Rohit Uttamchandani is a digital consultant with a passion for helping businesses and brands leverage digital media to achieve key business goals – increase revenue, reduce operating costs, mitigate risk and attract talent. As a digital marketing trainer, he has trained over 3000 professionals including entrepreneurs and senior level marketing executives in digital marketing and strategy
Q1. What’s your personal favourite these days – Google or Facebook Ads?
Ans. Honestly, I don’t really have a personal favourite here. Right from the beginning of my digital marketing career, I have been platform-agnostic. I tend to use more of whichever platform works best for a specific business and campaign objective. For some business cases, Google Ads drive better results while for others Facebook Ads work better.
Q2. What are some of the most common mistakes people do with respect to Google Ads?
Ans.
Not adding all relevant ad extensions:
This one is a very basic error but I still find a lot of people making it. Adding all relevant ad extensions makes your ad appear more prominent, thereby increasing CTR and hence the quality score. Since quality scores have a direct impact on campaign ROI, ignoring ad extensions can turn out to be an expensive mistake.
Not using smart bidding:
Adwords automated bid strategies like Target CPA and Target ROAS use machine learning algorithms to help advertisers meet their campaign goals. Yet, a lot of advertisers stick to using only manual bidding. This is most prevalent amongst experienced advertisers as they have spent years manually adjusting keyword bids to optimize their campaigns, and using automated bidding makes them feel like they are giving up their “control”. However, letting the system automatically bid based on a large volume of historic data, tends to drive better results.
Not trying out new platform features as soon as they are released:
Google keeps rolling out new features to the Ads platform to help advertisers get better results from their campaigns. The quicker you use these new features, the more you tend to benefit from them as very few people are using them yet. However, most advertisers start using these only after the crowd has started using them and lose out on the early-mover advantage.
Q3. What are some of the most common mistakes people do with respect to Facebook Ads?
Ans.
Not leveraging custom and lookalike audiences enough:
Custom and lookalike audiences are the most powerful of Facebook’s targeting options, ahead of behaviours, demographics and interests. However, a lot of advertisers tend to use interest targeting the most, which is the least accurate of all.
Not using “Breakdown” data:
Facebook ad “breakdown” data is actually a goldmine for advertisers, given the number of insights they can draw from it. Yet, very few people use it. The data can help improvise campaign performance by uncovering vital information like which placements/devices worked or which age group of your audiences converted the most.
Using only one ad creative in an ad set:
Using only one creative in an ad set is not ideal as you are not testing which images and communications are resonating best with your target audience. It is a good practice to have at least two or three creatives in every ad set.
Not trying out new platform features as soon as they are released:
Similar to Google Ads, facebook ads also keeps rolling out new features to the platform to help advertisers drive better results. It is important that advertisers test these features as soon as they are released.
Q4. Have you used LinkedIn Ads before? If yes, what’s your opinion about the same? Also, what’s your opinion on LinkedIn InMail Ads?
Ans. LinkedIn, as an ad platform has scaled up a lot over the last year and a half and I have been using it extensively. They have added a lot of new features, of late, including lead generation forms, video ads and carousel ads. Of these, the lead gen forms have been the most powerful and have helped increase lead volume at a much lower cost-per-lead.
Coming to the question on LinkedIn sponsored inmails, they are a great way to reach out to your target audience. A key feature of sponsored inmails is the strict delivery frequency cap that LinkedIn has imposed on this ad type, which helps prevent advertisers from abusing it and spamming audiences.
Q5. For a Facebook Lead Generation campaign what are some crucial parameters for a good advertisement design?
Ans.
Always understand your audience first:
Knowing who your target market is, plays a crucial role in the performance of any campaign. The messaging of your ad will depend on which audience segment you are targeting. It is important to personalise the messaging and connect with the audience in order to get the best results and this can only be done when you have a detailed understanding of your target audience.
Use a relevant and catchy creative (either image or video) to grab attention:
As the famous saying goes, a picture speaks a thousand words. This holds true for any ad campaign. An image or a video is a teaser that helps your audience decide whether or not they are interested in what you have to offer. It is the first thing your audience sees, so ensure you use high-quality image or video that really stands out.
The headline copy is really important:
The headline copy can make or break your campaign. In order for you to be able to make the most of a lead gen campaign, ensure the headline has the most important message you want to convey.
Q6. What is some of your favorite Lead Generation case studies?
Ans. A Case Study On Casagrand’s Success Using Facebook Marketing Solutions – The real estate developer generated a record 190 crores in revenue by using a mix of Facebook marketing solutions, at a 60% lower cost per lead compared to other digital channels. Having led the team that worked on it at Social Beat, we used a string of ad formats such as lead ads, slideshow ads and Canvas ads to achieve these numbers.
Q7. As a Digital Marketing Consultant, how do you pitch clients and how do you win them?
Ans. My key focus, as a digital consultant, has always been to drive results for clients that I work with. This has led to most clients referring me to others and I haven’t had the need to use any outbound tactics.
Q8. What are some crucial skills required to become a good Advertiser?
Ans. These are some of the most important skills that I believe are required to be a good digital advertiser:
- The ability to self-learn quickly (This is a key skill for a space like digital marketing where things change almost every day)
- Strong communication skills
- Strong analytical mindset
This interview comes as a part of our #DigitalQandA sessions on our Facebook Group. Join our group for an immersive experience of collaborative learning and knowledge sharing.
