Shownotes
Prepare for the busiest shopping weekend of the year with Regina's expert advice!
On Black Friday and Cyber Monday, many people shop for their favorite items. Don't miss out on this opportunity! By planning ahead, you can get your Google Ads ready for this high-conversion weekend. Regina Bellows, Executive Director of StarterPPC, shares valuable tips to set your brand up for success. These include offering storewide discounts, setting a budget, creating unique creative materials, and more.
Maximize your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales with well-prepared Google Ads campaigns! Listen to this episode now.
This video is from StarterPPC’s YouTube channel, check it out if you want to maximize ad spend & achieve better results with a smaller budget:
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0:00 Black Friday Google Ads Preparation
0:42 Plan your budget
3:37 Storewide discount offer
8:30 Set up automated discounts
10:31 Need help scaling Google Ads with a limited budget? Let StarterPPC help you!
13:36 Utilizing the Ad Library
16:05 Adding ad text
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Transcripts
Gina here with Starter PPC.
2
:Happy Halloween.
3
:I'm wearing my ghost earrings.
4
:I have my bats up and because it's
Halloween, we are in the depths of prep
5
:pairing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday,
which begins the last Friday of November,
6
:so this year it'll be like the 23rd or the
24th or something like that of November.
7
:Yes, we prepare almost a month
ahead of time because there's
8
:a lot of, things to think about
and moving pieces, to consider.
9
:I want to run through a list of things
to think about to help you guys prepare
10
:for Black Friday, Cyber Monday weekend.
11
:If you're an e commerce company.
12
:The first thing and most important
thing is to plan your budget, right?
13
:So if you've been watching my channel,
you'll know that most months out of the
14
:year, we like to do over pacing on the
budget for the first two weeks of the
15
:month and then under pacing of the budget
for the last two weeks of the month.
16
:November is the one
exception to that rule.
17
:We usually do one of two
things, and we will ask the
18
:clients which one they prefer.
19
:So either we keep the budget, what
it is, and we actually underpace a
20
:little bit for the first three weeks
of November so that we can reserve.
21
:Budget for Black Friday,
Cyber Monday weekend, right?
22
:Because the market is going
to balloon on those dates.
23
:So you want to make sure
you have an available budget
24
:that you planned for that.
25
:You can capture that extra those
extra conversions and not just
26
:let the holiday pass you by.
27
:so that's one option.
28
:The second option is to spend the way
that you were spending previously, right?
29
:We might not do the over
pacing under pacing.
30
:but we might just take the monthly
budget and just spend divided by
31
:30 and spend it, and then have a
separate dedicated additional budget
32
:just for Black Friday, Cyber Monday
weekend, which I think is four days.
33
:I've even seen where clients will say,
hey, for that, for those four days,
34
:go ahead and spend whatever you want,
just put a target row as, Restriction
35
:on it because I don't want the ROAS to
just go all the way down to 30 percent
36
:on that day, but like a reasonable
100 percent ROAS is good because that
37
:means I'm getting like 200 percent
MER and, I don't mind that it's not
38
:my 250, which is my goal and the are
because the holiday weekend and I
39
:want to build my list of customers
who are hopefully going to maybe buy.
40
:another thing in the spring.
41
:So these are things that you might
want to think about and consider
42
:a couple of options for you guys.
43
:something to keep in mind is that
the sales in the first three weeks
44
:of November are usually a little bit
down, and that's because a big chunk
45
:of the market knows that Black Friday
is coming up, and if they want to
46
:buy something, they might actually
be waiting to buy it on that weekend.
47
:Which sucks, but that's
the way that it is.
48
:So that's part of the reason
why we don't do over pacing for
49
:the first two weeks of November.
50
:It just doesn't make sense.
51
:Why would we spend the money then when
we can probably spend it, a lot easier,
52
:with better performance, and the last
week of November, all right, so budget
53
:plans, budget does the other way.
54
:Let's move on to other things.
55
:First of all, for your black Friday,
Sale, it's recommended to just do
56
:like a storewide discount, right?
57
:Nothing too fancy, not like a buy to
get a free gift or anything like that.
58
:mostly because that's just what
everyone's expecting for black Friday,
59
:cyber Monday, that is the holiday.
