How to Start with Performance Max Campaigns

Navigating the competitive world of B2B marketing requires constant adaptation and leveraging cutting-edge tools. Google Performance Max, a new ad campaign solution, has emerged as a game-changer for businesses looking to optimize their marketing efforts.

So in this article, we’ll dissect Performance Max, and uncover the secret sauce that enables it to extend your reach and fine-tune your campaigns across Google’s expansive ad network. 

Prepare to dive deep into the inner workings of this dynamic platform as we guide you through crafting Performance Max campaigns that will supercharge your ROI and drive your brand to new heights.

What Are Performance Max Campaigns?

Performance Max Campaigns was initially released in November 2021, after strong results in beta testing.

According to the Google Ads Help Center, “Performance Max is a new goal-based campaign type that allows performance advertisers to access all of their Google Ads inventory from a single campaign.

“It’s designed to complement your keyword-based Search campaigns to help you find more converting customers across all of Google’s channels like YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.”

Put simply, Google’s Performance Max campaigns are the next generation of smart shopping and local ad campaigns. Performance Max allows users to promote and drive business across all Google ads inventory.

As a result of the latest changes, ads now show up for more customers and drive more conversions. 

In fact, we’ve reported that advertisers who take advantage of Performance Max campaigns see an average increase of 13% total percentage of incremental conversions at a similar cost per action.

Whether you’re focused on online sales, generating leads, or growing offline sales, Performance Max can help you achieve your goals. New automation features mean ‌these results come with a less direct effort by the campaign manager. 

How Do These New Ads Work?

Google Performance Max consolidates various ad formats and placements across Google’s vast advertising ecosystem. Using machine learning algorithms, it dynamically optimizes your ad campaigns for the best possible performance.

Here’s a closer look at how Performance Max ads work:

1. All-in-one ad formats: Performance Max puts your ads on Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Discover, all within a single campaign. This means your ads get seen by more people in more places, boosting your overall exposure.
2. Smart spending: Performance Max uses Google’s Smart Bidding to adjust your bids automatically and in real-time. It ensures you get the most bang for your buck by considering user behavior, devices used, and the time of day.
3. Adaptable ads: Instead of making separate ads for each format, Performance Max uses flexible ads that change to fit the format and placement they appear in. You supply the headlines, descriptions, images, and logos, and Google’s smart tech puts together the most appealing and relevant ads for each situation.
4. Pinpoint audience targeting: Performance Max taps into Google’s powerful audience targeting options, such as custom intent, in-market, affinity, and remarketing audiences. This ensures your ads reach the right people when they’re most likely to be interested.
5. Helpful insights: As your Performance Max campaigns run, the platform gives you useful info about your ad performance, conversions, and how your audience behaves. This helps you tweak your marketing strategy, spot new opportunities, and plan better campaigns in the future.

In short, Google Performance Max ads combine multiple ad formats, use smart technology to optimize bids and ads, and target the right audience. This all-around approach helps businesses get more out of their ads, making campaign management easier and delivering better results.

A Few Benefits of Using PMax

Increasing Conversions and Value: First, advertisers have the option to increase conversions and value.  Google’s unique automation process optimizes budgets and bids across channels to help you capture new conversion opportunities in real-time.

Finding New Customers: With Performance Max, you can now unlock new audience segments by using Google’s real-time understanding of user intent, behavior, and context. This data helps your ads appear in the right moments with more relevant copy and creative elements.

Gain Richer Insights: Performance Max campaigns are part of a Google advertiser’s Insights page. Now, these insights help you understand how automation is working and how you can improve both new and existing campaigns.

By using the ‘Combinations’ report, you can also see how your top-performing assets are used to combine creatives. This data is extremely helpful as you analyze performance to find what’s working and what’s not. As always, richer insights contribute to better optimization, cost analysis, and future performance.

Integrates with Automations: Performance Max lets you steer automation by providing high-quality creative assets and sharing your expertise about which audiences are more likely to convert.

Marketers are in more control and have access to brand-new ad inventory. Performance Max campaigns allow retailers, mobile marketers, and local marketers to use new formats that are not currently available with Smart Shopping and mobile campaigns. This expansion is designed to provide an increased number of options that drive results.

Performance Max also includes channels like YouTube, Search, and Discover. Expanded access to these platforms and channels helps businesses increase sales with viewers who may not have otherwise seen new ad campaigns.

Conversion Goals to Choose From

When setting up your Performance Max campaign, it’s crucial to pick the conversion goals that matter for your B2B marketing strategy. Think of these goals as your guiding stars, helping you focus on what truly matters.

