To achieve better results, improving your display ad’s CTR is key. In this article, we’ll discuss five practical, data-driven strategies that can help you overcome low CTR, enhance ad engagement, and ultimately improve the overall performance of your display campaigns. 

1. Refine Your Audience Targeting

One of the most critical factors influencing display ad CTR is how well you’re targeting your audience. Even the most beautifully designed ad will fall flat if it’s shown to the wrong people. Therefore, refining your audience targeting is essential.

a. Use Behavioural Targeting

Behavioural targeting involves showing ads to people based on their past browsing behaviour. This could include individuals who have visited your website or searched for products or services similar to what you’re offering. By leveraging behavioural data, you can ensure your ads reach people who are more likely to be interested in your products, which in turn can increase CTR.

b. Utilise Lookalike Audiences

Creating lookalike audiences is an effective way to refine targeting and expand your reach. These are groups of new users who share similar characteristics, behaviours, or interests with your existing customers. By tapping into lookalike audiences, you can increase the likelihood of engagement because you’re targeting individuals who are more likely to respond to your ads, based on similarities to those who have already shown interest in your products or services. This approach can help you reach a wider, yet still relevant, audience and improve overall campaign performance.

c. Implement Retargeting

Retargeting is a powerful method that reminds people of your product after they’ve interacted with your brand. By targeting users who have already visited your website or added products to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase, you’re able to push them further down the conversion funnel. Ads that retarget users have been shown to increase CTR by up to 10 times compared to standard display ads.

2. Improve Ad Design and Copy

The design and copy of your ad are crucial elements in improving CTR. People are naturally drawn to visually appealing content, and a well-crafted message can spark curiosity or a desire to click. Here are a few ways to improve your ad design and copy:

a. Keep It Simple but Eye-Catching

A common mistake advertisers make is overcrowding their ads with too much text or too many images. Simplicity is key in display ads. A clean, minimal design allows your message to stand out and grab attention quickly, which is important since users tend to scroll or browse quickly. Bold colours, strong contrast, and high-quality images can help your ad stand out from the surrounding content.

b. Focus on a Strong Call to Action (CTA)

Your call to action is the most important part of your ad copy. It tells users what you want them to do. An effective CTA should be short, actionable, and clear. Use verbs that instill a sense of urgency, such as “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” or “Get Started.” Additionally, the CTA button should be visually distinct from the rest of the ad to draw immediate attention.

c. Use Dynamic Ads

Dynamic ads automatically adjust their content based on user behavior and preferences. These ads show personalized products or services to each user, improving relevance and, therefore, increasing the likelihood of a click. For example, if someone has recently browsed a specific product on your site, your ad can display that product to them, making the ad much more tailored and engaging.

3. Maximise Ad Placement and Contextual Targeting

Where your ads appear can greatly influence their CTR. The wrong placement can result in your ads being ignored, while strategic placements can drive higher engagement. In addition to this, contextual targeting helps ensure your ads are seen in environments where they make sense and are more likely to resonate with the audience.

a. Optimise for Mobile and Desktop

Display ads should be optimised for both mobile and desktop users. Ensure your ad format fits different screen sizes without losing clarity. Given that mobile traffic continues to grow, ads that aren’t optimised for mobile can severely limit your potential CTR. Create responsive ads that adjust depending on the device used to access the content, improving visibility and engagement across all platforms.

b. Contextual Targeting

Contextual targeting allows you to place your ads on websites or pages that are relevant to your product or service. For instance, if you’re selling fitness equipment, you’d want your ads to appear on health and wellness blogs or forums. This improves the relevance of your ads, as users who are consuming related content are more likely to be interested in your offerings.

c. Select High-Performance Ad Networks

Not all ad networks perform equally, so it’s important to track and analyse which ones deliver higher CTR and engagement for your audience. Programmatic platforms like ClickAds give you access to a wide range of premium sites, including AOL, Business Insider, BuzzFeed, CBS News, Daily Mail, and SkySports. Monitoring your performance regularly ensures that your budget is allocated to the networks that provide the best results for your campaigns.

