{"id":117420,"date":"2017-05-24T23:08:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T04:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/managing-complexities-paid-search-national-retail-strategy-bridgestone-retail-operations\/"},"modified":"2024-12-21T05:49:49","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T10:49:49","slug":"managing-complexities-paid-search-national-retail-strategy-bridgestone-retail-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-ca\/insights\/blog\/strategy\/managing-complexities-paid-search-national-retail-strategy-bridgestone-retail-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Study: Managing the Complexities of a National Paid Search Strategy for Bridgestone Retail Operations \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Managing the complexities of a national paid search strategy<\/a> in retail? It doesn\u2019t have to be intimidating \u2013 and taking control all starts with understanding what you are trying to achieve for your brand or client. Here are the top five lessons we learned while working with Bridgestone Retail Operations this year.<\/p>\n

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  1. \n

    Create a multi-pronged keyword and targeting approach<\/h2>\n

    Building a paid search campaign structure is never a one size fits all model. This doesn\u2019t just apply to brand\u2019s vertical or industry, but runs as deep as the keyword themes or the devices that you are looking to target. It sounds so clich\u00e9, but thinking about your customer at every point of the funnel as it relates to your business goals can essentially dictate everything. This will ultimately guide your strategic decisions surrounding both the type of keywords leveraged and the level of targeting used from a geographic standpoint.<\/p>\n

    Our work with Bridgestone Retail Operations (BSRO) is a perfect example of this. As competition in the industry continued to rise and costs along with it, DAC evolved BSRO\u2019s campaign structure to best align with their business goals, with a balance between nationally and locally focused targeting tactics. In taking this multi-pronged customer-centric approach for paid search, alongside building in the most relevant tactics to allow the customer to easily transact with their closest local store, DAC drove significant YoY improvements in results.<\/p>\n

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  2. \n

    Know your audience<\/h2>\n

    Knowing your audience seems like a simple concept at its core, but it can be frequently confused with the audience you THINK you should be targeting. A really easy way to gather these insights about your audience is adding Google demographics for search to your campaigns. You don\u2019t need to start targeting audiences right off the bat, but rather, use this feature to collect the data surrounding your existing site visitors<\/a>. What you find may surprise you, and can help inform the decisions made \u2013 not only to increase volume, but also to increase efficiencies.<\/p>\n

    Audience targeting can be extremely powerful \u2013 so use every available option to your advantage. This includes but is not limited to: re-marketing, similar audience and customer match. By adding these audience lists to your existing campaigns first, you can gather insights surrounding cross-device behaviors, which can further drive decisions around campaign strategies and how these audiences can grow results against your client\u2019s business goals.<\/p>\n

    When BSRO tested Similar Audience targeting in Q1 of 2017, the results were extremely surprising and positive.<\/p>\n

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  3. \n

    Know your competitors<\/h2>\n

    When I say know your competitors, I mean KNOW your competitors. They are called competitors for a reason \u2013 it\u2019s time to get in the game! It\u2019s not enough to just acknowledge they exist \u2013\u00a0you must truly understand how they are playing in the space, what they excel in, and what they lack. Consistently keep track of this, as it could truly make or break your performance for any given week.<\/p>\n

    Google\u2019s Auction Insights is a free tool, and my advice \u2013 take advantage of it. Record trending as it relates to your competitors share and you may very well figure out their paid search marketing plan for the year. It will help you prepare for the weeks and months ahead, where you need to push and pull a bit, and maybe even give you the incentive to test out some conquesting on competitor terms.<\/p>\n

    Conquesting can work to your advantage, especially in retail, as often times, it\u2019s not the \u201cwho\u201d or \u201cwhat\u201d that matters, but the \u201cwhere.\u201d Consumers want to know where they can make the purchase closest to them more than anything else, sometimes it’s even more important than price. Depending on the industry, convenience could take precedence. This tactic can be extremely efficient and even convert as well as some of your top performing terms. It\u2019s not for everyone, but it\u2019s worth a test.<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    Find balance between automation and human effort<\/h2>\n

    From a management standpoint, this may be the most important one of all for large national retail programs. Automation can be your friend, but it can also be your enemy. We have jobs in digital marketing for a reason \u2013 use automation as a tool to gain efficiencies through ease of management and testing, but always keep in mind that the human element of analysis and optimization will be key in producing strategically-driven results.<\/p>\n

    A few tools that we leveraged for BSRO (and some of them free too!) to consider when managing complex structures are:<\/p>\n