Analyzing Google’s competitive advertising strategy!

If you have ever done keyword search advertising on Baidu or Google, then you must have some understanding of competitive advertising.

Competitive advertising is to analyze the keyword strategies of well-known peers or competitors and place these keyword search ads on Baidu or Google. When users search for keywords related to competitors, convey information to potential users before competitors do. For example, competitors’ brand words and product words. This way, you can make good use of your competitor's reputation and convey a better alternative to users.

Google's keyword-based ads sometimes produce changes in type matching, so a high degree of control is required to have a chance to convey your information to potential users before your competitors.

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To run competitive advertising on Google, you must first understand the situation of your advertising competitors through Google Ads!

How to run competitive ads on Google?

Running competitive ads on Google means employing a strategy called competitor targeting. The basic idea is to use your competitor’s brand name as a keyword, thereby providing alternative products or services when users search on Google, advertising your own business.

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Running competitive ads on Google is a risky process because you can never be sure whether the intent behind a user’s search query is informational or navigational. Informational intent means the user is simply looking for information, while navigational intent means they want to visit a specific website.

Take the screenshot above as an example. It’s possible that someone searching for “hellofresh” recently saw an ad for the company somewhere else and decided to use Google to find out more information. If this is the case, the competitive ad could be an opportunity; since users aren’t fully committed to HelloFresh, it’s a great opportunity for Home Chef to present itself as an alternative solution.

However, it's also possible that the user is already a HelloFresh customer and simply navigated to the company's website using Google. In this case, Home Chef has little chance of enticing users to click and buy from them.

This brings up another important point: if you decide to run search ads on Google, don’t worry too much about click-through rates and keyword quality scores. Since many brand queries are navigational in intent (visiting a specific website), competitor keyword CTRs, as well as competitor keyword Quality Scores, are likely to be below average. Additionally, you cannot include your competitor’s brand name in your ad, which reduces the relevance of your ad.

When you are targeting competitor keywords, it is impossible to always pursue high-quality clicks. The key is to focus on writing compelling ad titles and descriptions that grab the attention of potential users.

Next, let’s take a look at the 11 most competitive ads on Google.

To ensure anyone can get some competition inspiration from this post, we’ve included examples from both B2C and B2B companies. For each ad, we will analyze in detail what makes it a good competitive ad.

1. Moving companies: 2Movers vs. U-Haul

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The effectiveness of this ad lies in the second headline: No Need to Rent A Truck. By directly telling users what they want to accomplish and assuring them that there is an easier solution, 2Movers presents a truly compelling value proposition. Plus, the low price of “$65” in the first headline makes them even more attractive.

2. Mattresses: Tuft & Needle vs. Casper

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Although I can't figure out why Tuft & Needle put the first title in quotes. But their second title: Learn the Truth, Why Overpay is very well used. By claiming to know the “truth” about Casper and suggesting it has something to do with the price of the mattress, it arouses the curiosity of customers of rival Casper.

3. Recruitment Sites: Glassdoor vs. Ziprecruiter

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Glassdoor's approach is somewhat similar to 2Movers. The first headline: Post Jobs on Glassdoor, perfectly reflects the user’s query and effectively turns it into a call to action.

Then in the second headline, a simple and attractive value proposition is proposed: Reach Millions of Job Seekers. In addition to impressing many job seekers, the second title also matches the employer's intent very well.

4. Driver Registration Platform: Lyft vs. Uber

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Just like Glassdoor, Lyft perfectly reflects the core CTA (call to action) in the search query: Apply to Become a Lyft Driver.

The second headline: Make $1,500 in the First Month, is the key to making it a highly competitive ad—it conveys the user’s core appeal. Typically, people decide to drive for Uber or Lyft because they need to make money. The second headline makes a strong case for the user by using a specific amount ($1,500) and a specific time period (First Month).

5. Car care: Pep Boys vs. Meineke

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Pep Boys is attracting Meineke users by promoting limited-time offers. Even more cleverly, they repeatedly mentioned “tires” in the ad description, effectively increasing the relevance of the keyword and obtaining the highest sponsored search result.

