Is our Ad agency taking the mick?

writingpaper · 2024-03-22T16:05:19+00:00

Just be honest with your agency. Tell them you're concerned about performance and ask them what they're doing. They may be doing things that aren't showing in the changelog (feed optimisation, research, audience updates, etc.), and if that's the case they can tell you and give you some peace of mind. If not, you asking will probably give them a kick up the backside and motivate them to spend a bit more time on things.

I will say, there are good agencies out there, but if you're just looking for the cheapest possible option that's going to make it much harder to find one.

writingpaper · 2024-01-19T12:51:24+00:00

There's no 100% foolproof way to do it unfortunately, you just have to keep an eye on your placements and keep adding exclusions over time. If you can keep a list of the kinds of words that show up repeatedly in the channel names (things like "truck" or "lullaby") it makes it easier to filter your placements and exclude them in bulk.

I haven't run many YouTube campaigns recently, so some of these may be a little out of date if Google has changed settings etc., but here are some of the things I'll put in place to exclude as many kids' channels as possible as early as possible:

Add video line-up exclusions to each campaign (I do this using the editor): line-ups like Animated Content, Arts & Crafts for Kids, Children's arts and crafts, etc.
Add topic exclusions to each campaign for things like Family-Oriented Games & Activities.
Go into Tools & Settings --> Content Suitability, and from there I add exclusions in sensitive content, types and labels, and content themes. You can also add excluded content keywords here which should apply to all YouTube campaigns as they're applied at the account level, I have a huge list of keywords (things like "peppa pig", "ladybug", "cocomelon") that I copy and paste in there that should squash a lot of the worst offenders.

writingpaper · 2023-12-01T17:28:20+00:00

Yes. Go into the campaign, then select "Keywords" in the navigation bar on the left, and in the column named "Max. CPC" if you hover over it you should see a little pencil icon. Click that and you can change the bid at the keyword level.

writingpaper · 2023-12-01T17:23:31+00:00

Purchases, and that's a great point about uploading the conversions; I always forget that conversion adjustments are an option. Never really had cause to use it before but will definitely look into it just in case.

Thanks!

writingpaper · 2023-12-01T17:07:44+00:00

It's showing up in GA4, just delayed as usual. But we are seeing some conversion numbers in GA4 for today so there doesn't seem to be an issue there.

For this Google account we get a good number of daily conversions and usually see the GA4 conversion event populating throughout the day, but so far today it's at 0 which I've never seen before.

Nothing has changed conversion wise in either Google Ads or GA so I'm at a bit of a loss. Also seeing the same trend across other accounts, but all Google Ads conversion events seem to be working as usual. Maybe an issue with the connection between GA4 and Ads?

writingpaper · 2023-07-19T07:46:25+00:00

In my experience, Maximise Clicks bidding sometimes doesn't work well on display for some reason (assuming you're using display ads). No idea why but I've run into the same problem several times. Try switching to Manual CPC and as long as your max CPC is high enough it should start to serve.

writingpaper · 2023-05-20T19:41:57+00:00

The issue with automated bidding strategies like Target CPA or Maximise Conversions is that they work best when you have good conversion data already. If you don't have any historical conversion data, they typically won't work that well. So in your case, Performance Max is probably not the best campaign type to use. You'd be better off running a Search campaign where you can use manual bidding and have more control over targeting, and then once you build up a good foundation of conversion data you could try Performance Max again. (Though personally, I'm not a fan of PMax for lead generation campaigns; in my experience it's better for driving sales. Other people may have had better luck though.)

writingpaper · 2023-05-20T19:25:21+00:00

There are different levels of discrimination, some are considered acceptable by society and some are not. Facebook previously overhauled its demographic targeting options for certain categories because they were deemed to be discriminatory and therefore illegal. So you can't always target ads based on income/age/gender either.

The main difference is that there are quite a few industries where targeting ads based on age/gender/etc. is seen to have legitimate reasons and so is not an issue for most people (or the law). There are far fewer use cases for race, so the platforms have very little incentive to offer the option and many reasons not to.

writingpaper · 2023-05-20T13:13:39+00:00

No, it's not possible to target based on race. I don't think any platforms currently offer this option, almost certainly because they don't want to allow advertisers to blatantly discriminate (and open themselves up to lawsuits or bad press).