Let’s take a casual look at some common conversion goals you can choose from:

1. Form submissions: If getting new leads is your thing, keeping an eye on form submissions is the way to go. Be it a newsletter sign-up, a demo request, or a simple contact form, you’ll want to know how many folks are reaching out through these channels.
2. eBook or whitepaper downloads: Who doesn’t like valuable content? Offering goodies like eBooks or whitepapers can lure prospects to your brand. Count the number of downloads to see if your content is hitting the sweet spot with your audience.
3. Webinar or event registrations: Hosting webinars or events is an awesome way to show off your expertise and mingle with potential customers. Tracking registrations lets you gauge how excited people are about your events and whether they’re bringing in new leads.
4. Free trial sign-ups: If your B2B product or service comes with a free trial, keeping track of sign-ups can help you figure out how tempting your offer is to potential customers. Plus, it’s handy for getting an early peek at potential revenue.
5. Completed purchases: Although it’s not the norm for B2B marketing, some campaigns might focus on driving sales right away. Keep tabs on completed purchases to see how well your campaign’s raking in the cash and what your return on investment (ROI) looks like.
6. Phone calls or scheduled appointments: For some B2B companies, having a chat with prospects over the phone or through scheduled appointments is paramount. Keeping an eye on these interactions can give you a better idea of the lead quality your campaigns are generating.

At the end of the day, the conversion goals you pick should match your big-picture marketing objectives and be crystal clear from the get-go. By choosing the right goals, you’ll be all set to fine-tune your Performance Max campaigns and impact your B2B marketing efforts.

How to Set Up Performance Max Campaigns

Next, we’ll walk you through the process of creating successful PMax campaigns, ensuring you have a solid foundation from which to build and optimize your advertising strategy.

1. Choose the Right Campaign Type

When creating a new campaign in Google Ads, select “Performance Max” as your campaign type. This sets your campaign to use PMax, encompassing discovery ads, search ads, shopping, and display ad inventory.

2. Use First-Party Data for Audience Signals

The success of your PMax campaigns depends on the quality of your audience signals.

Use first-party data such as CRM information, email subscriber lists, and YouTube viewer lists to create custom audiences tailored to your B2B marketing objectives. If first-party data is limited, consider using third-party data as an alternative.

3. Define Your Marketing Objectives

Clearly outline your marketing goals for your PMax campaigns.

For B2B marketers, this may include lead generation, increasing brand awareness, or driving website traffic. When you define your objectives upfront, you can ensure your campaigns are optimized to meet them effectively.

4. Set a Realistic Daily Budget

Allocate a sufficient daily budget for your PMax campaigns to generate meaningful results. 

While a minimum of $50 per day is required, we recommend a range of $75-$100 per day for best performance. This initial investment lets you quickly assess the effectiveness of your campaigns and make necessary adjustments.

5. Configure Your Bid Strategy

PMax campaigns utilize automated bidding strategies, taking the guesswork out of setting bids for individual ad placements. Choose a bidding strategy that aligns with your marketing objectives, such as target return on ad spend (ROAS) or target cost per acquisition (CPA).

6. Craft Compelling Ad Creative

High-quality ad creative is essential for capturing the attention of your target audience.

Create engaging ad copy and eye-catching visuals tailored to your B2B marketing objectives. Include clear calls-to-action (CTAs) to encourage prospects to take the desired action, such as signing up for a demo or downloading a whitepaper.

7. Monitor and Refine Your Targeting

Keep a close eye on your audience targeting, and make adjustments based on campaign performance as needed. Ensure you’re reaching the right audience segments by continually refining your targeting parameters and leveraging insights from your campaign data.

How Long Should You Run PMax Campaigns?

Deciding how long to run your Performance Max (PMax) campaigns can feel like guesswork, but it’s a science. Let’s talk about the ideal timeframe for running your PMax campaigns in a way that’s easy to understand:

1. Start with a solid testing period: When you first launch your PMax campaign, give it some time to spread its wings and fly. A testing period of about 90 days is a good rule of thumb, allowing the campaign to gather enough data and learn from it.
2. Keep an eye on performance: Watch your campaign’s performance like a hawk during the testing period. If it’s doing great and meeting your goals, fantastic! Keep it going. If not, don’t be afraid to pause or adjust the campaign to improve its results.
3. Consider your product or service: The ideal duration for your PMax campaign also depends on what you’re offering. If you have a high-ticket item, you might need to invest more time and money to see those sweet conversions roll in. On the flip side, if your product is more budget-friendly, you could see results even quicker.
4. Stay flexible and ready to adapt: Running PMax campaigns isn’t a one-size-fits-all game. Keep an open mind and be prepared to make changes as needed. This might mean tweaking your budget, targeting, or creative elements to get the best results possible.