4. Test Ad Formats and Creative Variations

Ad fatigue can set in when users see the same ads repeatedly, leading to declining CTR. To combat this, it’s essential to continuously test different ad formats and creative variations.

a. Experiment with Different Formats

Display ads come in various formats, including banner ads, video ads, carousel ads, and interactive ads. Some formats may perform better depending on the platform and audience you’re targeting. For instance, video ads often yield higher engagement rates because they’re more dynamic and can convey more information in a short time. However, banner ads can be effective if they’re placed in high-visibility locations on a webpage. Experimenting with different formats can give you a better understanding of what works best for your audience.

b. Rotate Creative Assets

Regularly refreshing your ad creative can prevent ad fatigue. Even if your ad has performed well, showing the same design for too long can lead to users tuning out. By rotating your creative assets, you maintain freshness and keep users engaged. Try changing up visuals, colours, and CTAs to see what resonates.

c. Interactive and Rich Media Ads

Interactive ads that allow users to engage with the content (e.g., swiping through carousels, clicking on expandable banners, or watching interactive videos) can dramatically increase engagement. Rich media ads, which include images, videos, and audio, offer a more immersive experience and can generate higher CTR compared to static ads. By making your ads more interactive, you’re giving users a reason to engage, leading to more clicks.

5. Analyse and Optimise Performance

Finally, continuous analysis and optimisation are vital to improving CTR. Without reviewing performance data, you won’t know which strategies are working or where you need to adjust. Make data-driven decisions to refine your campaigns over time.

a. Monitor Key Metrics

Keep a close eye on metrics like CTR, conversion rate, bounce rate, and return on ad spend (ROAS). By monitoring these metrics, you can assess whether your changes are leading to improved performance. Tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and third-party platforms like SEMrush or Ahrefs can provide detailed insights into user behaviour and ad performance.

b. Conduct A/B Testing

A/B testing should be a regular part of your optimisation process. Whether it’s testing different ad designs, CTAs, or audiences, A/B testing allows you to systematically determine what works best. Run two versions of the same ad with small differences, such as headline or image variations, and compare the results to see which version performs better.

c. Optimise Underperforming Ads

Don’t hesitate to pause or update ads that are underperforming. If a particular ad or audience isn’t delivering the desired results, it’s time to reevaluate. Review the ad’s placement, format, creative, and targeting to identify where improvements can be made. Often, small tweaks can have a significant impact on performance.

d. Frequency Cap Adjustment

Sometimes, low CTR can be attributed to ad fatigue, where users have seen your ad too often. Adjusting the frequency cap (the number of times a user is shown your ad) can help. Reducing the frequency cap ensures your ad remains fresh and avoids overwhelming users, which can lead to higher CTR.

A Quick Summary

Improving low display ad CTR is a multifaceted challenge, but with the right strategies in place, you can significantly boost your ad engagement. By refining audience targeting, optimising ad design, experimenting with different formats, focusing on contextual relevance, and continually analysing performance, you can create ads that capture attention, engage users, and drive more clicks. 

Whether you’re running a small business or managing large-scale campaigns, these five strategies offer practical steps that can transform your display advertising efforts, leading to better engagement, improved CTR, and, ultimately, more conversions.

Enhance Your Advertising Strategy 

If you’re looking to improve your advertising, our sister brand ClickAds.ai offers an easy way to access programmatic advertising. With our self-serve platform, you can manage campaigns efficiently and reach your audience across display, video, connected TV, and digital out-of-home. Click here to learn more about how programmatic advertising can support your digital strategy.

This article will guide you through optimising your product titles, descriptions, and images, avoiding duplicates, and making sure all product attributes are correctly populated to maximise your campaign performance.

1. Product Titles

Product titles are one of the most critical factors in determining the relevance of your ads. For instance, if you’re selling men’s lightweight black running shoes and only label them “black shoes,” your ad won’t appear in many relevant searches. Shoppers search for specifics, like “red trail-running shoes” or “road racing trainers,” so including as much detail as possible is essential.

Even though you don’t bid on keywords in shopping campaigns, you can still run a search terms report to see which queries triggered your ads. For example, if someone searches for “men’s green parka” and your product title is simply “down parka,” your ad is unlikely to perform well. To optimise titles, follow a format like brand + product name + product type + gender + size + colour, as this reflects buyer behaviour and priorities when searching. 

Avoid using promotional text like “free shipping” in titles, as this can be added through extensions and labels rather than in your product titles. As your product feed takes the place of target keywords, ensure your product titles are detailed enough to clearly indicate the exact product you are promoting, in the same way you’d ensure target keywords are tightly themed.  

2. Product Descriptions

Product descriptions should expand on the information in the title and reinforce the details most relevant to users. For example, if you’re selling yellow spotty hats, place “yellow spotty hat” at the start of the description, rather than generic terms like “hat, cute, outdoor.” People are searching for specifics, so front-load the description with key details to improve ad relevance.

