What is Performance Max and how can it help your business?

Introduction

As the world leans further into artificial intelligence (AI), it is crucial that our ads keep up with the times and with the demands of ever diversifying marketing channels. Enter Performance Max, Google’s latest and largest update to its long list of ad types meant to drive results for advertisers of all shapes and sizes. This ad type, first released in 2021, is uniquely positioned in the market to have a large impact due to Google’s almost complete global coverage. Under their umbrella they have six “properties” which are Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Discover and Maps. With Search alone handling 91% of global internet traffic, and the other five properties handling millions, or billions, of hits per day, the potential for advertisers is really only limited by their budget and business goals. This blog will be doing a deep dive into Performance Max and why you should be heavily considering it to play a part in your marketing mix.

What is Performance Max?

Performance Max is a new ad type from Google that gives advertisers the ability to cover all six of Google’s properties with their ads within one campaign. All the advertiser needs to do is provide a mix of text, images and videos and Google will mix and match across properties to achieve your desired results.

Why is Performance Max Important?

With the emergence of large language model learning, and AI as a whole, computers are getting better than ever at understanding what a human is looking for when they search for something. No longer is manual coding needed to tell computers how to think and how to reason because, as scary as it might seem, they’re learning to do that themselves. This improvement in learning is not only beneficial for a consumer asking something of Google based on a need but also for advertisers looking to reach those users. 

As we’ve spoken about in previous posts, Google has been an industry leader in driving innovation for AI focused marketing methods. This innovation has included keywords, bidding strategies, ad types and now campaigns. These innovations, when used properly, are proven to drive cheaper clicks and leads as well as higher click through rates and on site traffic. Performance Max is meant to do all of that rolled into one simple campaign set up designed solely to achieve your business results. Google knows that your search ad running on the search network is missing five other channels where your customers could be browsing. That is why this ad type does not compete with Search Ads but rather complements it by expanding your reach with one campaign. 

As we discussed in last week’s blog, this “halo effect” from running low cost brand awareness ads alongside your search ads can lead to cheaper lead costs and better performance for your search ad than you have seen in the past. The best part? You’re getting new eyes for less money on your business and those new eyes are all potential customers. Within Performance Max, you’re not bidding on keywords, as with standard search, but rather your key audience. All you need to give Google is what your audience might be searching, any relevant business data you think would be helpful, your audience interests and key demographics. From there, based on its conversion algorithmic learning, Google will go out and find customers for you who are likely to take action on your ad and thus convert.

There truly is no draw back for a performance focused advertiser looking for the next step in driving performance for their business with Google Search marketing. 

3 Tips and Reminders for Performance Max

Tip #1: Information is Key

Whether you’re running a responsive search ad, building out ad assets or launching your first Performance Max campaign, information is key. What this means is, the more you give the algorithm, the more you’ll get out of it in terms of performance. Google knows a lot about us, some would say more than it should, but it does not know everything. For example, if you tell Google your target demographic is men and women aged 35-65 you’ll get less traction than if you also input what they’re searching for, key life events and a list of your previous converting customers.

Tip #2: Patience

Performance Max is not a silver bullet. While that statement might seem odd given the purpose of this article, it is the truth. Performance Max campaigns require time, patience and careful adjustments to succeed. As with any Google marketing campaign, success comes by properly understanding your audience and what will get them interested in what your business is offering. I always tell my marketing partners that you should give any new campaign a month or two to begin showing results. 

Tip #3: Run this alongside Google Search

While Performance Max can perform on its own, pairing it with Google Search, as we’ve discussed in the past, has the capability to unlock a new level of cost and conversion performance. 

Closing

Nowadays marketing and artificial intelligence should be synonymous with one another. With the innovations we have seen in the last few years with all of the major platforms, it is clear that you truly cannot unlock the full potential of your marketing program without using these tactics. Performance Max is just the latest example of this and is something that all businesses looking to grow their bottom line should explore. 

If you’re looking for more information about Google, Google Ads or Digital Marketing, click the link below to visit our page. And if you’re a small business owner, SpearPoint Digital offers free consultations for new and existing accounts to get you started on your road to success!

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