In a nutshell, there’s no magical “one-size-fits-all” duration for PMax campaigns.

Focus on a solid testing period, monitor your campaign’s performance, and be ready to make adjustments as needed. Keep your campaign in tune, and you’ll be fine.

PMax for Ecommerce

If you’re running an ecommerce business, Performance Max campaigns can be a game-changer for your digital marketing strategy.

Before we dive into how PMax can help boost your online store’s performance, take a quick look at the key points we covered in our webinar.

1. PMax campaigns work well for both lead generation and ecommerce businesses, so they’re a perfect fit for your online store.
2. PMax campaigns cover a wide range of ad types, including shopping ads, which are particularly important for ecommerce.
3. Having a product feed is essential for the shopping aspect of PMax campaigns to be effective.

Now, let’s explore how you can make the most of PMax campaigns for your ecommerce business:

1. Optimize your product feed: A well-structured and accurate product feed is the backbone of your shopping ads. Take the time to optimize your feed with high-quality images, detailed product descriptions, and accurate pricing information to ensure your ads stand out from the competition.
2. Use first-party data: Leverage your customer data, such as past purchase history and email subscriber lists, to create custom audiences for your PMax campaigns. This targeted approach can help you reach potential customers more effectively and drive higher conversion rates.
3. Set a realistic budget: Your daily budget plays a crucial role in determining the success of your PMax campaigns. While we recommend $75-$100 per day, you may need to adjust your budget depending on your product prices and overall marketing objectives.
4. Monitor and optimize performance: Keep a close eye on your PMax campaign performance and be ready to make adjustments as needed. This may involve refining your targeting, tweaking your ad creative, or adjusting your bids to improve your return on ad spend (ROAS).
5. Emphasize new customer acquisition: PMax campaigns are particularly efficient at driving intent-based acquisition through search campaigns. Focus on attracting new customers to your online store by adjusting campaign settings and ensuring a seamless customer experience.

For ecommerce businesses looking to improve conversion rates and acquire new customers, PMax campaigns can prove invaluable. The key to unlocking the full potential of PMax for your online store is to optimize your product feed, leverage first-party data, and closely monitor campaign performance.

PMax Campaigns for Lead Generation

Performance Max campaigns can be a real game-changer for generating leads for your business. Let’s explore some fresh tips on how to make the most of PMax campaigns for lead generation:

1. Understand your lead value: Before you jump into PMax campaigns, make sure you know what each lead is worth to your business. This will help you set realistic goals for your campaigns and allocate the right budget to achieve those goals.
2. Create engaging content: Capture the attention of potential leads by crafting compelling ad copy and visuals. The quality of your content can make all the difference in whether someone clicks on your ad or scrolls right past it. So, get creative and make your message count!
3. Optimize landing pages: Your ads are only part of the equation. Make sure your landing pages are designed to convert leads by being informative, visually appealing, and easy to navigate. A great user experience can be the deciding factor in whether a visitor becomes a lead.
4. Experiment with targeting: Don’t be afraid to play around with different audience targeting options. Try mixing demographic, interest, and behavioral targeting to reach a diverse range of potential leads. This way, you can learn what works best for your business and refine your campaigns accordingly.
5. Use multiple ad types: PMax campaigns cover a wide range of ad types, including search ads, display ads, and Discovery ads. By using a mix of these ad types, you can reach potential leads at various stages of the buyer’s journey and improve your chances of driving conversions.
6. Focus on attracting new leads: PMax campaigns are especially good at driving intent-based acquisition through search campaigns. Make sure you’re targeting new potential customers instead of remarketing to existing ones, and keep your sales funnel in mind to prevent any leaks.

Performance Max campaigns can supercharge your lead generation efforts by offering a dynamic and adaptable approach to targeting potential customers. By embracing your unique lead value, crafting captivating content, and continually experimenting with targeting options, you’ll unlock the true power of PMax.

Hidden Gems of Performance Max Campaigns

Performance Max (PMax) campaigns offer a treasure trove of features businesses can use to grow. But let’s dig a little deeper and uncover some of the lesser-known (yet valuable) aspects of PMax campaigns that can give your marketing efforts that extra edge:

The Insights Page

PMax campaigns have an often-overlooked feature called the Insights Page.

This page helps you understand your campaign’s performance on a granular level. Instead of just looking at surface-level metrics, you can now dive into what’s really driving your results, giving you the insight needed to make more informed decisions.

