Inside Google Ads podcast: Episode 60 - PMax for Lead Generation
Can you use Performance Max for lead generation?
Sure, you can do anything.
But should you use Performance Max for lead generation?
Maybe, maybe not.
I'm your host, Jyll Saskin Gales. I spent six years working for big brands at Google, and now I work for you.
This is Inside Google Ads, Episode 60: Performance Max for Lead Generation.
Now, before we get to our first question, Episode 37 of this podcast from October 10th, 2024 was about a similar topic. Does Performance Max work for Lead Gen? So if this topic interests you, listen to this episode and then afterwards you might want to scroll back to Episode 37.
Alright. Our first question comes from Adrienne Shaver on LinkedIn. She asks, I have struggled to understand how PMax can work for B2B clients. Your thoughts are helping me understand where to start and how to frame it. Do you think Demand Gen campaigns have a place in this flow? Maybe after PMax? I'm unfamiliar with Demand Gen, so I'm not sure if I'm on the right track.
I'm going to expand your question, Adrienne, to what I think you're really asking here. PMax or Demand Gen for B2B? Which should you choose?
Let's come back to the key differences. PMax will include all the Demand Gen inventory and a lot of other stuff, so PMax can do more than Demand Gen. It includes Search inventory, the biggest pro, but it doesn't let you choose your audience targeting the way Demand Gen does, so that's the biggest con.
Now, I know Demand Gen is called Demand Gen, but that doesn't mean it's only used for demand generation. It's probably the most poorly named Google Ads campaign type. Demand Gen is great when you have a specific target audience in mind that you want to engage through visual ads. It's the only place you can use Lookalikes, and it gives you great asset level reporting and insights.
I will usually test Demand Gen before PMax when I'm working with a search-only advertiser, which many B2B advertisers are. Before going all in on PMax, my thinking goes, let's test the visual medium for the first time, let's test audience targeting for the first time, and let's see what kind of results we can get. And if that's successful, all right, let's go forward and try PMax.
But if Demand Gen plus Search is not a successful combination, PMax is unlikely to be successful unless all it does is end up serving on Search inventory, which I do see happen quite a bit.
Not sure what campaign type is right for you? Book a call with me and we'll figure it out together. Learn more on my website, jyll.ca, that's J-Y-L-L dot C-A, or follow the link in the episode description.
Our second question today comes from Adsbyalam on YouTube and they say, I'm running a Performance Max campaign to retarget non-converters from the last 30 days with a tCPA (Target Cost Per Acquisition) bid strategy. It's a lead generation account. Last month, I received a total of 8 conversions from the PMax campaign. How can I scale it?
If you're trying to scale remarketing, you're going to be limited, whether that's PMax, Display, or any campaign type that's exclusively targeting a remarketing list.
Think about it, the only people your ads can serve to are people on the remarketing list. And there's only going to be so many people on that list.
Your two main levers here are your target CPA and your traffic driving campaigns.
Either you can increase your target CPA to give the algorithm more room to go after those non-converters, and/or you can make your remarketing list bigger by driving more traffic to your website. You can do this organically, you can do this through ads, but the bigger the remarketing list, the more you can scale.
I will say that it's possible you don't want to scale. If this is your CPA goal and you're hitting the right audience, then 8 conversions a month may just be the total remarketing opportunity. That's great. But if you do want to scale, increase your CPA target or increase your remarketing list size by driving more traffic via organic or paid marketing.
Not sure how to scale your Google Ads campaigns? Book a call with me and we'll figure it out together. Learn more on my website, jyll.ca, that's J-Y-L-L dot C-A, or follow the link in the episode description.
Our final question today comes from Ràjeev Choudháry on LinkedIn, and they say, can we do affiliate marketing with Google Ads Performance Max?
Yes, you can do anything with Performance Max. The key is whether you can do it successfully.
Google has policies around affiliate marketing, things like abusing the ad network, misrepresentation, copyrights, trademark, destination requirements. So from a policy perspective, you need to ensure you're meeting all policy requirements.
The challenge a lot of affiliate marketers face, at least the ones I speak with, is that they can't track conversions. And if you can't track conversions, you're going to have a very hard time using PMax effectively, and you'll likely be better served by a YouTube or Demand Gen campaign.
But yes, it is possible to do affiliate marketing with Google Ads Performance Max.
Now, I had a very special guest at the office with me this week. So here is my daughter, Nora, an aspiring YouTuber who's going to read you the Insider Challenge. Take it away, darling.
Nora: Today's Insider Challenge is this. What would you do if you were running a Performance Max campaign and the search terms looked great and the audience insights seemed good, but you weren’t getting any conversions?
The beauty of the Insider Challenge is there's no right or wrong answer, just an opportunity to stretch your brain on real life Google Ads problem solving.
Thank you so much, Nora.
Last Episode's Challenge was this. What calls to action would you test in your RSA for an ecommerce business? What are your best ecommerce CTA ideas?
Now, full disclosure, I've said this before, I will say it again, copywriting - not my strong suit. So I asked Gemini for a little help with this challenge. And here are some of the suggestions I liked.
“Shop now and save big.” - I like that better than just “Shop now.”
“Find your perfect product,” like find your perfect bag, find your perfect sweater. I like that.
“Upgrade your area of life,” like upgrade your wardrobe, upgrade your bedroom, upgrade your kitchen. I like that it adds some benefit-focused stuff to that call to action.
And then last but not least, “Claim your discount now,” like claim 30% off now or claim your free gift now.
What do you think? Who did better at this challenge, you or Gemini?
Take it away, Nora.
Nora: My mom is Jyll Saskin Gales and she'll see you next time in Inside Google Ads.