60
:It's like just, storewide 30 percent
off or whatever you want to think about.
61
:What is the most amount I can
discount all my products and still
62
:make a little bit of a profit.
63
:Keep in mind, you're going for volume
that weekend, you're not going for return.
64
:And when you have three times as many
conversions, you don't have to make.
65
:as high of a return, because you have
three times, the, revenue coming in.
66
:And each time the conversion is made,
you make a little bit of profit.
67
:Yes, your profit might be more
slim, but you're making a lot of it.
68
:So it balances out.
69
:And then you have all these new, customers
who are familiar with your brand.
70
:And I don't know if you guys have
ever heard this stat before, but.
71
:Once somebody has already bought
from you, they are 10 times more
72
:likely to buy from you again than a
cold lead coming to see you for the
73
:first time is likely to buy from you.
74
:something to consider.
75
:All right.
76
:So once you've come up with what
your discount can be, how steep.
77
:put it up on your site, right?
78
:so obviously, if you can just
put up a banner, that's the most
79
:straightforward way to do it.
80
:However, I would recommend having
it in like a section as well.
81
:So when I say banner, I'm talking
about, how like Shopify stores have
82
:that little black banner right below
the, main navigation menu or right
83
:above the main navigation menu.
84
:But since it's Black Friday and it's
such a big weekend, you might also
85
:consider creating like a dedicated
section of the homepage of your site.
86
:you could make a thicker banner.
87
:you could have somebody
design it on Canva for free.
88
:And you can design it on Canva for free.
89
:I actually pulled up Canva cause I
wanted to show you guys what I would do.
90
:To my website, I would go to canva.
91
:com, get the free version of
Canva, search for Black Friday,
92
:Black Friday sale.
93
:How's that?
94
:And Canva has tons of ideas.
95
:So I would just create a really thin,
banner and I would shove it right on
96
:top of everything on my website, like
right below the main navigation menu.
97
:I'd put it right there on the homepage.
98
:I'd put it on the product.
99
:categories pages.
100
:and, I would just put it all
over something like this, right?
101
:This is a very, I'll, click on it.
102
:You can see,
103
:yeah, these are great.
104
:This is a great example of the type of
like banner I would put on my website.
105
:Obviously, you don't need to
have this text because they're
106
:going to be on the site.
107
:So just change this out.
108
:You can start with a template
and customize it from there.
109
:you also can in Canva, you can
just tell it what dimensions you
110
:want and start from scratch, right?
111
:Click create a design.
112
:You don't have to start with a design.
113
:you do have to be careful.
114
:Some of these are pro, which means you
have to upgrade in order to use them.
115
:some of them are paid, which means
you don't have upgraded pro, but
116
:you have to pay for that template.
117
:usually it's just a few dollars
and then some of them are free.
118
:Like here's a free one.
119
:It doesn't have a little
icon in the corner.
120
:that's what I would do to my website.
121
:Okay.
122
:And then, the third thing I want to
talk about is shopping ad promos.
123
:So for those of you who don't
know what I'm referring to,
124
:I pulled up some examples.
125
:once you have a promotion
going on your website.
126
:it's really important to display
that on your shopping ads, and
127
:you'll know what I'm talking about.
128
:Cause if you've used Google
shopping at all, you've seen
129
:this, it says special offer.
130
:And when you hover over it, it
tells you about the special offer.
131
:sometimes the promotions
don't show up like that.
132
:Sometimes it shows up like this
5 off if you buy 100 or more.
133
:sometimes it just shows
like a discounted price.
134
:And to be honest, I think those
are, the way it's displayed is
135
:automatically chosen by Google.
136
:but you do have some control over it.
137
:So there's a couple of
ways to go about this.
138
:First of all, some stores, like
I think Shopify has, this has
139
:something called automated discounts.
140
:So you can Google automated discounts
and read this article right here
141
:in the, Google support page.
142
:And it talks about how to turn this on.
143
:And that means that Google will do
its best to communicate with Shopify
144
:and figure out what promotions are
already set up in Shopify and it will
145
:automatically display on the shopping ads.