It’s also important to ensure descriptions match the product details on your landing page. For example, for women’s shoes, the description should include features such as material, size, and colour. Make sure there are no errors like HTML tags or duplicate words, as these can reduce the quality of your ad.

Descriptions should avoid things like capital letters or excessive punctuation, as these can make your ad appear unprofessional and may violate ad policies.

3. Avoid Duplicate Titles

Duplicate titles can hurt your campaign performance just like duplicate keywords. If two products with the same title and price appear in your feed, Microsoft may only serve one ad, meaning variations in colour, size, or style won’t be shown. To avoid this, expand the titles of variants by including attributes like colour, size, material, or pattern to highlight the differences.

Also, use the Item Group ID attribute for products that have variations. This ensures that all versions of a product – such as different sizes or colours – are correctly grouped and displayed.

4. Shopping Image Considerations

Images play a vital role in showing customers a visual of the product as if they are in the store. Use high-resolution images, and if possible, show the product in multiple colours and in use to give shoppers a better idea of how it looks.

Here are some essential guidelines for images:

• Minimum image size: 220px by 220px
• Maximum image size: 3.9MB
• Acceptable formats: .bmp, .gif, .exif, .jpg, .png
• Prefer images with a white background and avoid adding text like “free shipping” or watermarks

Ensure the image link is case-sensitive, and if you update the image, also update the URL in the feed to reflect the new image in the ad. Microsoft’s bots will crawl your site in order to reference the image you’ve provided via a URL; ensure your website’s robots.text file is configured to allow Bingbot to crawl your site and retrieve product images. 

5. Ensure Attribute Columns Are Populated

The shopping tab allows users to filter products by attributes like colour, size, material, and gender. To maximise your product’s visibility in these filters, it’s essential to populate your feed with attributes that help to surface your products to in-market searchers. For example, if a customer searches for “womens brown leather satchel with buckle,” and your feed includes these details, your product will appear more prominently in the filtered results. Ensure to populate feed columns including words or attributes that a shopper might search, rather than small details that wouldn’t sway a purchase decision either way.

6. Additional Feed Optimizations 

Product URLs

Your feed includes both an image URL and a product URL (the destination) and it’s essential that redirects are not applied to these URLs, as redirects can cause issues with ad serving. In cases where both the link and ads_redirect attributes are used, they should resolve to the same product landing page.

Product Pricing

Price is another critical factor in feed optimisation. Ensure that the price listed in the feed represents the price for a single unit. If you’re selling a bundle or multipack, ensure that the total price is listed (not the unit price), as listing only the unit price can lead to rejection.

If your product uses instalment pricing (e.g., mobile carrier plans), be sure to specify this in your feed. Additionally, attributes like sale price and sale price effective dates can be used to highlight discount pricing, adding further appeal to your shopping ads.

Conclusion

Given product feeds replace keywords and ad copy usually found in Search campaigns, the attributes within your feed act as levers to improve the searches your ad is serving against, as well as increasing CTRs and conversion rates. By optimising your feed to appeal to search behaviours and purchase preferences, your ad is more likely to gain visibility within beneficial searches. Think of your feed not as a stockroom, but as a storefront – every detail matters in attracting and converting potential buyers.

Here’s a beginner-friendly guide to help you set up, manage, and optimise your feed for success.

What is a Shopping Feed?

At its core, a Microsoft Shopping Feed is a structured spreadsheet, containing all the necessary details about your products such as titles, descriptions, prices, and availability. 

Microsoft Advertising uses this information to match your products with what people are searching for online. If your feed is incomplete or incorrect, your products might not show up in searches, which means you could miss out on potential sales.

How It Works

Whenever someone searches for a product, Microsoft scans its catalog (which includes your feed) to find the best matches. If your feed is well set up, your product will show up when it’s relevant. But if it’s not, other retailers with well-optimised feeds are ready to take your spot, potentially leaving your product out of relevant searches

Adding optional information (known as attributes or fields), like special promotions or product conditions (such as ‘new’ or ‘used’), gives you more control over how your products are shown. These fields provide Microsoft with additional information, enabling the system to more accurately match your ad to relevant searches, while keeping the format and appearance unchanged.

Top Product Feed Tips

Here are some key attributes that can enhance your Microsoft Shopping Feed:

• Promotion ID: Highlight specific deals or discounts in your ads, which can help attract price-sensitive shoppers.
• Condition: Tell customers if your product is new, used, or refurbished, so they know exactly what they’re getting.
• Shipping: Adding “Free Shipping” can be a powerful incentive for shoppers and boost your click-through rate.
• Sale Price: Showing a reduced price alongside the original price can help capture attention and increase conversions.
• Custom Labels: Tag and segment products for targeted campaigns, like promoting seasonal stock or bestsellers.

