POCM – what is it anyway?

First, however, a short piece of information for those who have not come across this system so far. POCM is our tool that helps in improving the results of campaigns conducted in Google Ads. It is based on statistical models and self-learning algorithms that collect data about campaigns 24 hours a day and automatically optimize them so as to maximize the probability of achieving previously set goals.

When designing POCM, we especially had in mind that the platform should be simple and intuitive to use and that it would enable effective campaigns using the latest and most effective technologies, also for people who do not have specialized knowledge in the field of online advertising.

What’s with bidding strategies?

It sounds specialized and may sound complicated, but choosing a bid optimization strategy is not a plan for the Battle of Waterloo. Strategies are simply used to achieve a selected business goal that we want to achieve through a campaign. These goals may be different. At various stages of marketing activities, we may, for example, want as many people as possible to see our advertisement, to convert as many users as possible, or simply to reduce the costs associated with advertising as much as possible. A different strategy is used to achieve each of these goals. Its choice determines which parameters of the campaign the system will focus on the most in the optimization process.

As already mentioned, we currently have over 50 such strategies. We will not describe all the available options here, but we will focus on explaining what can be achieved with the most popular ones.

Maximize conversions based on your budget

In this strategy, the system uses the available budget in such a way that it appears evenly and as efficiently as possible. This means that if there is little money left, it goes first to the key phrases that generate the most conversions. Therefore, this strategy is a good solution for people who cannot afford large advertising expenses – thanks to it we minimize the likelihood of a budget constraint.

Maximize your income

If we choose a strategy to maximize revenue, the algorithms will focus not on individual key phrases or advertised products, but on entire campaigns. When we run many of them, they analyze the effectiveness of each of them (of course, provided that we have this strategy set for all of them), and then distributes the budget so that the total income from all of them is as high as possible. This strategy works best when the system has a lot of data, so it is intended for people with a large advertising budget and who can afford to run a large number of campaigns.

Target ROAS

Target ROAS is that the system aims to achieve a return on investment as determined by us. Let’s show it with an example – for example, we can assume that we want every dollar spent on advertising to bring us $ 3 profit. In this model, algorithms use data to identify key phrases or products that have yielded a large number of valuable conversions in the past. They set higher click rates for them, while other phrases / products have a lower rate. The danger with this strategy is setting an unrealistic, high ROAS, because it can lead to a budgetary constraint. Therefore, it is worth entrusting the determination of the return on investment to a specialist – he will set the achievable return and will gradually increase it, if the campaign produces satisfactory results.

Target CPA

In the target CPA, we define the rate that we are willing to spend on acquiring one user. However, this does not mean that each conversion will cost exactly the same. The system will analyze the behavior of users and on this basis it will reduce or increase rates on specific devices, at given hours, etc. However, it will always strive to ensure that the average cost of acquisition is at least as agreed. In this way, it will provide us with the greatest number of conversions at a given cost-per-acquisition. This strategy works especially when the specific cost of customer acquisition is important to us and when the algorithm has a lot of data on the basis of which it can predict user behavior.

Maximize clicks based on your budget

As you can guess, the goal of this strategy is to get as many clicks as possible within your budget. It’s similar to budget-based conversion maximization, and is an alternative when we don’t have conversion tracking implemented. It also works well when we have a very small budget, and thus few conversions – then there may be too little data for the system to correctly predict which phrases / products will bring the most of them. In addition, it is not always possible to determine a conversion action, and we often want to get as much traffic as possible on the page – then maximizing clicks will be a great solution.

Target Impression Share

This strategy allows you to achieve the assumed percentage of views – algorithms automatically set bids at such a level to win a certain number of auctions. When choosing this option, we have to decide which ad display place we want to fight for. There are three options here: first result on the page, displayed at the top of the results page, or displayed anywhere on the page. Here you can limit the maximum bid that the system can set, but for the campaign to work properly, it cannot be too low. Then it would be impossible to win the appropriate number of auctions.

Improved CPC

As part of the Enhanced CPC, we set a click bid for your ads ourselves, but the system may automatically increase it if it determines that there are conditions under which the likelihood of conversion has increased, or decreased when the chance of conversion is low. With Enhanced CPC – aka eCPC – you can optimize your bids to increase either the number of conversions or the value of your conversions.

A solution tailored to your needs

POCM users can use many other strategies available within the platform. After signing the contract, the customer is contacted by a specialist from the Support Department, created specifically to support the users of this particular platform. It proposes the best strategy and ad formats in a given industry and budget, choosing from the options available in the package selected by the client.

After accepting the plan, he sets up a campaign and optimizes it manually for a month, while the algorithms collect data in order to adjust the rates independently in the future, implementing the assumed strategy. After the first month, the company no longer interferes with the campaign, but the customer has the option of updating or adding new keywords, ads, etc. He can also view ad statistics and compare the results from different periods. Therefore, it is a platform that gives the client a lot of freedom, while providing advanced algorithms, and this in total gives a tool that allows you to create modern, constantly optimized campaigns with any budget.

Lead magnet – what is it?

To explain what a lead magnet is, let’s first briefly discuss what a lead itself is. This is the name of a person or company that has somehow interacted with our website / profile on social media and left an e-mail address, telephones number or other personal data, with the help of which we can contact them and convince them to use our offers.

Internet users are usually very reluctant to share their data anywhere, and fewer and fewer things are able to encourage them to do so. They are inundated with requests to leave a contact, therefore, fearing spam, they are skeptical about each of them and carefully analyze whether it will be profitable for them in any way.

