Now listen, I realize that this is S-E-O Tips, however, so much of SEO, PPC, Analytics and Social Media run together that it’s important to compile and strategize. Especially when targeting a new audience or launching a new product/service.

Our team recently launched a campaign for a client with the intention of targeting an entirely new audience group. There are, of course, layers and layers of obstacles to overcome in successfully targeting new audience groups, but I don’t think it has to be an ultra expensive endeavor. So without further adieu, I want to show you 4 steps! I can hear you now, “Yeaaaah steps!” Everyone loves steps…right? Anyhow, 4 steps that I took utilizing SEO, PPC and analytics to successfully target a new audience group. My hope is that if you’re new to search marketing (which in my opinion refers to both SEO and PPC), you’ll feel more comfortable strategizing and diving into your own campaign, especially when you see how easy it really is.

1. The first thing I did was research! Without question, the most important element in a successful campaign is research. But this isn’t like your collegiate science lab research. This is basic, fundamental online research. I probably spent two or three hours looking for keywords that our target audience might use when searching for our client’s services, but you can do this in as little as 30 minutes. There countless resources for keyword research, but I’ll share two freebies. Spend 15 minutes researching with each of the following and you’ll be well on your way:

• Google’s Keyword Tool: This allows you to generate data on keyword terms that you suspect your audience will search. Enter as many as you’d like then click search. You’ll notice that Google gives you data on the words you’ve entered, but they also give you data on suggested and/or similar keywords that you may not have thought of otherwise. Let's say it together now, "Thanks Google!"

• Competition Research: Once you’ve created a list of 3-5 keywords using Google’s Keyword Tool you can then turn around and search those keywords in Google to find out who your competitors are. Click through their website, look at the keywords they’re targeting, are they the same as yours? Better? Adjust appropriately but stick with 3-5. I don’t think you can effectively target more than that on one page, so you’d be wasting your time by trying to target 5+ keywords.

2. Now that you have your keywords and you know what the competition is doing, start building your page! I am fortunate to be able to utilize the services of professional web designers and developers, but if you have a CMS that allows you to edit/add pages on your site, you can do this on your own (this is where platforms like Concrete 5 and WordPress come in very handy). The design of our landing page was simple and the content precise. We included our keywords in our Title Tags, Meta Description, Alt Tags and throughout the page (H1s, H2s and body). Simple. Once again, our intention with this particular campaign was to target a new audience group, so our primary CTA was a contact form. Best case scenario, the user comes to the page, likes what they see and submits their info. That gives our client a name a phone number to reach out and connect with. Booya! Success!

If you’re attacking this on your own, keep it simple. Add a new page to your site, create unique content highlighting your best USP’s and add a contact form. Your audience will find you as long as you’ve keyworded your page appropriately. So with that designed and built, we switch our attention to PPC.

3. With our client, we setup a Pay-Per-Click campaign targeting a very specific geographic region. That’s the beauty of PPC! If you know where your audience is, you can run paid ads directly to them! Create an ad specifically for them that will wet their pallet and entice them to click over to your beautiful landing page. Side note, ALWAYS include appropriate CTA’s in your paid ads. Something along the lines of Today Only, Call Now or Find Out More! That coupled with a USP like $100 Off or Buy 1 Get 1 Free! are time-tested paid search marketing musts. Don’t reinvent the wheel. This works. Do it! After you’ve setup your campaign to target your audience geographically, add keywords that they’ll search. Say, for example, you’re attempting to sell mittens for kittens. You’ll undoubtedly add keywords like:

• kitten mittens
• kitten clothing
• kitten apparel

But don’t forget to add NEGATIVE-keywords to avoid unnecessary clicks. Appropriate negative keywords would be:

• kitten food
• kitten supplies
• pet clothing

These keywords bring in the "close but not quite" audience, so it’s best to stick with those that you know are in line with what you’re selling. Make sense? I hope so.

Now that your paid search campaign is ready, there’s only one thing left to do before launch. 

4. Analytics! Please never forget the following - there’s no point in setting up a new campaign unless you’re going to track your results. If you don’t A/B test, you’ll never improve! So install an analytics tool pre-launch and stop trying to give me a heart attack. This is about a 1 out of 10 on the difficulty scale as far as setup goes, so do it. Also, I think you’re better off utilizing Google’s free analytics tool. Unless you’re a fortune 500 selling millions online, there’s no reason to purchase an analytics tool.

Once you’ve installed analytics, create a goal to track success. In our case, we’re sending customers to a unique URL, so we setup a URL Destination goal. GA offers a variety of goal tracking options, so find the one you need and set it up.

Guess what? You’re set! Launch the PPC campaign and let the magic unfold. If you don’t see the magic unfold within two weeks. Review your analytics, review your ppc campaign, review your keyword research and make necessary adjustments. It’s a work in progress. You’ll rarely knock it out of the park on your first at-bat, but a single, followed up with another single, followed up with another single usually does the trick.

Go for it. Let me know how it goes in the comment below. Do you want us to extrapolate any of the points above in future posts? Let me know.

By Andrew Neal Jenkins - December 27, 2011