By paying attention to these recommended fields, you can enhance your Shopping Feed and, ultimately, your Shopping Ads’ performance. Not only will your products be positioned more prominently among other shopping ads, but they’ll also appear with rich product information that helps customers to make purchase decisions.

Unique Identifier Warnings

In certain countries (like the US, UK, or Australia), you’ll need to provide unique identifiers (like barcodes) for your products. These help Microsoft accurately identify your products. If you don’t include them, your products might get flagged, or worse, your ads might not run at all. 

Creating Your Shopping Feed

Building your Shopping Feed might sound tricky, but it’s not as hard as you might think. Most online stores or ecommerce platforms already have tools that can create a feed for you. If you’re starting from scratch, a simple spreadsheet will work to organise your product data.

Here are steps to build a product feed:

1. Use your Google feed: If you have an existing Google Shopping feed, you can repurpose it for Microsoft Merchant Center. Although there are some differences between the platforms, adapting your Google feed is often more efficient than creating a new one from the ground up. 
2. Fill in required fields: Add product titles, descriptions, prices, and availability. Double-check that all required fields are completed and formatted accurately.
3. Add optional fields: Enhance your feed by including additional information like promotions, condition, and custom labels.
4. Test your feed: Before uploading, run a test to ensure there are no errors or missing fields. Microsoft Merchant Center offers tools to help validate your feed.

Setting Up Your Microsoft Shopping Feed

Now that you have your feed ready, you’ll need to upload it to Microsoft Merchant Center. Here’s a simple step-by-step guide:

1. Create a merchant center: Go to the Microsoft Merchant Center and sign up using your Microsoft Advertising account.
2. Upload your feed: You can manually upload a CSV or XML file, or if you use an ecommerce platform like Shopify, connect it directly.
3. Map the fields: Microsoft will ask you to map the product attributes (fields) in your feed to its predefined fields. 
4. Submit for review: Microsoft will check your feed and approve it if everything looks good.

Once your feed is approved, your products will start appearing in relevant Shopping ads across Microsoft’s network.

Optimising Your Feed for Better Performance 

Now that your feed is live, it’s essential to optimise it for conversions. Make sure key details are at the forefront of your product titles and descriptions to reach customers who are closer to purchase.

Key Optimisation Tips:

1. Perfect your product titles: The product title is the first thing shoppers see, so make it specific and keyword-rich. Instead of “Red Dress,” opt for “Women’s Long Sleeve Red Cocktail Dress,” including details like colour, gender, occasion, and style.
2. Improve your Descriptions: Ensure product descriptions are clear and relevant, prioritising key details at the start for improved visibility. For instance, if someone searches for “purple spotty umbrella,” present that information upfront. Avoid burying important details like colour, pattern, or style in the middle of a list, and refrain from unnecessary promotional text, using all capital letters, or gimmicky foreign characters.
3. Use High-Quality Images: Use clear, high-resolution product images with clutter-free backgrounds for the best results. 
4. Avoid Duplicates: Ensure titles and prices are unique for each product variant to avoid only one version being shown. For example, list different colours or sizes distinctly, using the Item Group ID for variant groups.
5. Add Custom Labels: These allow you to group products into segments for better bidding strategies. For instance, use labels like “seasonal” or “best_sellers” to control how you target these categories.

Troubleshooting Common Shopping Feed Issues

Shopping feeds are essential for optimal ad performance, but various issues can arise that affect product visibility and campaign success. 

1. Products Not Approved: If your products aren’t showing up, Microsoft Merchant Center will tell you why. It might be a pricing error or missing details. Just make the necessary changes and resubmit.
2. Expired Feeds: Microsoft requires your feed to be updated at least every 30 days; otherwise, it expires, and your ads will stop showing. Schedule weekly uploads to Microsoft Merchant Center to ensure your feed remains current.
3. Feed Disapprovals: If Microsoft disapproves your feed, it’s usually due to missing fields or low-quality images. Check the Merchant Center for details, fix the issue, and re-submit.
4. Poor Feed Quality: Missing or inaccurate data (like GTINs or low-quality images) can hurt your ad rankings. Make sure your feed is complete and well-optimised to get the best results.

