Patience Hurlburt-Lawton
When most retailers think of digital marketing, standard Google ads come to mind.
After all, regular Google Shopping campaigns have been around for ages. They were also known as the top marketing channel for quite some time.
But in 2018, all that changed. Google released a new campaign subtype called Smart Shopping. It’s also one of the most essential marketing tools for any eCommerce business.
In fact, as a group of digital marketing ninjas, we are in love with Smart Shopping campaigns. And once you learn why, something tells us you’ll be in the same boat.
A Quick Look at Standard Shopping Campaigns
Before we gush about Smart Shopping, let’s take a few steps back.
With Standard Shopping, your ads are displayed in the Google Shopping channel. These are the image ads that appear along the top of relevant search result pages. Each ad includes the retailer and price, and often, a rating out of five stars (example below). Done and done.
There’s just one problem, though. “It’s really hard to stand out and be unique with a normal Shopping campaign,” says John Moran, Senior Client Strategist at Solutions 8. Standard campaigns are extremely competitive, especially for small businesses. Your products are literally up against some big-name brands.
Standard Campaigns put you in a highly competitive ecosystem.
In this scenario, it’s difficult to pay enough money to appear in the top search results—while having a price low enough that people want to buy. As a result, “this negatively affects ROAS, or return on ad spend,” notes John.
Bummer.
That’s where Smart Shopping campaigns come in…
Google Smart Shopping is the Best Thing Since Google Itself
So, maybe that’s a bit dramatic. But our love is real, folks.
Smart Shopping is a combination of Standard Shopping and displays remarketing campaigns. It utilizes Google’s machine learning technology to target people who are more likely to buy and spend more.
Basically, while “Standard Shopping simply uses keywords to match your product to the person searching at the time, Smart Shopping uses targeting to find the users,” explains John. (Fun fact: Google uses 70 million different signals to pinpoint users who are ready to buy a specific product.)
This increases the chances of your campaign reaching potential customers. Awesome.
And here’s where it gets even cooler. Smart Shopping displays your ads on all five Google channels, which include:
- Google Shopping
- Google Search (search results page)
- Google Display Network (banner ads on other websites)
- Gmail Sponsored Promotions (Gmail accounts)
- YouTube (video or banner ads)
By attaching your ads to different platforms, your product isn’t placed against those big-name brands, says John. It automatically takes you out of that competitive ecosystem and puts you in front of those interested users.
Now, that’s what we call smart.
Solutions 8 is Ready to Help
As you can see, there’s a lot to love about Smart Shopping campaigns.
Yet, like many aspects of digital marketing, there’s a right and wrong way to run them. The backend process is also super complex.
Luckily for you, we’re pros at this stuff. “Every Smart Shopping campaign we have run has been successful,” notes John. So, rest assured—we know how to handle the nuts and bolts of this brilliant campaign subtype.
Ready to plan your Smart Shopping campaign? We’ve got your back. Contact us today.
