A Guide To Boost Sales Through Google Marketing Platform

In this article, I’ll focus to talk about a guide to boost sales through Google marketing platform. No matter you are running an online retail store, selling B2B solutions, or operating a restaurant offline, I think you can learn from my guide to leverage Google marketing platform resources to analyse sale performance, optimise the performance and implement integrated strategies to boost sales at the end.

There’re a lot of strategy goals from a business. The goal is different based on strategic needs in different business stages.

Some examples to visualize different goals

  • As a music App, the company might target the growth of paid users who download the app and pay subscriptions.
  • As a merchant seller on Amazon, she or he might aim to drive quantitive sales numbers rather than persisting in the high-profit margin, when competitors are mad at increasing market share.
  • Profit margin should be a key goal to achieve at the end, so it’s totally acceptable when sales figure starts dropping on the financial table, after cutting off those customers with very low-profit margin.

So it’s all about strategy and different goals on a business roadmap. However please let us step back, nothing is worse than no sales at all. Thus in this article, I’ll focus to talk about a guide to boost sales through the Google marketing platform.

You are running an online retail store, selling B2B solutions, or operating a restaurant offline. I think you can learn from my guide to leverage Google marketing platform resources. It’s to analyze sale performance, optimize the performance and implement integrated strategies to boost sales at the end.

Google Marketing Platform – Menu

1) What is Google Marketing Platform

2) How to Analyse Sales through Google Marketing Platform

3) How to Optimise Sales through Google Marketing Platform

4) How to Boost Sales from a Business Perspective>

What’s Google Marketing Platform

And the most beautiful part is GMP further improves the integration capacity and facilitates the connection between one and the other product. That includes the 3rd party data management platform (CRM, DMP, or CDP). It’s all for the purpose to solve data silos and access much intelligent insight when the single view of the audience profile is easy to create.

Here is a table to summarise Google products and one-click integration capacity for your reference

As you could see from the above table, the Google market platform provides 360-degree marketing features, so you could very easily adapt these features to drive earned and paid traffic, and then manage your brand asset, and also engage better with segmented audiences through personalized messages and products, and boost sales at the end. 

Example

If you are running a cross-broader e-commerce business, you might be relying on SEM. It’s in order to reach Chinese and Japanese buyers. Search ads 360 can help integrate Baidu, Yahoo Japan, Google SEM into one single interface and data library to create, optimize campaigns.

Also, you are using salesforce audience studio, and are implementing search, social, DSP, etc omnichannel advertising strategy. You are able to consolidate audience data into one studio and execute user machines. It’s for the purpose to deliver accurate and personalized messages on a customer journey in GMP as well now.

The method is Display & Video 360 can connect with Salesforce audience studio by just one-click button, cool right? So this is the beauty of GMP and we could do lots of things as long as we can imagine and get a strategy.

Google Marketing Platform – What factors affect online sale performance?

From a business perspective, definitely, GTM strategies, products, pricing, and distributions, etc are affecting the sale performance in the end. Customers are the final decision-makers to pay or not. These makers are thinking if these products can meet their expectations and needs or not. It’s a top-level strategy for a business’s success. 

However, no matter how perfect this top-level strategy is, all things will underperform. It’s because you are not able to reach your TA, communicate with them right and make ongoing decisions without AI intelligent analytics support. That’s why proper tech and marketing platform adoption are so critical nowadays in business success. 

How To Analyse The Sale Performance Through Google Marketing Platform

1. Google Marketing Platform – Data tagging and label

Before analyzing, first of all, we must install tracking pixels on our web and mobile app. They are from different platforms now we are adopting to drive sales and label the data we need for separating the events. Otherwise, how the data can be collected from web and mobile etc pages correctly?

Google Tag Manager is absolutely a powerful tool to centralize tag management work. It provides lots of platform one-click integration options. And also, it offers a friendly customized HTML or interaction event box for you to develop tailored-made tracking purposes. All in all, it’s easy to use, rather than all tagging work through FTP or CMS.

The platform has a free and paid version. But I think the free version is absolute enough to hand your web and mobile tag management. Unless you’re running a large corporate which have a long list of stakeholders to approve, handling more than 3 projects, and need Google tech team support.

2. Google Marketing Platform – Centralise customer journey data into one interface

From a digital marketing perspective, there’re many reasons why sales performance rises or drops. But for being easier to work on this regular subject, the second step is I suggest you centralizing different sources of data into one interface. It directly can show you the data performance from different resources in a complete customer purchase journey. The journey can be from brand awareness, engagement, purchase, and retention.

