There are two main themes that run throughout Marshall and Todd’s book, “The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords” and that are paramount in guaranteeing successful use of AdWords. The first is being attentive to your customer and the second is using the force of attrition to never stop competing with yourself to do better. These themes can be extracted and applied to any business or personal venture. By knowing the audience of your actions and tirelessly working to improve their response we can all become more attune to the things that work in our lives and our business.
Being attentive to your customers using AdWords means getting inside the customers mind a little bit and thinking about what it is that motivates and drives them to search using particular keywords. Usually people go online with some problem to which they are looking for a solution. The question is; how can you show them that your product provides the best solution? Marshall and Todd explain that people are looking for the fastest and cheapest way to solve their problem. Having a successful AdWord campaign means showing that your solution is the easiest and fastest, but also that you are trustworthy and will come through on your promise to actually solve their problem.
The authors argue that the surefire way to get to the top of the list and stay there is by constantly split-testing your own ads. This means that you have two ads continuously competing against each other. As soon as one ad becomes the clear winner you get rid of the loser and make a new ad that can beat that winner. By doing this you are in essence continually competing with yourself. Your new ad will either win or lose. If it wins, you have a new and better ad that will sell more of your product. If the new ad loses, then you know that you already have a good ad; now it is time to think of an even better one.
Utilizing this process ensures success because most companies are unwilling or unable to take advantage of it. Many are unwilling because they don’t think that it will be beneficial to them, or they don’t care enough to invest the time that it takes. Instead, they settle on ads that show some success and are satisfied. Other companies are just unable, either because they don’t have the manpower to invest or because they don’t know the enormous potential for growth that is out there for the taking.
Regardless, the authors are sure that the method works. It has been tested and the success can be seen in dollar signs. It allows the small fish to beat the big fish because the sheer force of attrition leads to an ad that makes money rain down from the sky. Real time customer input selects the best ad and by keeping the ad the customers love most you constantly improve your campaign. It also works to bring in money 24 hours a day