Are bidding promotion and information flow promotion really incompatible?

Between bidding promotion and information flow advertising , some people only use one of the channels , while others take both into consideration. However, it is rare to hear someone say that both my bidding promotion and information flow advertising are very effective or that I have coordinated bidding promotion with information flow advertising. Are the two really as incompatible as water and fire?

If we talk about the two most popular traffic channels nowadays, bidding promotion and information flow advertising are well-deserved. One is bidding ranking and search display; the other is based on tags and interest recommendations. One is the connection method for people to find information; the other is the direction path for information to find people. There are obviously huge differences, yet they are always compared.

Let’s start with the current situation and problems facing these two channels.

Bidding should return to rationality

Fierce market competition and many irrational promotional behaviors have led to higher and higher costs for bidding promotions, while conversion effects have gradually declined. At this time we should stop and think carefully, what is the purpose of your bidding promotion? What are the core advantages of bidding promotion? Let’s first analyze the irrational behaviors in bidding promotions.

Keyword selection

Ceramic tile (industry word/general word)

Antique tiles (product word)

Antique tile price (price word)

XX antique tile manufacturer (brand word)

How to choose tiles (question words)

Which brand of antique tiles is good (comparative word)

You will have more or less of the above words in your account. If you only have a budget of 100 yuan a day, which keywords would you prioritize? Is it a general word like tiles, which has a large search volume but unclear search intent, or a high-intent keyword like XX antique tile manufacturer?

It is no exaggeration to say that the keywords you choose for promotion directly determine the effectiveness of your promotion. Be rational when choosing keywords, don’t just follow the crowd, and prioritize keywords with high intent, especially if you have a limited budget.

Blind Bidding

Many bidders have been instructed that the ranking of a certain keyword must be in the top three. Although bidding promotion is using money to buy traffic , it is not a simple and crude money-burning game , but a systematic project based on product selling points, audience needs, user experience and data analysis . Some traffic is worth fighting for at all costs; some traffic is really not worth spending so much money to fight for. We must compile statistics for each dimension and conduct a comprehensive analysis in order to better optimize the account.

Focus on traffic but not conversion

Do you have such bidders around you? They know very well how to control traffic and account operation skills, but when asked about how to convert the traffic they attract, they don’t have much idea. Bidding is not just a traffic-generating project. If you bring in high-cost traffic without considering how to convert it, it will undoubtedly be a waste of money.

The correct bidding promotion system requires that traffic, carrying capacity and conversion complement each other. Traffic diversion is only one part of the system, and problems in any part will affect the overall promotion effect. Therefore, we should not only consider how to attract traffic, but also how to carry and convert it.

Information flow advertising has poor effect

Did you start working on information flow with great enthusiasm, only to find that the results were not as optimistic as you had imagined? Have you spent a lot of time and budget but it didn’t bring the expected conversion? Maybe you can try to analyze it from the following aspects.

Conversion Targeting

If you are shopping in a mall and suddenly someone hands you a gym brochure, even if you usually want to work out, will you immediately pay for a membership? I'm afraid this possibility is very low.

Information flow ads are like the small advertisements you receive while shopping. If you want to get a visitor without clear intention to buy your product through an idea or a page display, it is undoubtedly difficult. Therefore, the first step to doing a good job in information flow advertising is to correctly position your conversion method. What conversion goals do you want to achieve through information flow advertising? Guide searches, follow accounts, visit more, or directly convert. Only by determining the conversion purpose can we formulate targeted promotion strategies .

Material Writing

Different channels have different user profiles and different purposes of use, so the type of delivery channel often determines the type of creative theme.

There is an essential difference between the material writing of information flow advertising and the creativity of bidding. The bidding ideas, as shown in the figure below, are mostly based on the product selling points.

The writing of information flow materials should be in line with user thinking and pursue nativeness, so as to attract clicks without causing user disgust.

Landing Page

On the bidding landing page, we usually simply and crudely put some strong conversion methods such as pop-up windows and deceptive links. Because we clearly know that the traffic attracted by bidding promotion is more accurate. But the information flow is different. When a user is browsing the news or Moments , a topic that attracts me suddenly pops up. When I open it, I see that it is an advertisement and a pop-up window. I am afraid that I will feel cheated and close the webpage and leave.

Crowd classification

It is difficult for information flow advertising to accurately cover a certain group of people, as the attributes of the people it faces are relatively complex. If you don't classify the population properly and then develop different conversion strategies based on different populations, how likely do you think it is to convert everyone with one routine?

How to optimize?