146
:Now, if you're like me and you don't
trust that to work and you want to
147
:make sure that it's actually working,
on Black Friday, because you have four
148
:days to get it across, then what you're
going to want to do is go to merchants.
149
:google.
150
:com, log into your Google Merchant
Center, click on marketing and
151
:then promotions and just set it up.
152
:And in order to set it up, you have to
understand how the promotion works, right?
153
:So before you do this, go to your.
154
:eCommerce store, build the
promotion, and then go over to
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:Google Merchant Center and set it up.
156
:As you walk through this process,
it's going to ask you questions like,
157
:which categories are you promoting?
158
:and if you say the total store, but over
in your eCommerce store, you set it up to
159
:do the entire store except for sale items,
the promotion is going to get disapproved.
160
:On Black Friday morning, because it's
going to see the settings don't match.
161
:and so you have to be really specific,
really, detail oriented and really
162
:accurate when you're setting up promotions
in Google Merchant Center, right?
163
:You have to know exactly how you
set it up in your e commerce store.
164
:If it's for the total store,
it's for the total store.
165
:If it's for total store, but sales
item, except for sales items, you have
166
:to say it's for all these categories
and not list the sale item category.
167
:just be very specific with
how you discuss the promotion.
168
:It's also going to ask you, does it
automatically apply at the discount?
169
:Is there a code people
have to copy and paste?
170
:How does it work?
171
:So these are all things that you're
going to have to know in order to get a
172
:promotion to show up on your shopping ads.
173
:hi there, quick interruption.
174
:Do you know the main thing that
prevents small business owners from
175
:getting their Google Ads account into
a position to grow and scale budget?
176
:A lot of businesses, especially
those that are just starting
177
:out, have limited budgets.
178
:And so because of this, they're turned
away by most ad agencies because most ad
179
:agencies have minimum budget thresholds
that they're willing to work with.
180
:So what happens is the business owners
end up learning Google Ads themselves.
181
:And the problem with that is
that most of the advice online is
182
:geared towards larger accounts.
183
:And the advice doesn't have any of those
strategies or tricks that can kickstart
184
:the algorithm into giving a small
account a leg up over larger competitors.
185
:So it often just doesn't work.
186
:And the business just ends up
losing money month over month.
187
:If this sounds familiar,
starter PPC can help.
188
:We offer Google ads management services
that are designed for accounts that
189
:have between 1, 000 and 5, 000 budgets.
190
:Because all of our clients are just
starting out, we've come up with ways to
191
:keep our management fees significantly
lower than most agencies, because
192
:we know that every dollar saved on
management fees just goes towards
193
:the ad budget, which is going to help
the algorithm gather speed and power.
194
:So if you're serious about growing your
business and you'd like a team of Google
195
:ads experts to help you without breaking
the bank, check us out at starter PPC.
196
:com.
197
:Okay.
198
:Back to the video.
199
:Okay.
200
:moving on, let's talk about
creative assets like images for
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:image ads and videos for video ads.
202
:I think this is a little bit above
and beyond for a promotion that
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:just goes on for only four days.
204
:depending on how much you benefit from
Black Friday, Cyber Monday weekend,
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:maybe you've done it in the past.
206
:You were like, wow, that was amazing.
207
:I can't wait to do it again.
208
:you might want to pull out all the stops
and build image ads just for black Friday.
209
:and you could even do video
ads just for black Friday.
210
:if it was me, I'd probably just
be building assets for Christmas.
211
:And because those are going to run, for a
few weeks instead of just for four days.
212
:but it's really up to you.
213
:it depends on, how creatively
inclined you are, How much you like
214
:this holiday and things like that.
215
:First thing you can do is you can
brainstorm, some ideas for image ads by
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:just literally going to Google images
and searching black Friday image ad.
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:no joke, you guys, this is a great way
to get the creative juices flowing.
218
:or those Canva templates are great.
219
:don't have to use Canva templates
just for making section of your site.
220
:You can also use Canva
templates to make image ads.
221
:when you're making image ads, I
would make a square version and
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:a 2 to 1 ratio rectangle version.
223
:Of each ad.
224
:So you could just make one set, right?
225
:A square and a rectangle, or you could
make three versions of it, but make a
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:square and a rectangle of each version.
