CHRISTINA AGUILERA AND PAID SEARCH

If you search Google for a definition of the expression “back to basics” you get a nice one on the Urban Dictionary:

Back to Basics

Album in which Christina Aguilera overextends herself.

Mike: Hey Bob.
Bob: What? I can’t hear you. I just listened to Back to Basics.

Now, what has this got to do with online marketing you may ask? Bear with me, but I think this is pretty apt. Many of you will know it – if you look at Adwords accounts, or have sat through agency pitches, the accounts are full of spends on the Next Big Thing and trialling everything under the sun, the pitches can feel like an hour of noise about whizzy stuff and how bleeding edge that particular agency is. You can come out of the account or pitch not really knowing what’s going on and not having heard the crucial nuances or the basics.

Don’t get me wrong, you want your agency to be on the ball, have access to the wonderful betas Google lets them have access to, and try new channels and approaches to make you as successful as they possibly can. Though, if this is at the cost of doing the essentials well, it is all for nothing.

If you work with an agency, ask them just a few simple questions and it may have a real impact on performance. Here are three as a starter, and please feel free to suggest others:

“Are you adding negative keywords to my campaigns as routine? On what basis?”

“Do you monitor the top converting keywords and bid accordingly? How?”

“Are my campaigns set to serve “accelerated”?” Why/Why not?”

If they are doing this as routine, or have good reasons why they are not, then you can be safe in the knowledge that your account is in good hands and the agency will have had the chance to show you how they are doing a great job for you. These agencies can then try the exciting new toys!

If they are not though, maybe your biggest wins would come from making sure the basics are right – and a note to the agency – you don’t see Christina Aguilera* much on the TV these days.

*Apologies to Christina, I’m sure she is still very successful, a lovely person and a wonderful talent, and maybe good at the basics of online marketing. I’ve just unfortunately used you as a poor analogy.