Profit Margin

Also, you aim for a profit margin of 30% (Net Revenue/net cost) from each transaction or grand total. You could create a formula and connect an in-house financial system with a data studio. So you can monitor P&L and stand in a higher position to review the business on-going. It’s to make smarter decisions moving forward.

Last but not least, the pros of this approach are you can understand which section in micro perspective appears a higher drop-off rate so that it causes user loss, affect the conversion rate and profit margin drop at the end.

Of course, you can all manually set up synchronizing formulate and automate the data update through excels. But why not use a free platform without additional effort on integration and visual presentation?

Google Big Query

In a more advanced approach, it can integrate with BigQuery, which is a Google data warehouse platform paid by data volume. So you have an AI system helps you analyze and recommend. And it can even execute on behalf of you. Data studio can be a raw data sourcing to store in BigQuery and support AI platform to learn through BigQuery.

3. Analyse Business Macro Dimension First And Then Deep Dive In Digital Micro Metrics

Now tagging and dash broad groundwork are done. So next step we need to look into what’s going on and where we could improve better on sale performance. From my perspective, I suggest you look into business macro dimensions before deep-diving into digital micro metrics. They are such as drop-off rate, conversion rate, CPA, CPV, etc.

The reason is micro first might waste your time back and forward. Even you might distort the understanding from a report before you understand what’s going on in macro-level perspectives. They are such as market, device, demographic, schedule, product, pricing, language, messages, tech issue, etc.

Macro Dimension Analytics

Drop-off Rate

So such a high drop-off rate causes you to lose dollars. It’s because it returns a super low volume of web and mobile site traffic. Then, less and less site traffic directly affects sale performance at the end.

However, it’s too early to make decisions about increasing. Or it’s too hurry to decreasing the bid or giving up the DSP. It’s because we need to analyze where the high drop-off rate from. They are such as from some secondary markets only, or only mobile device. Or They are from which most of the audience who are interested in porn, or ads size 250×250, etc.

Probably web device performs low high-drop rate. But the avg. drop-off rate is pulled up due to mobile devices. So that you would miss out on web device good result due to only relying on a micrometric drop-off rate to justify.

Micro Metrics Analytics

On the other hand, micro metrics tell you insight and help you make an intelligent and smarter decision after analyzing macro factors. Here I take Analytic 360 + Salesforce Sales Cloud as an example.

Different from Google analytic, Google Analytics 360 is able to integrate with the salesforce sales cloud. So it largely automates the new lead’s information imported to Google analytics. It’s to further enhance the lead behavior insight and data updated from a sale pipeline in the salesforce sales cloud. They are such as who, when visiting the web and where to browse, etc.

Lead Generation

A business deal takes time from lead generation, lead nurturing, and deal closed. But even it’s identified as a qualified lead, it’s more important to understand what the lead is thinking in mind. It’s essential to see if any methods to find more hints from the lead behavior.

A seller staff might have been already saved time on admin work with the help of the sales cloud. She or he puts lots of effort to communicate with potential leads from the web. However, things still suck on the way to deal, due to uncertainties from the lead. It’s like saying whether the lead is interested in and consider buying or just lying.

Thanks to this integration, a seller can analyze if the lead visits the company web often and learn the pricing or content of a specific product. She or he can learn what content the lead spends much time on. They can understand which white paper the lead downloads the most, etc. This can provide the seller a hint and direction to close the deal accordingly.

How To Optimise Sale Performance Through Google Marketing Platform

Now basic tagging groundwork is done and they’re working automatically on data collection and classification. I suggest you refer to a 3-layer onion optimization strategy They are audience data, ad-buying, and right content at the right moment from outside layer to inside layer.

1st Layer – Audience Data Quality Chain Effect

Then, more new customers in CRM imply that you could match a more similar profile target audience. This can be through Google advertising by using new customer PII data or probabilistic data.

It means further increasing the accuracy of TA reach in marketing. It’s called the audience quality chain effect. Here I take two examples: same-side chain effect & cross-side chain effect to elaborate how GMP can cater to this ability.

Same-side chain effect: Campaign Manager (Formerly call Doubleclick campaign manager)

Same-side means audience data are from Omni-channels. But you would store them into Google’s data management platform like a campaign manager. You can make it by using floodlight installed on pages and activating retargeting and similar audience targeting. A similar audience means using converted data to match more similar potential prospects in the Google database. You can apply it to display/video/search ads. So audience data chain effect happens within Google walled garden.

Integration with CRM

After integration with Salesforce CRM, Google ads reports can show these data in metric options rather than only conversion numbers from Google pixel. With customer PII data arising in Salesforce CRM, you could integrate CRM with Salesforce audience studio (Formerly called Krux). It is a DMP product in the Salesforce marketing cloud eco-system.

