Google Ads Targeting Tips for the School Reopening Season1

Google offers optimized targeting options for various advertisers to help them reach out to customers that were previously beyond their reach, i.e., customers that didn’t belong to their target audience. With Google ads, advertisers can optimize their ads based on consumer demographics, occasions, seasons, and keywords with the intent to boost conversions. Google had announced new targeting features that provide several benefits to advertisers1:

• Advertisers can simplify their customer targeting and optimization.

• They can work over multiple networks and audience types.

• They can obtain extra opportunities to expand their reach.

How can retailers leverage Google ads during the School reopening season? Here’s how. According to Google, more than 50% of North American back-to-school customers reported that they’d check for an online in-store inventory before going to a physical store. Since COVID-19 vaccine registration is open for everyone above the age of twelve, more children are likely to return to school during the fall.

What does that mean for retailers? It means that they have an excellent chance of attracting back-to-school shopping customers. One of the best approaches to reap the maximum returns from this season is optimizing offline and online stores for back-to-school shoppers.

Do check out Google’s list of local ads solutions; they’ll help you understand the current growth opportunities. Businesses that don’t curate a local inventory feed can leverage Pointy from Google. It is a hardware device from Google that connects to a barcode scanner to extract its title, image, and description to attach it to Surfaces across Google. Let us see some critical Google Ads targeting tips that can help you gain the best results during the school reopening season.

1. Bring Local Inventory Over The Internet.

With the help of Local inventory ads, retailers can earn more using their brick-and-mortar stores’ local inventory ads. These local inventory ads can also allow you to showcase products before audiences before your customer decides to visit your offline store. You can use these ads to promote quick curbside pickup or pick up later feature. You also get the provision to implement Local promotion strategies. Under local promotion tactics, merchants can easily participate in local inventory ads and promotions. You can utilize these ads for specific store offers. Did you know around 60% of the back-to-school customers plan to purchase several goods from small businesses this year? There are local campaigns that can optimize your store specifically for local actions and local store visits. You can take advantage of these ads by promoting your location on Google Maps, Search, Google Display Network, etc.

2. Make Products Look Available With Local Inventory Ads

According to a study published by Business Insider, 70% of consumers use some medium of “buy online” or “Pick up in-store” feature. It makes services like “local availability” an influential factor behind determining the purchase decision of consumers. You can use LIA or local inventory ads by Google Shopping ads that enable you to showcase local products under local product searches. It is an effective method for retailers to get more in-store traffic. Inventory listings like these are perfect for capturing the attention of customers. You can offer them ready-to-ship products from your local store to gain better returns. But how do these local inventory ads look like? They look like an online banner which can be seen under the product listings section for a given search query. They usually appear at the top of the search results. A prospect can quickly skim through the local businesses and their products. Once a customer clicks on the local inventory ad, they are directed to the Google storefront page. You can:

• Promote your in-store inventory

  Local inventory ads are linked to your local inventory feed, which allows you to promote your in-store inventory before local purchasers.

• Bring your local shop over the internet.

  Your local storefront can act as your local digital storefront, providing relevant details to the customers and boosting your local store’s online awareness.

• Measure your performance

  These stores allow you to monitor the performance of your digital ads, traffic, and in-store sales.

• Avail double exposure

  You can run Google Local Inventory Ads and regular Product Listing Ads, which can boost your web presence in search results.

3. Promote Your Local Store Location And Pickup Options.

Local campaigns are specifically meant for driving consumers to your physical stores or different business locations. They act like Google’s automated campaign ads that serve ads to multiple properties. These campaigns also appear on search results, Google Maps, Google Display Network, and YouTube. You must also check out Local business service attributes, which provide the feature of curbside pickup to your consumers. These ads can encourage them to take action and can influence their buying decisions.

• Pickup later feature

  Google offers a curbside pickup feature for Local Inventory Ads under Google Shopping ads. Customers can also see a “pickup today” option for Google Shopping ads showcasing in-store inventory. With the “pickup later” feature, customers can select their desired day for pickup, for instance, “pickup by Thursday.” With this feature, Google also offers the promotion of products that might be unavailable in the store but can be provided for pickup within the next few days. How does that work for retailers? Even when a particular item is not in stock, the store can make it available within the next few days.In this way, retailers can meet the momentary demand of their consumers and keep them engaged. It reduces potential losses and enables retailers to foster customer relationships. Retailers can manage this function with the help of Google Merchant Center. It is an excellent business avenue for retailers during the festive or holiday season.

4. Sales Optimisation For Your Store

Retailers can utilize smart Bidding for store sales to optimize their bids for higher physical store visits. Google can monitor those store visits by using android locations, modeling, and consumer panels. Smart Bidding is primarily meant for large restaurant chains or retailers. Since Google plans to extend its in-store/restaurant transactions with Smart Bidding, you can expect more store sales.

• It will automatically regulate your actual sales for in-store traffic. However, there are eligibility criteria for these ads. It requires advertisers to have a specific data threshold and an amount of in-store transaction volume. Google also enables advertisers to upload privacy-safe transaction data and first-party data; it helps google make ongoing optimizations. However, there are other ways to deliver sales data to Google. The Google Analytics report provides the count of the total number of conversions influenced by your ads.