The Profit-Driven Marketer: Setting a New Standard for Performance - Google Best Practices

What if your search investment could be managed as a profit center? A growing cadre of performance marketers are rethinking digital advertising basics like KPIs, budgets and customer journeys–all while driving maximum business value. We’re referring to this trend as "profit-driven marketing,” and we’ve been watching from the front row as they develop paid search strategies that ignore traditional efficiency metrics and chase the dollars to win more customers.

One of the central premises is the idea that sometimes marketers need to bid higher and spend more to make more. If the goal is to maximize profits, then an effective bidding strategy shouldn't be tied to a budget or cost per acquisition (CPA). For example, would you prefer an $80 CPA or a $90 CPA? The answer should be “it depends.” Perhaps the higher priced ad appears at the top of a search results page, bringing in more sales volume than the less expensive CPA unit. This would be a case where spending more means making more. The point is to stay completely focused on profit, and follow the consumers’ lead. They’ll show you what to bid for and when.

The Volume / Efficiency Trade-off

Example CPA versus Total Profit Analysis

Learn the secrets of profit-driven marketing from the innovative advertisers that are succeeding with this strategy on Think with Google.

Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing