le Ads demand generation campaigns: What you need to know about the Discovery Ads upgrade
Google announced its plans for Google Ads improvements and changes in May at Google Marketing Live 2020. Over 20 announcements were made about how Google Ads will be improving its new search experience, AI features and measurement. One announcement stood out, however: the introduction of Demand Gen campaigns, a new type of campaign.
Demand Gen campaigns are designed to reach customers in a more entertaining and visual way, such as YouTube, Discovery and Gmail, than the text-heavy results pages of search engines.
We’ve seen how these Google-owned places have become a powerful way to influence new customers even before they begin searching. Google reports that 90% consumers took action after discovering a brand on these properties.
After months of anticipation, Google announced recently that its new Demand Gen campaign would be made available to advertisers as an open beta. The only surprise is that Demand Gen campaigns will replace Google Discovery Ads later this year.
What are Google Ads Demand Gen Campaigns?
Demand Generation campaigns, unlike its flagship search ads are designed to reach consumers before they actively search for brands. Google Demand Gen campaigns aim to attract new audiences by generating interest among users of Google’s visual and entertainment properties. Google Demand Gen campaigns place ads on the Google Discovery Feed and Gmail. They also serve ads in YouTube, including the YouTube feed, Shorts, and In-Stream.
This new Demand Gen campaign feels like an extension to social marketerwho uses similar visual creatives and audience targeting settings on popular platforms such as Facebook Ads or TikTok Ads. Google has already released and enjoyed success with a campaign of this type, called Discovery Ads.
What is the difference between Google Ads Discovery Ads and Google Ads Demand Gen Campaigns?
Google’s new demand generation ads are similar to Discovery Ads. Both campaigns reach new audiences through Gmail, YouTube and the Google Discovery Feed. Both campaigns serve visually stunning ads that look and behave like social media ad formats.
Since the introduction of Google Discovery Ads in mid-2020 many advertisers have used them as a cheap way to reach a large audience and convert them with their social creative across all Google properties.
Why is Google replacing the already successful Discovery Ads campaigns with new Demand Gen ones? Google Demand Gen campaigns have a few key enhancements.
1. YouTube Expands its reach
Google Discovery Ads are currently available on the Discovery Feed, Gmail and YouTube’s Home Page, YouTube Feed and YouTube Feed. Google Discovery Ads are impressive, but they miss out on the most lucrative opportunity for YouTube’s video content.
Demand Gen campaigns can include the full reach of Google Discovery Ads, YouTube In-Stream, and YouTube shorts. The addition of short-form as well as long-form video ads will increase the reach and effectiveness of these campaigns on YouTube.
2. Video ads in more formats
Google Discovery Ads allows advertisers to feature product images, or custom image ads, across Gmail and YouTube. In addition to the images and headlines, descriptions, graphics, and call-to-action, advertisers can also now include up to five YouTube videos in their campaign.
These videos will appear in the current Google Discovery and YouTube formats. These video ad format will display different assets and behave differently across Google’s different properties and screens sizes. Be sure to include different lengths and aspect proportions so that you can fit your videos in natively on all of the new video inventory.
3. New tools and experiments for ad creativity
Advertisers can preview their text, image and video assets across a variety of ad placements. Google’s Demand Gen campaigns were designed to market your business on the most immersive and visual content within Google’s ecosystem. Google has therefore introduced a new tool that allows advertisers to preview their creatives across multiple screens and placements.
Advertisers can create A/B tests in order to test various image and video creatives for their Demand Gen campaigns. You will gain valuable insight on what types of assets work best for your target audiences, and can continue to improve results.
4. Bidding Options
Google’s Discovery campaign was designed to help advertisers convert new audiences. They worked best with improved conversion tracking, and only supported intelligent-bidding features such as “maximize value or conversions”, which come with the option to set either a target CPA goal or ROI.
Demand Gen, on the other hand, offers smart-bidding, but allows advertisers to choose “maximize” as their bid strategy. This is more suitable for advertisers with more complex conversion paths or who want to drive more offline sales.
5. Reporting Options
Demand Gen campaigns can do more than drive conversions and direct actions. Advertisers are familiar with the fact that, after launching ads on Display, YouTube or Social to reach a new audience, they quickly notice an rise in conversions and searches from their brand campaigns. Google’s Demand Gen campaign reports on Brand Lift, Search Lift and Conversion Lift provide more information about this uplift.
6. New audience targeting
Google Ads has recently discontinued its popular Similar Audiences targetting for all campaign types, but Demand Gen campaigns offer something similar.
