Joan PorioBrand campaigns are one of the key campaigns we run for all of our clients. It’s also a great campaign to generate quality leads in high-competition markets.
Even with the massive reach of Performance Max and the campaign already including your brand name, you still need to run a separate brand campaign.
The importance of brand campaigns still stands and this blog will help you understand why.
Why should I run a brand campaign when I’m meant to get those clicks anyway?
Brand keywords, also called branded keywords or brand terms, are keywords (or phrases) that contain your company name—for example, “Nike” or “Nike shorts.”
You may be concerned that bidding on your brand keywords through brand campaigns is a waste of time and money because you’re going to get those people anyway.
They’re you’re existing customers so why should you pay for them?
Here are the advantages of running brand campaigns:
1. First and foremost, it’s actually really inexpensive.
We’re talking maybe a third of your average cost per click, so why wouldn’t you bid on your brand keywords? Plus, your click-through rate will be higher because people are already searching for your company (and likely further along in the sales funnel).
2. If you’re not bidding on your brand keywords, your competitors will.
There are ways to (ethically) steal traffic from a competitor who “owns” your space (or is doing a lot of brand building).
Bidding on their brand keywords is one of those ways.
It sounds odd; why would your competitor bid on your business name? But think about it: It’s cheap, it’s totally legal, and it’s a clever way to lure valuable traffic away from your brand.
Further, if you aren’t running a brand campaign (i.e. a campaign that targets your brand name), that means your competitors can show up (instead of you) when a user searches for your brand (yikes).
Read more about bidding on your competitor’s brand keywords and other ways to leverage your competition’s data to win the battle in Google Ads.
3. Running a brand campaign equals traffic and protection.
When you run your brand campaign, Google will reward you with the traffic because you are the true brand behind the name.
And if your competitor is already bidding on your brand name, the campaign will still protect your brand.
My Performance Max campaigns already show my brand name, wouldn’t that eliminate the need for brand campaigns?
With Performance Max reaching across Google’s full range of advertising channels and inventory and showing your brand name, too… Why are brand campaigns still valuable?
Well, bidding on your brand while running Performance Max campaigns can help build brand awareness and increase new customer revenue.
Here’s an example:
If you’re running a Performance Max campaign and a brand campaign that is maxed out, there is proof that the click on Performance Max came through your brand.
In other words, Performance Max is essentially “warming up” the traffic by showing them ads everywhere within the Google ecosystem.
Aside from brand campaigns still getting clicks and conversions with Performance Max campaigns even if they’re maxed out, they’re also more sustainable.
Performance Max campaigns often run out of spend, but your brand campaign is a lot less in search, making it more inexpensive and easy to maintain.
If I’m a small business owner, should I skip brand campaigns and focus on new customer acquisition?
Many advertisers say that spending on brand is only for big companies with a massive ad budget.
If that’s true, then you won’t spend anyway, and we might as well have a dedicated brand campaign because, if you’re right, then we’re not going to spend on brand.
But if you’re wrong, then we’re going to catch all the conversions that we would’ve gotten otherwise. If you don’t want brand to come through Performance Max, you can’t run Google.
To know more about how bidding on your brand while running Performance Max can help build brand awareness and increase new customer revenue, watch this video.
In the video, John presents three accounts in different industries that prove the importance of brand campaigns with Performance Max.
If you need help getting started with your brand campaigns alongside your Performance Max campaigns, we’re here to help! Here at Solutions 8, we know how to build Google Ads Performance Max campaigns. You can also head over to our YouTube channel for daily education and free knowledge bombs.