Another aspect of this Pep Boys ad that I really like is the location expansion (seen at the very bottom of the ad). It’s a really nice detail to let users know that you can help them in their neighborhood, especially if you’re in direct competition with another company.

6. Marketing Systems: SendinBlue vs. MailerLite

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According to Google: "If a trademark owner submits a complaint to Google about the use of their trademark in ads, we review it and may impose restrictions on the use of the trademark."

That’s why you shouldn’t include your competitors’ brand names in your ad messages — they’ll definitely complain to Google. However, judging by the picture above, SendinBlue doesn’t care about being complained about.

SendinBlue’s title directly conveys the message “MailerLite alternative | Try it now | $0/month.” The description directly states “Send up to 40,000 emails for $25/month”, which is very enticing to the target users. This is a rare case.

7. Delivery services: Shipt vs. Instacart

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When you focus on conveying a core value in your advertising message, you have written an excellent competitive ad. This is also what Shipt did as it tried to compete with Instacart. Shipt successfully differentiates itself from its competitors by illustrating and solving two case studies in a single ad.

In the first case, people who procrastinate ordering food for a party or event rush to the first food delivery service they can think of, Instacart. Shipt saves the day by offering same-day delivery.

In the second case, someone who is hosting a group of people on a limited budget will go to Google to learn more about the services available to them. Once again, Shipt offers the perfect solution for orders over $35.

8. Used Book Trading: Sell Back Your Book vs. Chegg

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The first headline – “We Pay the Shipping” – demonstrates their understanding of the user’s main pain point in a concise and effective way. Recognizing that students are often short of money, the need for second-hand book deals is to save money. Sell Back Your Book provides the perfect money-saving offer.

Additionally, the second headline: We Will Buy Your Books Today injects a little urgency into the mix, letting users know that their problem can be solved right now.

9. Office software: Asana vs. Monday.com

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Just like Tuft & Needle, the team at Asana is using the messaging of their competitive ads to create curiosity among users. It’s one thing to simply claim that the team switched from Monday.com to Asana; it’s another to invite users to visit the Asana website and find out why. For someone who is just beginning to research premium channels, this ad could have a huge impact.

Asana’s value proposition of working from anywhere is also better than using Monday.com, no matter where this particular user is in their schedule, and we know they’re looking for a solution that helps them get more organized. Asana’s copywriters seem to have a better appreciation for this.

10. Gas Stations: Valvoline vs. Jiffy Lube

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Valvoline's competitive advertising didn't do anything complicated. It's safe to assume that someone searching for "Jiffy Lube" is looking for a nearby service provider. The $24.99 coupon is a great way to grab the attention of Jiffy Lube customers.

In addition to including the address information at the bottom of the ad, I also appreciate the second headline, “Find A Location Near You,” which makes a simple but important promise: “Click on our ad and we’ll provide you with the most convenient solution.”

11. Social Network Advertising: LinkedIn vs. Twitter

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It’s clear that LinkedIn is using competitive advertising with Twitter to build awareness, and while LinkedIn and Twitter aren’t exactly similar, it’s a pretty safe bet that people who want to advertise on Twitter may also be interested in advertising on the LinkedIn platform.

The simplicity of having “Grow Your Business” as the core value proposition successfully gets to the heart of user intent. Elsewhere, a description below the title can nicely flesh out the value.

By referencing competitors’ user bases and various objectives, advertisers can pursue brand awareness, lead generation, and more — and LinkedIn uses the descriptions under their titles to really drive the point home.

The most important thing to know about running competitive ads on Google

As you may have noticed, there are a ton of different directions you can go when running competitive ads on Google. Depending on the type of customers you want to reach and the specific products or services you promote, leverage the core values ​​that are unique to your business and industry to make your competitive advertising successful.

That said, we can give you a general takeaway: the most competitive ads are those that align closely with user intent and make this clear and explicit in the copy. As long as your ad copy matches what users want and provides them with a legitimate reason to click, you’ll be able to succeed in the competition.

Author: Internet

Source: Internet