Listing Group Insights

When it comes to shopping ads, the Listing Group feature in PMax is a game-changer.

This allows you to see how your ads are performing based on listing group performance, compared to your total campaign. With this information, you can pinpoint the areas that need improvement and focus your optimization efforts where they’ll have the most significant impact.

New Customer Targeting Settings

PMax campaigns give you the option to adjust your target return on ad spend (ROAS) goals.

Increasing or decreasing your ROAS targets will let you show your ads more places, increasing your chances of attracting new customers. The secret here is finding the sweet spot where you’re getting the most exposure without sacrificing profitability.

Comprehensive Ad Coverage

Performance Max (PMax) campaigns cover a wide variety of ad types, including search ads, display ads, Discovery ads, and shopping ads. The more platforms you use, the better your chance of converting customers.

Simplified Campaign Management

With PMax, you can manage all your ads under one umbrella, making it easier to monitor and optimize your campaigns. You’ll save time and effort with this streamlined approach, and who doesn’t love that?

Machine Learning Magic

PMax campaigns harness the power of Google’s machine learning to automatically optimize your ads. This means your campaigns will continually improve over time, helping you achieve better results without constant manual adjustments.

Data-Driven Targeting

PMax campaigns allow you to utilize first-party data, such as customer purchase history and email subscriber lists, to create custom audiences. With this targeted approach, you’ll reach the right people at the right time, improving your campaign’s effectiveness.

Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve rounded up a few of the top questions that Ignite Visibility clients may want to know before applying Performance Max campaigns.

1. Is this solution right for me?

If you’re an experienced Google advertiser looking to optimize your campaigns across all platforms, then yes. The new features can help you achieve better visibility and conversion. 

Performance Max campaigns may not be the best fit if you are only activating campaigns on a single platform or if you don’t require any automations.

2. Should I stop running my other campaigns?

No, we do not recommend stopping all other campaigns for Performance Max.

This is because your core campaigns are focused and built from keyword research through Search. Performance Max does not necessarily make use of keywords to generate results.

As you get started, it’s a good idea to run Performance Max alongside other campaign types and have a test or comparison. This way, you can adjust your campaigns over time to the type that are most efficient for your business.  

3. What features is Google using to run Performance Max?

In their public Help Center, Google states that Performance Max campaigns use Machine Learning tools. These tools optimize bids and ad placements that can bring better results in terms of customer acquisition and conversion.

4. How are PMax campaigns different from traditional Google Ads campaigns?

Performance Max campaigns bring a fresh, all-inclusive approach to advertising across the Google Ads universe.

They mix various ad types like search, display, Discovery, and shopping ads, so you can reach potential customers on tons of different platforms. Plus, PMax campaigns use Google’s machine learning to automatically fine-tune your ads, helping you score better results without constantly tweaking them manually.

5. Can I run Performance Max campaigns alongside my existing Google Ads campaigns?

Yes! In fact, running PMax campaigns together with your existing search campaigns can often boost your overall performance.

By combining PMax’s strengths with your other campaigns, you create a well-rounded marketing strategy that reaches potential customers at different stages of their buying journey.

6. What are some insider tips for creating killer PMax campaigns?

To create successful PMax campaigns, focus on using first-party data for audience targeting, kick off with a daily budget of at least $75-$100 to see results faster, and give the campaign enough time to work its machine learning magic.

Don’t forget to keep an eye on your campaigns and tweak them as needed to improve performance.

7. How long should I run my PMax campaign to see some action?

The perfect duration for a PMax campaign can vary depending on your business and goals. 

However, a general rule of thumb is to test a campaign for at least 90 days, unless it’s seriously underperforming. This timeframe lets the machine learning algorithms optimize your campaign and gives you enough data to evaluate its effectiveness.

8. How can I keep tabs on the performance of my PMax campaigns?

Performance Max campaigns offer some cool features that let you dig deeper into your ad performance, like the Inside tab and Listing Group performance.

These tools help you get a better grasp on how your ads are doing and pinpoint areas for improvement. And remember: it’s crucial to monitor your campaigns regularly and make adjustments as needed to get the most out of your PMax campaigns.

Takeaways and Reminders

If you’re interested in starting Performance Max campaigns for your business, be sure to reach out to Ignite Visibility today. 

As always, we’re committed to staying on top of new marketing and advertising trends so you can have access to the latest features that platforms provide. We’ll help you optimize cost to get the most return on your investment. Ready to run your best Google campaigns? Let’s chat!