Inside Google Ads podcast: Episode 124 - Demand Gen Creative

So, you want to get started with Demand Gen, but you typically only run Google's Search ads. 

How should you think about creating effective Image ads for Demand Gen? 

You see, Demand Gen campaigns can trip up both beginner and advanced Google Ads practitioners alike because they work so differently than Search. 

For example, in Search campaigns, a good text ad can run effectively for years. But in visual campaigns like Demand Gen, your creative has a shelf life. Eventually, your audience has seen that image of a living room carpet or a water bottle one too many times, which means they kind of stop seeing it altogether. This is known as ad fatigue. It's a real phenomenon.

So, how do you know when it's time to switch up your creative? 

I'm your host, Jyll Saskin Gales. I spent 6 years working for big brands at Google and now I work for you. 

This is Inside Google Ads: Episode 124, Demand Gen Creative.

I recently had a Google Ads coaching call with Brooklyn and John, two agency marketers and longtime clients of mine who were managing a Demand Gen campaign for a local carpet and flooring company. The campaign had been live for a long time, targeting a narrow audience, and they suspected they were just hitting the same people again and again and again. They wanted to refresh the creatives, but weren't sure what to keep and what to kill. So, we did a live audit together and found some massive opportunities for improvement that you can apply to your own account right now.

1. First things first, you must start by checking your assets report. 

If you're usually a text advertiser, you may not look at this very much, but in formats like Demand Gen or Video campaigns, your asset reporting is your best friend. Don't go to assets on the left hand side. You want to go to ads and then click on “view asset details” under the ad you want to evaluate. This will show you the metrics for your headlines, long headlines, descriptions, images, videos, and more. 

I recommend filtering by asset type so that you can assess each asset separately. That's what we did, and here’s what we found, and how I advised Brooklyn and John to fix their ad fatigue problem.

Even though this was a visual Demand Gen campaign, they had a text headline problem. We filtered by headlines, looked at click-through rate and saw that there were some really generic headlines like carpet replacement or carpet installation that had a low CTR, whereas other benefit-rich headlines like award-winning installation or high quality carpets had a much higher CTR. On Search, it makes sense to have these keyword focused headlines, but this is Demand Gen. People aren't Searching. We're proactively putting ads in front of them, trying to get them enticed to leave what they were doing and come to our website. 

To fix this, I advised my clients to remove the generic headlines and give people a reason to click, not just a description of what you do.

2. Next, we found a missing asset opportunity. 

When we looked at the images, Brooklyn and John had plenty of horizontal and square images, but when we looked at the vertical 4:5 ratio, nothing. That means they were missing out on certain placements just because they didn't have the right asset size in place. 

So they updated their agency SOPs for launching a new Demand Gen campaign to 5x5x5. This is my rule of thumb. You want to upload five horizontal images, five square images, and five vertical 4:5 images. This leaves an additional five floater assets to test later once you see how your initial 15 perform. Vertical 9:16 is an option for Demand Gen. I don't generally start with it though, unless of course you have video in that aspect ratio.

3. Third was my best tip for the actual image creative. 

The client sold carpets and flooring, so the images were of carpets and flooring, but just swatches and empty rooms. However, Google's own cross industry research shows that imagery with humans performs much better than imagery of just products. I advised them to swap in photos of people, happy homeowners with their carpets, installers at work, even a pet relaxing on the rug. People connect with people, not just fabric. 

Just ensure that you don't go too far. The photo should still highlight the carpet or flooring. And if in doubt, you can put a little bit of text on the image or ensure your headlines are clarifying this is a flooring ad, not a pet ad or a therapy ad or something else.

4. And then fourth, the landing page preview. We also spotted a weird image asset that looked like a bad screenshot of the website. And it turns out they had left the box checked in Demand Gen that lets Google show a screenshot of your landing page as an asset. This might make sense for some businesses, but it's not what we wanted for this business. So, we went into the ad settings and unchecked that box so that that asset would no longer serve.

Here's how you can get the most out of your Demand Gen creative just like Brooklyn and John. 

1. First, start with the 5x5x5 rule for Demand Gen. Aim for five horizontal, five square, and five vertical 4:5 images. This maximizes your placement eligibility and lets you learn faster what's working and what's not.

2. Next, wait for data before you judge what's working. My rule of thumb is you don't judge an asset's click-through rate until it has at least 100 clicks. And you don't judge an asset's conversion rate until it has at least 50 conversions. 

So, for example, if one of your images only has 19 clicks, its CTR is not going to be statistically significant and you could kill or over prioritize assets that aren't actually over or underperforming if you analyze them too soon. This means that yes, it could take weeks or even months until you know if assets are performing or not. 

One more reason it can be better to start with fewer assets, gather real data about them, and then add in more rather than starting with too many assets from the get-go.

3. And third, audit regularly. Go to view asset details at least once a quarter. If you're investing five figures a month in Demand Gen, then do this at least monthly. And replace your low performers with new variations of your top performers to fight ad fatigue.

If you want my eyes and expertise on your Google Ads account, just like I do with Brooklyn and John every month, you can book a call with me at jyll.ca, that's J-Y-L-L dot C-A, or follow the link in the episode description. 

This story was originally shared in my newsletter called The Insider. 

Every other Tuesday, I send a real Google Ads case study to more than 9,000 subscribers. 

You can join now for free at learn.jyll.ca. That's J-Y-L-L dot C-A or follow the link in the episode description. 

I'm Jyll Saskin Gales, and I'll see you next time inside Google Ads.