In part one of this two-part blog, we dived into the world of pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, discussing key aspects such as ad copy, licenses and A/B testing, which iGaming operators can use to optimise campaigns. This second part explores strategy and budget, two of the most influential factors in determining the overall outcome of PPC ad campaigns.
In case you missed it, read part one here. The second and final part is available below.
Strategy and Budget
The first items to focus on are the goals, objectives, key performance indicators (KPIs) and monthly budget for your ad campaigns. This budget will help determine the costs associated with keyword planning. The comprehensive strategy also includes:
- Research and Competitive Analysis
Evaluating the advertising landscape in a respective vertical allows you to preview top performing ads. For example, an operator who runs casino sites will want to continuously observe campaigns to determine competitor strengths and weaknesses in that space. If a competitor suddenly stops using certain terms, the operator can revisit their own strategy. Through the Google Keyword Planner, you can view keyword bids, average monthly searches, search volumes and more for each set of words. Furthermore, this can help you refine your own tactics for selecting and grouping keywords to outperform your competitor’s ads.
- Campaigns
After selecting keywords, the number and types of campaigns should be agreed upon for A/B testing, which involves changing and testing for one variable to observe which variation performs best. It can be performed for multiple rounds until the best converting ad is found. Once that winning ad is selected, it can be scaled up by increasing budget. The ad should be regularly monitored to see if there are any changes in performance.
- PPC Copy
Ad copy should be customised for each search term. Anticipating relevance and the needs of your target audience will aid in refining terms that perform well. Using tailored keywords in your ad copy, highlighting unique selling points (USPs) and communicating a clear call-to-action (CTA) should give your target consumers a good reason to click on your ad.
Established KPIs should play a role when determining your target audience and selecting words to use in corresponding ad copy. Whether it’s to draw interest or influence action, the KPIs will help with audience segmentation and determining their user journey.
- Reporting/Analytics
Ongoing monitoring of ad campaigns can yield golden opportunities for growth. Linking your Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts will provide essential data on your site traffic. Additionally, it will help you analyse key data that can help improve your ad campaigns, such as the ‘custom segments for audience analysis’ and ‘events’ parameters, which measure actions taken on-site. Things to include in a PPC report are conversions, performance, cost and level of PPC growth.
Through third party software like Income Access, operators can insert tracking links to monitor campaign performance. This automatically transfers information on player activity including revenue, commissions and more to our award-winning platform and its comprehensive reporting features.
For iGaming operators, anticipating market developments is essential to staying ahead of the competition, especially in saturated markets. Based on your KPIs and ad campaigns, the overall PPC marketing strategy employed should feed into the overall growth of your brand and affiliate programme.
Now that you’ve read both parts of this blog, let us know which paid marketing strategy you believe will gain the most momentum in the iGaming market in 2020.
For more information on our affiliate marketing and digital marketing services, please reach out.