The beauty of this platform not only can integrate with Google ads products. But also it connects with Facebook, Amazon marketing, etc other walled-garden marketing platforms. So you could use PII data and turn it into user ID in salesforce audience studio. Also, you can integrate with other platforms’ audience libraries to lookalike the target converted audience there. It further enhances your advertising sales performance.

2nd Layer – Smart Bidding Tactics

“Cost efficiency is critical which means to spend the same amount but return more”. With rising media costs, investing the same amount of dollars might come across less traffic coming into your web. But it’s not an absolute answer. It’s because it can be cost-efficient to drive sales and maintain CPA. Or it’s even lower CPA if bidding strategy implementation is proper.

Sales from the organic and paid ads

Based on my experience, organic sales from search engines normally take up 30% of online sales on large corporations. Or it occupies even more than 50% of SME businesses. Furthermore, you can learn insight and demand from search engine users. So you can make a more intelligent decision to prepare content and product strategy. Thus, you can plan which keywords we should run in SEM. Also, you can plan which keywords can be off from SEM to SEO focus. It is a smart tactic to optimize CPA and profit margin from a point of business view.

I am not saying as long as SEM keywords can be off when those are performing in SEO, because we need to consider another factor which is the competitive environment when SEM is stable to appear and protect brand appearance on the market, but in terms of sales objective with good profit margin result, it’s a key approach to leverage and keep search cost as low as possible

SEM A/B Testing

The other example I take here is the SEM biding A/B testing experiment on the same set of keywords in the same period. Most people get a perception that CPA bidding is better in terms of ROI management. I agree with this point of view on budget management. But one point we need to bear in mind is most of digital ads platform allows advertisers to optimize by CPA rather than a real CPA buying model. Advertisers still buy the inventory by CPM or CPC model.

As the business model and competitive environment are varied, I suggest you run CPC and CPA (OR ROI) bidding testing on the same set of keywords in the same period. It’s for the purpose to compare which bidding approach works better on sales performance, instead of relying on perception. After all, advertising platforms are selling impression inventory which is different from the affiliate network earning model.

Last Layer – Personalisation Content

Now you have 1st layer of audience data quality chain effect, and 2nd layer of smart bidding to save dollars. And it’s time to further deliver personalized messages at right time. After all, marketing is all about customer communication and digital marketing further facilitates the process and enhances efficiency. That’s the beauty. Also, users are on Internet, that’s why.

Optimise your Google Shopping Product Feed to Increase Google Organic Traffic and Sales

Google Shopping Ads Campaign: Sales & Revenue Optimization Strategies

Google Ads Script

Google ads automation is a platform you can code and add API in scripts (Like weather information API) to tailor-made ad messages based on real-time data. Google spreadsheet, API source, and a script are the three ingredients to build up an SEM, display automation campaign. Here are the links you guys can refer to

  • API open sources
  • Ads script sources
  • Google spreadsheet (Google drive)

Google Optimize (Sunset already)

However, customer experience sometimes is very difficult to fulfill 100% satisfaction due to personal favorite varied. For example, some customers prefer you highlight pricing more clearly and smartly in the landing layout. Meanwhile, other types of customers love more on your story and product review instead than pricing. So landing content and layout A/B testing is helpful to increase conversion rate in a process of target customer communication.

How To Boost Sales From Business Perspective

I’m assuming your business is fully adopting Google marketing platforms to manage audience data, facilitate the advertising process. But, please bear in mind digital marketing is a part of the business. So ongoing resources and time allocation between digital strategy and business strategy are essential. It’s for the purpose to avoid over-emphasizing and being excited about digital tech. Also, it avoids ignoring the business model and product core value.

Customers keep re-purchasing or renewing services because of marketing and business strategy. They are such as a business pricing model, product quality, brand reputation, and wide partner network application. It’s rather than just your ads appearing on the Internet. Thus, below are I recommend 3 aspects to boosts sales from a business point of view.

1.Monitor Your Target Market And Competitor Activity

Business is not a static environment and is changing all the time. For example, you might have a good profit margin on a keyword in SEM advertising last year. However this year other unknown competitors. They are such as new similar brands, marketplaces, affiliate network publishers, etc. They might bid on the same keyword but launch new product functions or offers, etc to buyers.

So sales performance is affected heavily by these factors when your products appear the same as usual. It’s none of your fault in terms of the existing strategy. But it’s due to just the environment has changed and affected your sales performance on the existing approach.

Search Demand

Also, I’m assuming the product you are selling performed No.1 last year. However, performance this year is much worse than last year. It’s because the search volume of this product’s generic keywords dropped due to less demand than before. It’s also none of your faults in terms of existing strategy, but just the market demand is changing.

