Niche Markets and How They Affect Adwords Campaigns
Not everyone is a potential customer for a given product or service. Smart business owners key into their niche – the particular, well-defined segment of the population that will have interest in what is being sold. In other words, the actual buyers of your product.
In order to be effective, adwords campaigns must address the advertiser’s niche. This requires an in-depth understanding of who comprises the market and why they buy, and a tightly focused keyword list. If you do not know your market you will end up spending a lot money uselessly.
• Who is buying the product or service you offer? Successful advertisers develop a profile of their typical customer. Keywords, titles, and descriptions must appeal to this person. A car restorer would be more likely to click thru an ad for “body shop supplies”, for example, than just “hand tools”.
Reaching the right market – the niche – is necessary to avoid the cost associated with clicks by people who are not likely to buy. Advertisers should strive to avoid viewers who will click but not buy, because they will pay a higher CPC without attaining sales to balance the expense. Low conversion rates are one way to recognize that ads are reaching too broad a market.
• Why do they buy? Marketing experts suggest that purchasing decisions are made for one of three reasons: to fulfill a basic need, to solve a problem, or to create positive feelings about the self. Adwords campaigns should communicate specifically what need will be satisfied, problem solved, or self-image achieved through the purchase.
As you know viewers are given pages of hits when they enter a search. You need to give potential customers a compelling reason to choose your ad over another. Effective ad titles will increase click-thru rates. The result of these two steps is a lower CPC and a better qualified lead.
To zero in more closely on the niche market, advertisers can employ negative keywords. These are the words that, when included in a viewer’s search, will cause the ad NOT to appear. Developing an accurate list of negative keywords involves several steps. First, using a keyword research tool, enter the keywords chosen for the advertiser’s website. A list of phrases commonly searched that contain those words will be produced. An advertiser selling scrapbook supplies, for instance, might find that the search phrase “scrapbook layouts” is frequently used. The negative keyword “layouts” would then prevent the ad from showing when a viewer wants an image instead of the supplies.
Keyword phrase matching further ensures the ad will reach the right viewers. Variations in spelling, common misspellings, interchanged words, and the use of singular and plural forms of keywords allow the maximum number of potential customers to receive the ad in response to a search.
Knowing one’s niche and reaching that segment of the market can enhance an advertiser’s success with Adwords campaigns.