Final Thoughts: Keep Your Feed Updated

Shopping Ads are a great way to promote your products to customers who are actively shopping online. By making the most of the optional attributes within your feed, you can highlight key traits of your products that help to turn browsers into buyers. Stay on top of search terms reports and tweak your feed accordingly for the best chance at reaching your customers at the moment that matters.

Programmatic advertising, however, is transforming the way advertisers navigate this landscape. By automating the buying process and leveraging advanced data analytics, programmatic advertising enables advertisers to optimize their campaigns efficiently, reduce costs, and enhance targeting precision. This makes it a compelling choice for businesses looking to make the most of their advertising budgets.

In this article, we’ll uncover the common challenges associated with high CPMs and demonstrate how programmatic advertising can not only address these issues but also empower you to maximize your advertising potential – ultimately helping you decide if it’s the right strategy for your business.

1. Audience Fragmentation

Reaching your target audience is getting tougher. The digital landscape is highly fragmented, with users spread across multiple platforms, devices, and content types. This fragmentation leads to higher CPMs as advertisers pay premium rates to ensure their ads appear in the right places.

How programmatic helps:

Programmatic advertising uses advanced data to precisely target your audience wherever they are. It integrates data from multiple sources—social media, websites, and apps—to ensure ads are placed in front of the right people at the right time, reducing wasted impressions and lowering your CPMs.

2. Low Ad Inventory Supply

As competition for digital ad space grows, the supply of premium ad inventory can’t always keep up with demand, causing CPMs to spike. Advertisers are often forced to pay more to secure placements on high-quality websites or platforms.

How programmatic helps:

Programmatic advertising gives you access to a broader and more diversified inventory pool. Instead of being limited to a few high-traffic websites, you can bid on impressions across a vast network of publishers, increasing the likelihood of securing premium placements at lower CPMs.

3. Manual Campaign Management

Running traditional ad campaigns involves a lot of manual processes—researching placements, negotiating deals, and adjusting bids. This labor-intensive approach increases operational costs, which can drive up CPMs.

How programmatic helps:

Programmatic automates the entire ad-buying process. With real-time bidding (RTB), campaigns can dynamically adjust bids and placements based on performance, reducing inefficiencies and helping keep CPMs in check.

4. Ad Fraud and Invalid Traffic

Fraudulent clicks, bots, and other forms of invalid traffic can inflate your CPMs without delivering real value. Paying for impressions or clicks that don’t come from actual users results in wasted spend and increases your overall cost per acquisition (CPA).

How programmatic helps:

Programmatic platforms employ sophisticated fraud detection and prevention tools. By leveraging AI and machine learning, these systems can filter out invalid traffic, ensuring you’re only paying for genuine impressions and engagements.

5. Poor Ad Targeting

If your ads aren’t properly targeted, they end up in front of audiences that aren’t relevant to your business. This leads to low engagement rates and higher CPMs as you try to compensate for poor performance.

How programmatic helps:

Programmatic platforms use granular targeting capabilities, from demographic and geographic data to browsing behavior and interests. 

This precision ensures your ads are seen by the people most likely to engage, improving ad relevance and lowering your CPM.

In conclusion, while high CPMs present ongoing challenges in digital advertising, programmatic advertising offers powerful solutions. By automating processes, improving targeting, and expanding inventory access, you can achieve more effective ad campaigns at lower costs.

Interested in enhancing your advertising strategy? ClickAds.ai provides a straightforward way to tap into the benefits of programmatic advertising. Our self-serve platform simplifies campaign management across various formats, including display, audio, video, and CTV. This enables you to focus more on your business objectives while efficiently optimising your ad efforts.

Consider giving ClickAds.ai a try to see how programmatic advertising can work for you.

In this article, we’ll review best practices for Microsoft Shopping Campaign structures and explore the benefits, the different ways you can set them up, and how they can help you make the most of this crucial period.

1. Segment by Audience

Tailoring your campaigns based on audience is a powerful way to ensure that you’re targeting the right people at the right stage of the customer journey. By creating separate campaigns for different audiences – prospecting (new customers) and retargeting (existing customers) – you can deliver more relevant and effective ads, whilst strategically controlling your investment.

Best Practices for Segmenting by Audience:

• Prospecting Campaigns: Target new customers using In-Market Audiences to reach users who are actively considering products similar to yours.
• Existing Customers: Utilise Remarketing, Custom Audiences, and Product Audiences to re-engage users who have interacted with your brand or made past purchases. Customer Match can be particularly effective in delivering personalised ads to high-value customers.