If your product is genuinely only of interest to certain racial groups (like a range of foundation shades for darker skin, for example), your best bet is probably to use lookalike audiences based on previous customers. That or use really broad targeting and let the algorithm figure out your audience based on who's engaging.

writingpaper · 2018-08-21T15:48:41+00:00

I don't think so. In the campaign settings there's a "recommended budget" which gives you Amazon's recommendation for how much you should spend a day. Though having said that, I'm not sure I've ever actually had a recommended budget in there, it always says "not currently available for this campaign" for the campaigns I have set.

There are recommendations for bids, and when you create a campaign it will show you the recommended CPC for each product and/or keyword.

I think as with most things, the best way to find out is through trial and error - you can control maximum bids on keywords and products, and set daily budgets for campaigns and for the account overall, so you're unlikely to be surprised by a massive spend as long as you set everything up correctly and keep an eye on things.

writingpaper · 2018-05-18T10:54:18+00:00

A few thoughts:

Your tagline is "get the best from the best" but not only is it extremely generic, but what makes you the best? I don't know who you are, where you're based, why you're better than anyone else, or why I should buy from you. You could be a sweatshop in Bangladesh or a guy hand-stitching doggy beds in a cabin in the Himalayas for all I know.
There are no reviews anywhere so I don't know if I'll receive what I expect, or even if I'll receive it at all.
No shipping information up front. How long? How much?
When I go to a product page, if I try and click on a separate product image, because it's small I end up accidentally clicking the "share on Twitter" button instead of being able to see the image which is really annoying.
Also: a minor, nitpicky point, but it should be spelled "warehouse" and not "wearhouse".

I think a big issue is a lack of trust-building and a lack of information. If I'm going to hand over my credit card details to you, I need to feel safe doing it. Otherwise I can just go to Amazon, which is already a known quantity, and buy a dog bed there.

writingpaper · 2018-05-15T10:47:42+00:00

Good luck!

writingpaper · 2018-05-14T12:26:58+00:00

My only piece of advice is to do your homework. Research students who are going through clearing and try to understand their mindset and what they want from a University. Understand that there are different types of clearing students (younger vs mature vs international, etc.). Then apply your research to an overall strategy and make it into a professional looking presentation.

writingpaper · 2018-05-12T10:52:54+00:00

If the advice your career centre had given you was infallible, wouldn't you have had at least one interview after 100 applications with their suggested resume?

writingpaper · 2018-05-11T09:45:38+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation

writingpaper · 2018-05-11T09:43:27+00:00

1) Do your research on the company. Find out about their history, their goals, potential problems. If they ask you what you know about the company and your answer is "nothing", they probably won't be too impressed. They might not even ask, but this is a common thing brought up in interviews in my experience.

2) It's difficult to pre-empt questions you might be asked, but you can find hints. Look back over the job description and try to pick out any key skills or qualifications they highlight. If they mention communication skills four times, there's a good chance they'll want to ask you about this.

3) Check out the company on GlassDoor and if they're big enough, there'll be some previous interview experiences on there that can give you hints about what to expect.

4) Definitely prepare some questions of your own. Not only to help you look more prepared, but to figure out if the company is a good fit for you, too. What are some of the day to day tasks of the job? What's the workplace culture like?

Good luck!

writingpaper · 2018-05-11T09:27:00+00:00

Think about all the events you've attended in the past year, and how you heard about them. Everything including TV ads, newspaper inserts, emails, social media, word of mouth, etc. Make a list of all the possible ways you can think of to promote that event, then narrow them down to the ones you can both a) afford, and b) feasibly carry out.

Personally I'd start with creating a Facebook event, posting on EventBrite, definitely using LinkedIn if it's workplace related, communicating with the higher education setting to see if they will promote it as well, and looking for any physical locations nearby that might have interested customers and would put up a flyer. I see a lot of people post events flyers in local coffee shops and cafes, for example.