Should information flow and bidding each do their own thing, or can they complement and cooperate with each other? Let’s first look at the five necessary stages that consumers go through when making purchasing decisions.

According to the characteristics of the channel, information flow advertising generally covers users in the stages of generating demand and collecting information, while bidding advertising covers users in the stages of collecting information, comparing options and making purchasing decisions. Based on these situations, we formulate and optimize our information flow delivery strategy from the following aspects.

Set reasonable conversion points

Do a good job in product positioning and target audience analysis, understand your promotion goals, and set reasonable conversion points based on the selected targeting method.

Basic Orientation

Gender, age, region, education, income, devices used, etc.

Interest Targeting

What you have searched, what you have used, and what you have paid attention to.

Behavioral Targeting

Where you have been, what apps you have downloaded, and what you have bought.

For example, if you are making travel products, many people who pay attention to travel information are our potential customers. What we need to do is to use the information flow to stimulate their demand, and then they will actively pay attention or even search.

For example:

I am an office worker and want to travel but there is no opportunity to stimulate my impulse. One day I was bored and scrolling through the news on my phone when a message popped up.

Although your body is in a 2-square-meter space, your soul is yearning for poetry and distant places.

When you open it, you will see an introduction to tourist routes with many beautiful pictures and views. In addition to clicking on such conversion methods if you want to know more about tourist routes, there are also WeChat accounts about scenic spots or travel agencies. Even if I couldn’t make up my mind to sign up at that time, I might follow the travel agency’s official WeChat or search for relevant information.

Material writing is in line with user thinking

The writing of information flow materials cannot be as simple and crude as bidding, but should be considered from the user's perspective. First analyze the product’s selling points, then analyze user needs, and then match the two to write copy that impresses users.

What is the selling point? In short, it is the biggest advantage or highlight of your product, the most systematic and practical one, and your investment and franchise project will generate quick returns. Before you start writing creative ideas, first refine the core selling points according to customer needs, such as low price, convenience, good performance, etc., then target the audience who may be most interested in this selling point, and write the copy based on the needs behind the selling point.

For example:

Free stock trading strategies, just click to get them.

Stock trading is the latest way for the working class to manage their finances .

If you are a person who has never traded stocks but has ideas about financial management, which one would you be interested in? Materials that do not conform to user thinking are like telling your girlfriend to drink more hot water when she has a cold. It is useless to say that.

Optimize your landing page

Let’s popularize the correct information flow landing page optimization process: clarify the target population—determine the conversion channel—guide visitor behavior—set conversion points.

Before designing a page, you need to know which group of people you want to convert and how this group of people is more likely to be converted. Then, you need to build a psychological foundation for users through page content to lower their defensive psychology and guide them. Finally, you need to achieve conversion through reasonable conversion points.

What needs to be noted here is that at least two conversion methods should be left on the page to distinguish the primary and secondary ones.

Potential Population

Only basic targeting methods are used, and creativity is used for screening. The main conversion method is to leave contact information or guide consultation, and the auxiliary conversion method is to guide attention or search.

Target group

Carry out various targeted delivery methods, use highly attractive creative ideas, the main conversion method is to leave contact information or guide consultation, and the auxiliary conversion method is to guide attention or search.

Target Audience

Use Baidu's keyword targeting method, creative attraction, the main conversion method is message form or online consultation, and the auxiliary conversion method is to guide the search for keywords such as brand words or long-tail words .

For example:

I run a chef training organization. If someone searches: Is it good for men to learn to be chefs? This proves that he has the intention to learn to be a chef and is my target group. But he could also be just a confused young man who is not sure that being a chef and opening a restaurant can be his future.

We can use creative information flows such as "Learning to be a Chef/8 Employment Trends in 2017" and "A 90s guy can easily earn over 10,000 yuan a month if he masters this skill" to help us screen out people who are looking for jobs or are interested in the chef industry. Highlight the prospects and benefits of learning to be a chef on the page and strengthen brand promotion, guide him to leave messages for more inquiries, or at the very least guide him to search for brand words or a long-tail word of your own creation, use the method of dominating the screen to give him visual impact and increase the possibility of conversion.

If we compare customer needs to candy. Bidding means understanding the tastes that customers like in advance, and then prescribing the right medicine, which will be effective and quick. But the information flow is like a handful of candies with different flavors, waiting for someone to claim them. In fact, users are also waiting for the candy they are interested in to appear. In fact, you can use information flow to let him know his favorite taste, and then use bidding to help him determine his own taste.

So, have you found your own candy?