227
:send it to your ads manager, or you
can hop into the ads and, if you have
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:a display campaign going already,
a display image campaign going
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:already, I would just go in there.
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:Duplicate the ad, swap out the images
for just the Black Friday images.
231
:honestly, I would just temporarily
turn off the non Black Friday ad
232
:for those four days, and then turn
it back on when you're done with
233
:the Black Friday version of the ad.
234
:So you have two ads the same campaign,
but you're going to turn the one
235
:off that's been running, and turn
on your Black Friday one that only
236
:has Black Friday images to force
budget into those images real fast.
237
:If you try to feed those images
into Google, I'm not even
238
:sure if it's going to use it.
239
:And honestly, Google doesn't even
give us much data on how much
240
:budget is dedicated to every image.
241
:Anymore these days.
242
:So your best bet is to force budget
into a copied version of your image ads,
243
:in order to get it to go quickly and
spend a lot on it during those days.
244
:Another thing that you can do is I
really like the facebook ad library.
245
:You can go here select all ads
and then literally just keyword
246
:search for like black friday
because it just helps me see what?
247
:Other people are doing with their ads.
248
:Okay.
249
:Here's like an example of a video ad.
250
:Here's an example of an image ad.
251
:granted, these are all Facebook
ads, not Google ads, it is
252
:something helps to brainstorm.
253
:Obviously social media ads
are a little bit different.
254
:They're usually like more casual and more,
255
:Social, you can also go to the
ads transparency center on Google
256
:and try to search, but I have not
found much luck in here because you
257
:have to search for an advertiser.
258
:So you can't just put in a keyword like
black Friday and see what comes up.
259
:You have to find one of your competitors
and the only ones you're going to find
260
:in here are the really big competitors.
261
:So if you have a big competitor
that you someday want to be like.
262
:Go to the Google ads transparency
center and look for them and you
263
:can see what their Google ads look
like, which is really powerful.
264
:It's just sometimes hard to
find what you're looking for.
265
:video is hard, but I just wanted to
recommend one thing, which is if you
266
:already have videos that you use as
ads, it's really easy to take that
267
:video and slap a five second opener
onto the front, the beginning of that
268
:video that says, our black Friday sale
is on it's You know, this much discount,
269
:and it's running on these dates.
270
:And then you start the regular ad.
271
:now if you're thinking, gosh, that is
a lot of work and then I have to upload
272
:it to YouTube and then I have to upload
it to Google and then I have to make a
273
:duplicate of the ad and I have to try
to get it to spend on that image ad
274
:just for those four days, I feel, yeah,
I probably wouldn't go that far, but
275
:again, it's a personal preference thing.
276
:It just depends on a lot of
things about your business.
277
:And whether you want to do video
ads just for Black Friday, Cyber
278
:Monday, just throwing ideas out there.
279
:Okay.
280
:there's two more things I want to mention.
281
:One is, ad text.
282
:so a great way to add Black Friday ad text
is to go over to the assets section over
283
:here, instead of your Google ad account
and add it using a promotional asset.
284
:if you're like, that's not enough.
285
:I don't just want it to show up in
a promotional, a promotion asset.
286
:assets are like those extensions
that you see on the bottom of the ads
287
:and they don't always show, right?
288
:It's up to Google whether to show it
or not On your text ads, you're like,
289
:that's not enough for my text ads.
290
:I really rely heavily on text ads.
291
:I want it to be in like my main header.
292
:Again, duplicate the ad, make a Black
Friday, cyber Monday version of the ad,
293
:and temporarily just turn off the main.
294
:Ad for those four days and turn it back
on at the end of the weekend, no big deal.
295
:And you can swap out the text
all you want, inside of that
296
:duplicated version of your text ad.
297
:All right.
298
:The last thing I want to
mention is email, right?
299
:It doesn't have much to do with
Google ads, but it is something
300
:that's super powerful and I
didn't want to skip over it.
301
:Don't forget to set up a couple of emails.
302
:Not just one, a couple around Black
Friday, Saber Monday, everyone who's
303
:on your list, whether they're just
a lead or whether they're a past,
304
:customer, tell them about your discount.
305
:all right.
306
:That's about it.
307
:Thanks for watching.
308
:Best of luck.