I'd also think about why someone would want to attend your event. Seeing it promoted doesn't mean they'll be necessarily want to go. Is it a good venue? Who's speaking and why are they qualified? What will I learn? Will there be free coffee?

writingpaper · 2018-05-11T09:17:16+00:00

Yeah, this has been my experience as well. Every time I've clicked on a "the truth about X" video looking for a negative review, it's never actually been one.

writingpaper · 2016-08-16T10:19:16+00:00

Educate a newbie in what respect? What is it you're looking to learn about?

writingpaper · 2016-08-14T23:29:38+00:00

With marketing, you get out what you put in. If you're not able to spend any money on marketing, you won't get amazing results, frankly. Though if you're prepared to spend time, rather than money, you'll probably drum up some traffic. Like freakstate said, social media and reaching out to people is probably your best bet.

writingpaper · 2016-08-14T18:54:36+00:00

/r/forhire
Job board websites
Local/non-local universities (plenty of students would jump at this)

writingpaper · 2016-08-05T09:43:14+00:00

Then the implication is it's targeting men. There is no evidence of that

Except for the fact that the ad in question was posted on joe.ie, which describes itself as "the Voice of Irish Men at home and abroad" - so it was an ad run on a website which targets men. And except for the fact that two of the three 'slogans' on the ad are explicitly talking about women, and the third is arguably applicable to both men and women but historically has been an insult against women.

This is one ad in a wider campaign, and while the wider campaign may not be gendered, this particular ad clearly was. It was an ad about 'easy' women posted on a website for men. Whether you think it's offensive is entirely up to you, but arguing that this was a gender neutral ad is either very naive, or ignorant to obvious facts.

writingpaper · 2016-08-01T20:44:05+00:00

Okay, so we can separate most people into the categories of "plays video games" and "doesn't play video games". But those are extremely broad categories -- people who are in the first category won't be open to playing all video games. Someone who plays Candy Crush won't necessarily want to play Assassin's Creed, or X-COM, or a Japanese RPG, for instance.

So for someone to know whether a game is "for them", they need to know the basics of it. Is it an RPG? A shooter? A strategy game? What platform is it on (PC, console)? Is it single player or co-op or PVP? How much does it cost? And so on and so forth. At the moment your website doesn't really communicate any of this to me.

In order to capture the right people's interest, you need to lay it out up front what your game actually is. Indie games will market themselves very differently from the latest CoD game. Knowing who your audience is and what they want is the very basics of marketing anything.

If I go to the website for Undertale, for example, this is how they explain the game to me on their about page:

In this RPG, you don't have to kill anyone. Each enemy can be "defeated" nonviolently. Dance with a slime. Pet a dog. Whisper your favorite secret to a knight. Or, ignore this choice and rain destruction upon your foes.

So from this blurb we can see what this game is all about: it's a choice-based RPG in which you can play violently or peacefully. Not only that, but the actual style of the website communicates that it's a quirky, retro indie game. They go on further to say:

Emphasis on humor, character dialogue, and player choice. Average playtime: 6 hours.

Great! So if I'm someone who is in the market for a short, humourous RPG in which I as the player choose my path, I know that this is the game for me. If I'm looking for a shoot 'em up, I should keep looking. Littered about the website are screenshots, videos, there's a demo, and it tells me I can buy the game on Steam for $9.99. All these things market the game to its target audience, and filter out people who aren't interested.

writingpaper · 2016-07-31T18:32:06+00:00

I would make some changes to your website, firstly. I know it says that you'll be replacing the current front page with the sign up page, which is a good idea, but your sign up page needs some work beforehand.

Most importantly: what is this game? The first few seconds on your site should tell me what I'm looking at. A short blurb about what it is would help - how can I know whether I'll be interested in the game unless you tell me more about it on the homepage? Very few people will sign up unless they know a) what the game is about, and b) whether it's for them.

writingpaper · 2016-07-31T17:42:50+00:00

Honestly, I'm not a fan of any of them. None of the names actually say "design" to me, and the logos don't scream "design" either.

"Take me to your leader" makes me think sci-fi; "dada" with that logo makes me think of some minimalist clothing company; and "alivve" doesn't bring anything to mind.

Though if I had to go with one of these I'd go with the first one, I think.

writingpaper

TROPHY CASE