Launching Successful Demand Gen Campaigns
With Google’s recent announcement that YouTube’s video action campaigns are being upgraded to Demand Gen it’s now clear who their favorites ad types are these days. Thomas Eccel summed it up perfectly with this meme.
So with Google commiting to the expansion of Demand Gen I have decided to focus my efforts on generating results using this ad type.
But anyone who has experience with these campaigns previously branded “Discovery” will know that is easier said than done. If left unchecked these campaigns can be highly expensive with very low rates of conversion.
So as well as discuss how to set up a Demand Gen campaign, I’m also going to provide reasoning why to persist, and what to measure in terms of success beyond a direct ROAS.
Demand Gen is very different than other Google Ads campaigns, so there are a few things that should be done differently that I will try to highlight.
Demand Gen Benefits
- Generate demand through Google: Reach people interested in the product, who aren’t directly searching through keywords
- Similar to PMax in that it is an algorithm driven ad type, with ability to target audiences, although these are different to how signals work
- Targeting:
- Lookalike Audiences available
- YouTube Shorts now available: Ability to show Shopping products on YouTube.
- Secure inventory: Only Google owned products, unlike Display, real estate is safe in case you are worried about your brand visibility on poor quality websites.
- The option to utilize third-party attribution analysis, which at the right scale would be highly beneficial
Who Should Run Demand Gen Ads?
A strong indicator for potential success is having a history of performance on Meta. But this isn’t the only factor to consider.
Demand Gen can work for all types of business: B2B, B2C, Ecommerce, Lead Gen.
The key is having quality creative, with a focus on good design. Pair that with the right audience mix and you’re heading in the right direction.
Budget Considerations
Google recommends x15 tCPA for campaign budget, which might sound ridiculous depending on the scale of your brand.
x3-4 works fine depending on amount of available budget. Begin with max conversions no target for 2-4 weeks, then calculate tCPA based on performance.
Campaign Structure
Given that the algorithmic nature of this campaign it relies heavily on data. So generating lots of data is important. Both Google and industry experts recommend one campaign for both prospecting and remarketing, with different ad groups for the different types. Example: Site visitors, Checkout/Cart Abandoners, Prospecting etc
Ads & Assets
Utilize all ad types for each ad group (As long as you have the required assets): Image, video, product. Here are the recommended specs:
| Text | |||
| Type | Max length | Quantity | Required |
| Headlines | 40 characters | 1-5 headlines Recommended: 5 | ✓ |
| Descriptions | 90 characters | 1-5 descriptions Recommended: 3 | ✓ |
| Call to action | Automated | 1 call to action | ✓ |
| Final URL | 2048 characters | 1 URL | ✓ |
| Business name | 25 characters | 1 name | ✓ |
| Images | |||
| Ratio | Recommended size | Quantity | Required |
| Landscape 1.91:1 | 1200 x 628 pixels (min 600 x 314 pixels) | 1-20 images Recommended: 3 | ✓ |
| Square 1:1 | 1200 x 1200 pixels (min 300 x 300 pixels) | 1-20 images Recommended: 3 | ✓ |
| Logo 1:1 | 1200 x 1200 pixels (min 144 x 144 pixels) | 1-5 images Recommended: 1 | ✓ |
| Portrait 4:5 | 960 x 1200 pixels (min 480 x 600 pixels) | 1-20 images Recommended: 3 | ✕ |
| Videos | |||
| Ratio | Recommended length | Quantity | Required |
| Landscape 16:9 | 10-60 seconds | 3 videos | ✕ |
| Square 1:1 | 10-60 seconds | 3 videos | ✕ |
| Vertical 9:16 or 4:5 | 10-60 seconds | 3 videos | ✕ |
Learning Period
One thing that I found very interesting is the significant amount of time that it takes to generate meaningful performance data. 60 days! This is 2-4 times more than the typical ads campaign.
Once this timeframe as been completed, remove whatever isn’t working and replace with new creative.
Audiences
Prospecting
Best performing audience segment is usually Lookalike: layer this with different segments.
Each segment can then be analyzed in audience performance tab. Treat audiences like creative, removing poor performers to test new.
Choosing segments: Use in-market or affinity audiences based on existing Ads data.
Remarketing
Depending on how much audience data you have you can either layer in all relevant remarketing audiences to a given ad group.
Example. Site Visitors: All site visitors. Or if you’re being more conservative start with 1-3 of these audiences and change over time.
Depending on your remarketing strategy you might also want to exclude recent purchasers either with a Customer Match list, or a Purchaser list from say the last 30 days. The timeframe you use is up to you.
Bid Strategy
Start off with Max conversions to begin with no tCPA to start, then refine with tCPA after you have enough performance 30-60 days depending on budget.
You’ll also notice during setup that Conversion value can be unlocked later with enough data too.
Extensions
Site links are important as they are displayed nicely on YouTube. So make sure to choose highly relevant links that may lead to positive engagement.
Measuring Success Beyond Direct Revenue
Since Demand Gen is an upper/mid funnel campaign type you traditionally won’t see as high direct revenue and ROAS as you do on other campaign types. So another way to measure the success of these campaigns is to check attribution reports to see whether Demand Gen is assisting other campaigns.
This is another reason why you want to create one large demand gen campaign, so that it can generate enough data to be able to influence many different ad types within the ad account.
Recap
So to recap then I want to reconfirm the importance of creative, this is a visual ad type, so you need to catch your audiences attention. We can create the most advanced campaign structures and settings inside ads but if the creative misses the mark then all is lost.
That being said having the right campaign Structure is still important, and as I’ve mentioned this is very different from other segmented campaign types like Performance Max. We want to generate as much data as possible for the creative we use so we can quickly find what resonates with the audience.
Patience and timing is key, stick to the 60 day testing approach, limit the budget and set different exclusions if you are worried about overspending.
Finally, despite the long learning period this is not a set it and forget it campaign! Consistent monitoring, and eventually optimizations once the time and data are right.
Resources
- About Demand Gen campaigns (Google Ads Help)
- Demand Gen best practices [Google Ads] (with Thomas Eccel) | The PPC Mastery Podcast Ep 25 – Listened up to 15 minutes