Such thinking of the users of the global network resulted in the creation of the concept of a lead magnet, i.e. simply a lead magnet. This strategy of acquiring contacts with potential customers is very simple – in exchange for contact details, we offer something for free that the recipient needs or at least that can be useful to him. It is a model of acquiring leads in which both parties stand in a winning position – the recipient gains an attractive gift, and your company – the person who may be interested in its offer.

How to make a lead magnet?

So the question is how to make a good lead magnet. As with most questions, there is no single right answer to this either. Audience groups differ from one another and have different needs, so it is natural that there is no one magnet that will attract everyone. However, it is very important that the lead magnet meets several basic conditions, i.e. it should be:

Related to the industry
It is known that if we run a dentist’s office, we will not give potential customers a gift in the form of a guide for farmers applying for a subsidy. Lead magnet should be related to the area in which we operate.

Beneficial for the recipient
The gift must be attractive enough for the recipient to consider that it is worth providing contact details in return for it. It should solve a problem or increase the comfort of his work, in other words, be useful to him.

Simple to use
For example, if we want to provide the recipient with access to the tool, it will only work as a lead magnet if the tool is as intuitive as possible. When the user has to spend time reading the manual or painstakingly learn the operation himself, he loses interest.

Easily accessible
Few of your potential customers will be interested in a lead magnet if you need to email a company to get it, for example. It will simply cost them too much effort. The gift should be easy to download – for example by clicking the appropriate button on the landing page.

Original
We will not attract people with a gift that is easy to get even without leaving contact details. So a lead magnet in the form of an article about makeup trends will not work, because there are plenty of such materials on the Internet. Only something that will interest the recipient and will be unique will be a magnet.

Lead magnet – examples

Creating a lead magnet may be more or less time-consuming. Often, however, gifts that work are easy for an industry expert to make and don’t take hours to make. Here are some examples of lead magnets that are a great help for many companies in collecting contacts for potential customers.

Educational lead magnets

Gifts that convey valuable, proven knowledge on a topic are highly appreciated by Internet users. Such lead magnets can take many forms. A simple and effective gift is, for example, an infographic, i.e. a material explaining an issue in a visually friendly way. In this way, the hairdressing salon can show, for example, how to create an effective hairstyle in just a few steps; yoga studio – explain a short sequence of exercises for the spine; tire dealer – show how to check tread wear. It is true that you can find such information on the web, but if we explain it clearly, illustrating with appropriate graphics, we will gain material that Internet users will be happy to read.

More complicated, longer topics can be presented in the form of a webinar or a tutorial. A specialist can include a lot of information in an accessible form, providing examples from his experience and worked out tricks helpful for the client. Of course, he will not reveal all his secrets, but he will reveal the secret, which will make him an expert in the eyes of the recipients, who is worth returning to for paid materials or services. Following the industries selected for the article: a hair stylist can talk about his ways to nourish hair damaged by bleaching, a yoga instructor – about the specificity of a given type of yoga, and a tire seller with strengths and weaknesses of various tire manufacturers.

Free e-books and guides are also very popular among Internet users. Such materials do not have to be several hundred pages long – several dozen or even a dozen are enough. They should be nicely prepared, enriched with graphics or charts, made available for download on a specially prepared landing page. What materials can be created here? For example, our hairdresser could make a Korean hair care guide, a yoga instructor – a guide for beginner practitioners, and a salesperson – a comparison of different tire models.

Ready to download

Not only education works in the form of lead magnets, but also providing potential clients with materials that they can use in their daily work brings significant profits. Here, for example, a calendar is a popular gift. It does not have to be handed out on paper, a printable PDF or desktop wallpaper is enough. Of course, such a calendar must be adapted to the needs of the target group and stand out among the standard versions available on various websites. If the calendar is to be useful for the teacher, it should contain information about the beginning of summer holidays, the end of the semester, exam dates, etc. dates of settlements, submission of documents, etc.

Another gadget useful for recipients will be a planner or a replenishment schedule. Such a tool allows you to clearly plan your daily duties, and if it is well designed, it is not only functional, but also a nice addition to the office.

Checklists are also interesting prefabs that can be used as lead magnet. It can be a cheat sheet to talk to a potential client, a list of things to check before buying a car, or a list of things to do before accepting it. It is also worth playing these materials graphically, focusing on transparency.

Tools that make your work easier

Very often, an element that attracts potential customers is also a free template to download. We are talking about various patterns, not only graphic ones. Depending on the industry, it may be a template for a diploma, official letter, or a household budget planning sheet. Many people cannot or do not have time to create them on their own, so they willingly use ready-made products prepared by companies.

An example of a lead magnet are also various web applications and online calculators. How to make such a lead magnet and use it? Suppose we run a DIY store. We can create a calculator, thanks to which our potential customers will calculate how much paint, cement or other material will be needed to perform the renovation. At the same time, however, the tool will be free only for logged in users, i.e. those who left their data.

Demo versions and discounts

We can also collect leads by offering customers special opportunities that are financially profitable. It certainly includes demo versions of programs and tools, free access to a chapter in the case of books, or access to one lesson when we sell courses. Lead magnets good for many industries that offer services are free quotes and consultations or free audits.

In addition, it is also worth thinking about discounts for people who subscribe to the newsletter, set up an account in the system or simply leave their e-mail address.

Lead magnet – a technique for acquiring contacts for any business

When it comes to lead magnet, there can be many more examples – the more original and interesting the content, the greater the chance that it will help in building a contact base. However, it is worth remembering that the key issue should be the usefulness of the materials for a given group of recipients. So before we decide to invest time and money in creating such a magnet, it is necessary to analyze the needs of the recipients and examine what similar content is already available on the web.