The Benefits:

• Efficiency: Align your Microsoft Shopping Campaigns with your broader audience strategy, ensuring consistency across shopping, audience, and search campaigns.
• Coverage: Reach users at each step of the conversion funnel, from awareness to conversion.

2. Query Funnelling

Query funnelling is another smart approach for structuring your shopping campaigns. By separating brand and non-brand queries, you can create a more nuanced bidding strategy that targets users based on their search intent.

How to Set It Up:

• Non-brand Campaign: High priority, lower bids, with negative keywords excluding product names and brand terms.
• Brand Campaign: Medium priority with higher bids and negative keywords for generic terms.
• Catch-all Campaign: Low priority with the highest bids and no negative keywords.

The Benefits:

• Consistency: Manage your shopping campaigns similarly to search campaigns by segmenting brand traffic from non-brand traffic.
• Efficiency: Take advantage of typically lower CPCs (cost-per-click) for branded queries while focusing budget where it’s needed most.
• Competitiveness: Bid more aggressively on non-brand queries, increasing your share of the market for generic searches.

3. Segment by Product Category

This structure is ideal for ecommerce businesses with large and diverse product catalogues. By segmenting your campaigns based on your website’s product categories, you can create a structure that mirrors your site navigation and allows for more granular bidding.

Best Practices for Segmenting by Product Category:

• Set higher bids for more granular product groupings as these tend to convert more effectively during the Q4 rush.
• Create separate product groups for each product category, brand, or even SKU level.

The Benefits:

• Consistency: This structure allows for easier troubleshooting and adjustments since it aligns with the way products are categorised on your website.
• Scalability: Works well for businesses of any size and can accommodate small or large product catalogues.
• Detailed Reporting: Enables 1:1 reporting for each product category, making it easier to analyse performance and optimise accordingly.
• Flexibility: Easily expand your structure as new product categories or brands are added to your feed.

4. Segment by Profitability

Profitability-based segmentation is a strategic approach that focuses on grouping products based on their performance metrics, such as Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). This allows you to prioritise investment towards products that generate the most revenue, and likely the most profit.

How to Set It Up:

• Group products by their profitability levels and assign higher bids to more profitable / higher ROAS products, particularly during peak shopping seasons.
• Regularly monitor low-inventory items, and move products between ad groups by adjusting feed labels.

The Benefits:

• Profit Maximisation: Allocate more budget to high-performing products and increase bids for top sellers to maximise profitability.
• Responsiveness: Quickly adjust bids and budgets in real time based on stock levels and sales performance.
• Detailed Analysis: Pull SKU-level reports to see which products are driving the most profit and make informed decisions about bid adjustments.

Differences Between Google & Microsoft Shopping Campaign Structures

When structuring your campaigns, it’s crucial to understand that while granular structures work well on Google Shopping, they may not always be necessary for Microsoft Shopping Campaigns. Microsoft’s lower search volume means that broad categories can be effective, but bids should still be adjusted separately for each platform to account for different CPCs and performance dynamics.

Best Practices for Microsoft Shopping Campaign Structure

As we head into Q4, here are a few general best practices to keep in mind:

• Campaign Priorities: Consider your campaign priority alongside your structural approach, especially when adding new campaigns.
• Bids: Start with bids higher than the minimum (around £0.30 to £1.00), as this will help your ads gain visibility quickly in a competitive environment.
• Monitor Untargeted Offers: Regularly check the Merchant Centre for any untargeted offers and update your campaign structure as needed.

Conclusion

As we move into Q4, the right Microsoft Shopping Campaign structure can make or break your seasonal performance. Remember, a flexible and responsive approach allows for real-time adjustments and ensures that your campaigns remain competitive in an ever-evolving marketplace. With these best practices in mind, your shopping campaigns will be set to capitalise on this crucial period, driving both revenue and long-term business growth.

Lead generation in real estate marketing refers to the process of bringing potential buyers to your website or business and converting them into a client who relies on you for all of their real estate needs.

With the ever-expanding reach of digital marketing, we have narrowed down the top 4 real estate lead generation ideas that will help you win valuable real estate leads.

1. Paid and Organic Social Media

Over the last several years, social media channels have provided real estate agents with a platform for selling homes, interacting with other agents, and building connections with prospects in a more genuine and personal way. Facebook and Instagram are top 2 social media platforms that can help your business generate leads.

Both paid and organic social hugely complement each other. They are two sides of the same coin. Running ads with little to no activity on organic social channels does not encourage your potential clients to engage with your business in the long term. Whereas, if you don’t have any paid activity, your content will struggle to reach your target audience.

