated searches.
• Broad Match Ads may show on searches that are related to your keyword, which can include searches that don’t contain the direct meaning of your keywords.
• Exact Match ensures that only users searching for your exact keyword or phrase will see your ad. While this may seem like the best option, it can limit the potential reach of your ads.
• Negative Match is when you want to ensure that your ads do not appear on specific searches. Use this match type sparingly, as it can filter out potentially relevant traffic.

We heavily recommend the usage of the Phrase Match type, as it offers the best balance between exposure and search intent. Broad Match keywords can cause you to go over budget from not being targeted enough, and Exact Match could prevent your ads from getting served enough. Also, always add to your Negative keywords list, as that will ensure your ads don't lead to false clicks and leads through incompatible search queries.

5. Use Your Extensions

Ad extensions are additional pieces of information that enhance your PPC ads, providing more context to potential customers about your Family Entertainment Center (FEC). They can increase your ad's visibility and click-through rate by offering extra details like location, phone numbers, and links to specific pages on your website. By using ad extensions, you can improve your Quality Scores in Google's Search Auction, showcase your FEC's unique features and offerings, and create a more prominent presence in search results.

Notable ad extensions include:

• Sitelink Extensions allow you to include additional links to specific pages on your website within your ad, guiding users to key sections like promotions, FAQs, or individual attractions at your Family Entertainment Center, thereby enhancing user navigation and engagement.
• Callout Extensions enable you to add extra descriptive text to your ads, highlighting unique selling points or features of your Family Entertainment Center, such as "Open Late" or "Free Parking," to attract more attention and encourage clicks.
• Call Extensions allow you to add a phone number to your ads, enabling potential customers to easily call your Family Entertainment Center directly from the search results, thus facilitating immediate engagement and inquiries.
• Location Extensions enable you to display your Family Entertainment Center's address, allowing potential customers to easily find your location and encouraging foot traffic by integrating Google Maps for navigation.

Additional extensions you could add to your ads are Price, App, Lead Forms, and Structured Snippets. And guess what? These extensions take up more space and push competing ads down on search results pages, enhancing your visibility over your competition. Just something to keep in mind!

6. Measure and Adjust

Continuous monitoring and adjustment are vital to the success of your PPC campaigns.  By regularly measuring your campaign's performance, you can identify which keywords and ad formats are driving the most effective results, allowing you to allocate your budget more efficiently. Additionally, continuous monitoring enables you to quickly adapt to changing market trends and customer behaviors, ensuring your ads remain relevant and competitive in a dynamic digital landscape.

• Track metrics like Clicks, Cost-Per-Click, Impressions, Conversions, and Ad Quality Score. These metrics will help guide how to improve your ads.
• Regularly evaluate search terms to understand what your clients are searching for, and to refine your strategy over time. These search term reports help give you a glimpse into peoples' search intent.
• Ensure your landing page is aligned with your ads and keywords to improve Ad Rank. As you refine your ad copy, you may also need to edit your landing page to keep it consistent with the ad your potential customer clicked on.
• Use Device Segmentation to tailor ads for mobile and desktop, as they often perform differently. If, for example, your FEC were getting 90% of its bookings from mobile users, you may want to create a campaign targeted exclusively to mobile and give it the lion's share of the budget.

If you can measure it, you can improve it. Becoming familiar with these metrics will help you determine campaign performance, pivot accordingly, and determine your next move.

Conclusion

By implementing these strategies, Family Entertainment Centers and similar businesses can create PPC campaigns that are not only cost-effective but also highly targeted and efficient. Remember, the digital marketing landscape is continually changing, so staying informed and adaptable is the key.

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