Display Campaign (Whitelist Strategy)

This is Google Ads Display campaign strategy that we are testing. Wrote the strategy idea and results here as it might be interesting for others doing display marketing. Usually Googles display network does not yield much results and is quite lot of work with designing content like banners.

Initial Setup

1. Create Two Campaigns:

• Campaign A: Discovery campaign (finds new profitable sites)
• Campaign B: Whitelist campaign (targets proven converters)

2. Set Up Campaign A (Discovery):

• Create 2 custom audiences:
  • Audience 1: Keyword-based (e.g., "yoga mats")
  • Audience 2: Competitor sites your buyers visit
• Budget accordingly (display needs volume - 2k-3k clicks is minimal)

Ongoing Optimization

3. Monitor & Extract Winners:

• Track which sites/publishers generate conversions
• Pull those sites out and add them to Campaign B
• Create separate ad groups in Campaign B for each profitable site

4. Clean Up Campaign A:

• Exclude non-performing sites
• Also exclude your profitable sites (so they only run in Campaign B)

5. Test Creatives Constantly:

• Visit converting sites to understand their audience
• Customize ads for specific sites (e.g., "[Site Name] users love these [Brand] mats")

Advanced Funnel Strategy

6. Build Multi-Touch Funnel:

• Stage 1: Problem/solution ads → article-style landing pages with links to product
• Stage 2: Retarget clickers with social proof ads/pages
• Stage 3: Retarget non-buyers with limited-time discount

7. Research Before Creating:

• Visit forums and competitor reviews
• Document customer pain points and praise
• Build landing pages addressing these specific insights