• Paid social media ads can be massively effective when done right. They allow you to directly target demographics and users that have shown interest in buying in your area. You can also create “lookalike” audiences that mirror your current targets to expand your reach even more.

• Organic social media content is essential because it allows you to build and maintain an online presence. Create content that showcases your personality, work ethic, current listings, and any upcoming activities, such as an open house. You should strive to come across as professional, approachable, and genuine. Before you realize it, your profile will be emerging and generating leads.

Paid social media ads have the ability to provide immediate results that are often worth paying for. Organic social, on the other hand, is a long-term cost-effective solution, but it requires effort. Ultimately, combining the benefits of each type of social will yield the best results.

2. Optimize Your Website

The first step toward real estate success is to have a website that can generate leads and convert them efficiently. With a strong lead-generation web marketing plan, you effectively expose your services to a bigger number of internet users and potential clients. Your website must be the foundation of that plan, and capable of converting leads into actual sales.

• Put up value-added real estate material.

Your audience will see you as an industry thought leader as you produce more value-based material, such as buyers and sellers guide, suburb insights, property prices, market updates, real estate tips, tricks and info. 

When it comes to content, the more value your material provides, the more likely you are to earn meaningful leads. Remember to include the keywords you wish to rank for. Keywords might be single words or phrases that you know your prospects are looking for.

• Optimize your website for search engines

According to the National Association of Realtors, 44% of all buyers search online for property listings as the first stage of their journey. Therefore, it is important for your business to get found online first before your competitors. Having a nicely designed website will not increase your Google ranking; you must also have valuable material that is effectively optimized for search engines.

The following elements should be included in a real estate SEO lead generating strategy:

• Local SEO with Google My Business
• High-quality content aimed at low-competition local keywords
• Website that is mobile-friendly and visible on all search engines
• Increasing domain authority and creating local backlinks

• PPC (Pay-per-click), most known as Google Ads

Google Ads lead generation for real estate agents is the most common approach, especially since nearly every customer will conduct an internet search first.

We can reach people with Google Ads while they are searching for something relevant and putting their query into the search box (Search Ads) or while they are reading other blogs and websites (Display Ads).

A good PPC campaign will rank your website at the top of the page for your targeted keywords, potentially bringing in a huge number of visitors. You may have to pay a small fee for each click, but if you’re utilizing PPC well, you can get new leads, drive revenue and achieve a solid ROI.

• Add a testimonial page to your site

Buying and selling a house is a big financial decision someone can make and trust plays a big role. Potential clients will read online testimonials and reviews before they get in touch with you. Testimonials may favorably impact your website visitors in the same way that they help build social proof for your social media accounts. Dedicate a section on your homepage to testimonials and reviews. Choose statements that showcase your unique traits as an agency and build trust.

3. Email Marketing is Not Dead

The impact of email marketing can do much more than just getting messages into inboxes. Email marketing may be 43 years old but it’s as strong as ever. Based on the survey from Hubspot, 78% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months.

Real estate newsletters are a tried-and-tested method of nurturing old clients. This is an effective way to keep your brand on top of their mind. Signature Dream Homes, one of Geonet’s Real Estate clients, utilised this method to engage with first home buyers who previously signed up for information and they generated 25 leads in less than 48 hours.

Follow these suggested patterns to ensure the success of your marketing strategy:

• Gather your top performing content from the month and use it in your email to showcase your industry expertise.
• Informative topics of interest should be shared.
• Highlight some of the best properties you’ve sold while also promoting current properties for sale.
• Remember to keep them connected to your brand by encouraging them to follow you on all of your platforms, which will reinforce your brand recognition.

4. Build Referral Partnerships

It is also one of the cheapest and easiest ways to grow your business. According to the National Association of Realtors, the average realtor received 17% of their business from referrals. That is a significant portion of total business that may be affected just through word-of-mouth marketing.

Forming connections with other businesses that serve potential buyers and sellers, such as mortgage brokers, lenders, contractors, and tradesmen is a fantastic approach to enhance your referral leads. Professionals in these industries benefit from recommendations as well, so you may help each other expand your businesses.

• Include your partners’ name and logo on your website, and link them to an appropriate place on their website.
• Describe the partnership in a short synopsis of how they support you or how they are involved in helping you work toward your mission. 
• Promote your partners’ program on your social media channels, and make sure you mention and tag them.

It is important to know that consistency is the key. Choose the strategies that are ideal for you and your real estate business, and then fine-tune them until they work like a well-oiled machine. To find out more about how Geonet can provide full-service digital marketing, contact us.