Thus, I would suggest you leverage some tools like saying Google ads keyword planner, SEMrush, Google trend, Google shopping insight and Google alert, etc tools. It’s to learn the market demand trend and competitor activity insight. It’s for the purpose to maintain a business competition and profit margin by re-deploying content, product, and pricing strategy and confronting the changes from markets.

2. Review The Pricing Strategy

In the digital world, you can say consumers are either easy to compare pricing or difficult to compare service or product pricing. For example, when you search a flight ticket fare, there’s Google search engine, Expedia OTA, Google flight metasearch, Facebook social media newsfeed, etc. You can utilize these resources. Thus, end consumers don’t lack channels to compare the pricing nowadays.

However, with AI capacity evaluating and being mature, dynamic pricing in omnichannel to respectively prospect, new customers, and existing customer in the loyalty program is very easy to execute. Also with the loyalty award program, it consumers are difficult to compare indeed whether the pricing is reasonable. So they might more reply on personal experience, user review, and brand credentials,s, etc.

Digital Pricing

The digital world facilitates you to deliver dynamic pricing to customers (Here is an article I talk specifically about pricing strategy in digital). So basically you need to review if the pricing strategy now you’re implementing on respectively potential prospects, new customers and customer retention makes sense or not. None of the marketers would like to see customers are losing to competitors, due to unknown pricing offer underground.

3. GTM Strategy

GTM strategy is a key to boost sales from a business perspective because it implies how to allocate resources and where to focus on.

B2B2C Model

Take the B2B2C business model as an example. As true to its name, this model mainly earns revenue from the key account or partners and replies to them to deliver your product service to end consumers rather than you directly sell the product to them.

Even you can sell to retail on your web or a store in marketplaces, but you clearly understand its presence and purpose is to set up a retail pricing benchmark for B2B clients and also build up brand awareness to increase brand image asset so that B2B clients feel it’s worthy to invest.

Because of this strategy, GMP products can facilitate your business to generate leads, deliver the latest brand content assets (image and videos) to communicate with end consumers, and also enhance the experiences of customers from the B or C end.

4. Digital Marketing Campaign Calendar

Single-day festival in Alibaba Taobao and Tmall is in the spotlight every November. It’s a golden timing to boost sales and grow new customers and reward existing customers. As a business owner or marketer, you have to plan through a year what campaign would happen to drive sales, what PR activities would have to build brand reputation and content asset, etc. Otherwise, please don’t explain why sales drop when every merchant launches discounted during a single-day festival, and you still are selling original pricing.

Wrap up

Google’s marketing platforms are not 100% perfect and covering all aspects of marketing product features, but its pros features are powerful enough to help you boost sales no matter you are running a big corporation or SME business. Furthermore, the cost efficiency is quite high because several products are free to access and use, and advertisers just need to share data at an exchange.

I hope you enjoy reading A Guide To Boost Sales Through Google Marketing Platform. If you did, please support us by doing one of the things listed below, because it always helps out our channel.

Product Category Platform Name Integration Capacity
Advertising Platform Google Ads Google Analytics, Salesforce CRM, Youtube, Google console, Display & Video 360 (Former Doubleclick campaign manager and bid manager), search console, survey, Google optimize
Advertising Platform Display & Video 360 Google ads, Analytics 360, Tag manager 360, salesforce audience studio (formerly call Krux), Oracle Bluekai, Livecamp, Adobe audience manager, data studio
Advertising Platform Search Ads 360 Google ads, Yahoo Japan, Baidu, Yahoo Gemini, Bing, Adobe Analytics, Analytics, Google campaign manager, data studio, Google merchant center
Web Analytics Google Analytics Search ads 360, Google ads, optimize, salesforce sales cloud, surveys, search console, Adsense, Ad manager, data studio, ad exchange, Postbacks
Web Analytics Analytics 360 All basic Google analytics capacity + Display & Video 360, campaign manager,
Web Content Management Google Optimize (Sunset already) Google ads, Google analytics
Web Content Management Google Optimize 360 Google optimize + GA audience targeting
Tracking & Pixel Management Google Tag Manager N/A
Tracking & Pixel Management Google Tag Manager 360 Google tag manager + multi-division approval flow feature + Google tech support
Dashboard Data Studio Display & Video 360, search 360, campaign manager, BigQuery, Google ads, search console, analytics, tailor-made connector
SEO Search Console Analytics, Google ads, data studio
E-commerce Google merchant center Search ads 360
Publisher Monetization Google Adsense Google Analytics, Google console
Publisher Inventory Selling Google Ad Manager Display & video 360

2 thoughts on “A Guide To Boost Sales Through Google Marketing Platform

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