Demand Gen campaigns have access to a special segment. Lookalike audiences are those that have similar characteristics and behaviors to your existing first-party segments (such a customer list or remarketing lists ). Advertisers can refine their lookalike segments to:
- Narrow :Reaching the 5% users in your targeted location who are most similar to you original seed list.
- Balanced : Reaching 5% users in your targeted location who are most similar with your original seed list. Google will default to a lookalike segment that is balanced unless otherwise specified.
- Broad: Reaching the 10% users in your targeted location who are most similar to your initial seed list.
Google’s audiences lookalike should be similar to audiences on other social platforms, like Facebook audiences lookalike. Both allow advertisers to customize reach based upon how closely users match their seed audience.
When will Google start upgrading my Discovery Ads into Demand Gen Campaigns?
If you are eager to start using Demand Gen campaigns, you can register for early beta access by clicking here. Google may need a few days to process your request and activate access in your account. Any active Discovery campaigns that are enrolled in beta will be automatically upgraded to Demand Gen campaigns. No historical data will be lost, but you won’t be able manage Discovery Ads the same way you used to.
Google has announced that all advertisers will be able to create Demand Gen campaigns in October 2023. Advertisers will also have the option of upgrading their Discovery campaigns into Demand Gen campaigns.
All remaining Discovery campaigns, which will have been completed by January 2024 are expected to be upgraded automatically into Demand Gen campaigns. By the end of March, all Discovery campaigns will be upgraded automatically to Demand Gen campaigns. Advertisers do not need to take any action during this transition. The campaigns will continue, and the historical data and lessons will be preserved.
Google Demand Gen Campaigns: Best Practices
Prepare yourself for the end of Discovery campaigns and the rise of Demand Gen campaigns with these tips:
1. Plan your migration early
Google will upgrade all Discovery campaigns that you are running, even if no action is taken. Even though this won’t stop your ads or have a negative impact on your performance, by doing nothing you will miss out on the most powerful features of Demand Gen campaign.
Spend a few moments upgrading your Discovery campaigns in advance to benefit from the additional reach on YouTube. You can also upload new video formats into your campaigns. It’s an advantage for advertisers to have access to this new reach before other companies migrate in early 2024.
Google highlights businesses who have participated in early demand generation campaigns that were beta versions.
2. Prepare and refresh creatives
Demand Gen campaigns feature your ads on very visual, scrolling and immersive settings, like YouTube, Gmail and Discover. You can make a great impression with a variety of images and videos.
You should grab your audience’s attention within the first five seconds of your video asset. In the first five seconds, most users will ignore your In-Stream ad, YouTube short, or other video. So, include your brand name or solution in your ad to make an impact.
3. Build your audiences
Google’s lookalike segment has a lot of potential, but you must first build your original seed audience using first-party data. This could be a remarketing list or customer database. First-Party Data includes any data that your organization has:
A lookalike audience can only be created if there are at least 1,000 users who have been matched. Smaller businesses will need to start building these lists in advance. You may want to increase traffic to your site first to collect enough data for a lookalike list.
It may take up to a week for lookalike audiences to populate (once you have a large enough list to qualify).
4. Review your conversion tracking
It’s important to check that your conversion tracking works correctly, especially after the GA4 migration. Demand Gen campaigns target prospects that are newer to your solution or brand and likely to be more “mid-funnel”.
Google suggests that you optimize for lightweight conversions (like adding items to your cart) rather than larger conversions, such as making a big purchase or filling in a complicated form. These smaller conversions provide valuable signals to Google’s bidding systems to help them learn and optimize more quickly.
5. Budget for success
Even though Google Demand Gen campaigns are available for as low as $1 per day, optimizing results can be a difficult task with lower budgets.
Google suggests that advertisers using smart-bidding should set a budget of at least 15x their CPA target to enable their Demand Gen campaigns to grow and optimize quickly. While a lower budget might be more effective, it may take longer to reach your goals.
Advertisers with smaller budgets can benefit from the maximum clicks bidding strategy in order to start quickly and collect a lot of data.
Say goodbye to Discovery Ads and hello Demand Generation campaigns
Google Demand Gen campaigns can be an effective campaign type that complements your current search and social campaigns. Be sure to migrate as soon as possible and take advantage the new video inventory on YouTube, Discover and Gmail. If you are still unsure about how to take advantage of Demand Gen campaigns, check out our solutions that can help make the most of campaign types and placements.
Here are some tips for preparing to switch from Google Discovery Ads campaigns to Google Demand Gen campaigns.
- Plan your migration early
- Prepare and refresh your creative assets
- Build your audiences
- Review your conversion tracking
- Budget for success
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