So that’s why, as part of our SMB Marketing 101 series, we’ve put this flow chart infographic together.

It’ll take you through a number of questions specific to your business, and at the end you’ll reach the destination of the right digital marketing channel suited for you. All you have to do is just answer yes or no.

You’ll also almost always end up with two or three channels to choose from – that’s because there’s rarely one size fits all, while it’s also never a good idea to concentrate on only one channel.

Then for more information on why each channel’s best for you, have a read below the infographic.

(Click to enlarge)

Answer 1: Sponsored Articles, Media Buys

This is a great way of getting your brand in front of the right people. Sponsored articles allow you to broadcast your views to thousands of targeted readers on major publications, adding respectability and credibility to your business and/or profile.

If you’re a digital agency you could publish a thought leadership piece about the changing marketing landscape on AdWeek. If you’re a food supplement business you could do a piece for The Mirror about the importance of magnesium in a healthy diet. The options are endless. 

Answer 2: Podcasts, YouTube

Audio and video have really cemented themselves as the best way to digest information on the internet in recent years, and if you’ve got something to say that you think will resonate with your audience, then look no further than Podcasting and Youtube.

Thousands of businesses are reaping the rewards of both channels. Find your niche and find your voice, then let the thought leader in you come out across the airwaves.

Answer 3: Influencer marketing   

Influencer marketing is all about social persuasion. If you’re looking to build out your brand in the fashion industry for example, getting a social media influencer to start wearing your clothing in their Instagram stories is a great way of doing it. 

Influencer marketing is an age-old tactic that has been successful for decades, maybe centuries. But now with social media, its popularity has exploded and that means it’s now a legitimate possibility for any digital marketer.

Answer 4: SEO

SEO isn’t a quick fix, but for long term, sustainable results, there is nothing better. Getting a solid SEO strategy in place can put you in the eyeline of every search term that relates to your business. And you never have to pay for a click.

Say you sell backpacking holidays, if you get on the first page of Google for “backpacking Thailand”, you could get thousands of clicks to your website every month for zero cost at all. You’ll need to put the hard work in to get there, but the results are enormous. Here’s a great free ebook that’ll get you started on the right foot.

Answer 5: Local Service Ads, Facebook Ads, Google My Business

For those offering a service like plumbing or decorating then Local Service Ads, a form of Google Ads, are the perfect solution to connect you with customers in your area. 

If you’re selling products or food/beverages, then Google My Business is a must to appear in searches such as “burger places near me”. For best results, supplement this with Facebook Ads to target customers in your area.

Answer 6: Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, Influencer Marketing

Your ideal audience will be all over these apps, and with them being very visual platforms, you can easily wow them with eye-catching imagery and copy.

Influencers play great with these kinds of audiences too. If someone with thousands of active followers is using a certain type of skincare routine, you can guarantee others will want to follow suit.

Answer 7: Google, Microsoft and Facebook Ads

A very traditional form of digital marketing, these pay-per-click (PPC) channels are all super efficient for making sales through your website with an average of $8 being made for every $1 you spend.

Considering user intent, Facebook Ads will be better for smaller purchases, while Google and Microsoft will be more powerful for the higher end of the market.

Answer 8: Email marketing

Email marketing may be overlooked by many, but if you already have a client base in tow, there is nothing more powerful out there.

Email marketing allows you to talk directly to an audience that has already engaged with you, bought from you, or likes you, and this gives you such a huge leg up when it comes to selling them something.

Answer 9: Wix, Facebook, Google Ads

Whether you’re looking to build up a client base or get people to call you, you need to get a website on the go – it’ll make you look credible and make all your other digital marketing efforts so much easier.

Wix is a great place to start, it’s a simple drag and drop website building tool. Then from there, start running some Facebook or Google Ads to get people to your site.

Answer 10: Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Shopify

Amazon, Etsy and eBay are huge marketplaces that are perfect if you don’t want to create your own website. All you need is your product, and in no time at all, you can start selling straight to thousands of eager consumers.

If you fancy getting a website set up, then there’s no better platform to use than Shopify. It’s a place you can start, run and grow your business all from the same place.

Looking for more?

If you’re in the mood for some more learning, check out the rest of our SMB Marketing 101 series.

We’ve spoken to over 100 SMB owners and employees about how they started in digital marketing and what they’ve learnt from their experiences.

We look at the research phase, setting your goals, developing your brand, setting your budgets, building your presence, mastering each digital marketing channel, and much more.

Here’s part one for you to start with.

Enjoy!