We have all heard of multi-channel marketing right? However, we often look at it from a lead generation standpoint and not a lead acceleration one. And that is where we miss a very valuable method to engage and convert with our target audience.
Nearly every company is doing some sort of email marketing. Whether you have a full-blown marketing automation campaign in place, send one-offs through an email platform or are using your own email client to prospect, it's email marketing.
But you can't, and should never, rely on email fully to connect with your list. You would be doomed. Does the phrase 'don't throw all your eggs in one basket' ring any bells?
So then we go to direct mailers and outbound calling campaigns as add-on tactics to accelerate leads you have acquired.
Now enter Gmail ads.
Gmail ads are a super simple way to get your brand's message in front of prospects that are in your existing database when they are online.
What I especially love is the ability to make custom audiences based on any filter you have available. Want to target people in your database who have an Open Opportunity? Sure! Want to target people who work at companies in a specific industry. Yes!
Now that I have convinced you to at least try this out :) , here are the steps you want to take.
1. If you don't already have an AdWords account, you will need to create one
2. Build your segmentation. Since this is going to support your nurtures, you should slice your list the same way you structure those. Funnel stage, job title, industry etc.
3. Once you have decided on your segments, export the emails into a .csv file.
4. Before you build anything in AdWords, you need to now build out a structure for your campaign. Using the segmenting you defined in the previous steps (broken out if you have more than one), assign AdGroups to each under a parent campaign. You can do this super simple in a Google Sheet (or Excel). Here is an example of a campaign focused on Manufacturing industry where I have broken the target list by job title:
Campaign Name: Manufacturing
Ad Group: VP of Product
Ad Group: Product Engineer
5. Now you want to build your Gmail Ad. Here I could go into step by step and screenshots and all of that, but I love Google Support and really think they do a nice job. So here you go ->
5. Turn it on and let it go!
TIP: You do not need to be running any other type of Paid Search, Paid Display or anything to enable Gmail Ads within Google AdWords.