Grow Big or Go Home w/ CXL Institute | Review
Given my recent COVID-supplied free time, I decided to level up my digital marketing skills instead of spending all my time playing Zelda BOTW (girlfriend convinced me to resume playing), 2K, or APEX. After a bit of research, I found an awesome list on Eric Siu’s Singlegrain blog that contained a link to several online learning sites offering free, reduced cost or scholarship based courses. In the end, I decided on taking a shot at the CXL Institute scholarship because I have used so many of their guides in the past, and couldn’t miss the chance to take a few of their minidegree programs for free. I didn’t really think I would actually get the scholarship, but less than one week after applying, I received the acceptance email! Needless to say, I’m psyched.
Over the next 12 weeks, I’ll be posting once per week with an overview of what I learned along with honest reviews. These posts are technically a requirement to remain eligible for the scholarship, but I will also use them as an opportunity to teach, discuss, and share everything I learn. To provide some structure for my weekly posts, I’ll break each week down in the following format:
Preview — I’ll write this before I take the course. I’ll express my expectations and impression of the material based on available blog posts, webinars, and landing page descriptions.
Notes — I’ll write these thoughts during and immediately after I take the courses. This section will contain an overview of the course along with some notes on interesting takeaways.
TL;DR Review — TL;DR version of my honest thoughts on the course.
Without further delay, let’s get into week 1!
Week 1 — Audience Insights for PPC
I decided to start with the Customer Acquisition minidegree because it focuses on channels that drive growth — paid acquisition and SEO. The program consists of 10 courses, and takes approximately 38 hours to complete. During week 1, I was able to complete the “Google Ads” course and ⅓ of the “Maximizing Audiences for PPC Campaigns” course.
Preview
Maximizing Audiences for PPC Campaigns
This! Audiences really excite me because they involve a dope combination of data analysis, technical tracking setup, and creative strategy for content. I enjoy exploring and targeting audiences with tailored messages because it always helps me understand the customer better, makes their experience a whole lot more pleasant, and almost always makes my job much easier by increasing conversion rates.
Based on the landing page info and what I learned during the webinar, I’m in for a treat. I have been doing GA/FB research, GA RLSA creation & segmentation, and tracking implementation for a few years now, so I am really looking forward to seeing how Joe and Michelle explain the entire process. I’m sure I’m going to learn lots, but I also need help to express my thoughts on audience optimization as I build a team. I can take what I learn to possibly create an SOP for future teams instead of trying to verbally explain or hoping associates come in with the urge to take initiative to find audiences.
The Google Ads landing page makes mention of “recipes” and “prioritization frameworks”, so this course should also be packed full of insights. I know that every account is different and that all strategies come with costs & benefits, but I look forward to getting Johnathan Dane's thoughts on the strategic processes and optimization routines that have helped him build 2 agencies and PPC software akin to Wordstream!
Notes
The “Maximizing Audiences for PPC” lessons were definitely my favorite this week. The course is taught by two passionate practitioners and thought leaders from the PPC industry, Michelle Morgan and Joe Martinez. Right out of the gate, you get a very clear course roadmap that helps you conceptualize the process of audience optimization. (Image featured below)
I immediately received value from this journey map because, as I state in the “Preview” section below, I have been thinking about how to teach audience research and implementation processes to new Digital Marketing Associates at Vertagear. This journey map gave me real inspiration, if not somewhat of a template! Of course, that was just beginning. The actual content of the lessons was packed full of awesome info on how to find, segment, track and utilize audiences.
Lesson 1 jumped right in to offer practical walkthroughs of how Joe and Michelle use GA, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest to conduct audience research. Although they later expand on the RLSA & segmentation techniques introduced here, I was still able to come away from lesson 1 with actionable steps anyone can implement.
Google Analytics
- Referral Report
Use the referrals report to filter for top-performing websites that can be used to create a custom affinity audience in Google Ads. Not all URL’s will have GDN inventory, but those that do should perform well since past converting customers consumed content from that group of referring websites.
- In-Market Segments Report
Sometimes you get lucky and happen to be in an industry which closely matches the preset in-market segments offered by Google. For example, if you have a client that’s promoting a fitness app, or trying to increase gym members, you will be fortunate to find that Google allows you to target audiences which have shown interest in Exercise Equipment, Fitness Classes & Personal Training Services, Fitness Products & Services, and Gyms & Athletic Clubs. Even if the audiences aren’t an exact or ideal match, it’s still useful to compile a list of audiences you find after exploring In-Market segments for testing purposes.
- Site Search Report
The site search report can be used to find the specific terms customers use when searching for your product or service. You can later create an audience in GA of those users who searched using that unique term for retargeting purposes.
- Cross Targeting LinkedIn Campaigns in Google Ads
Since you can register custom campaign names in GA using UTM parameters, you’re able to effectively use LinkedIn campaigns to create segmented company retargeting lists.
- Extensive Job-Related Targeting Options
The ability to segment campaign reports by job-related info like job title or company will allow for indispensable B2B audience insights for campaign optimization.
Lesson 2 moved beyond exploration and dug deeper into finding meaningful segmentations for retargeting lists. To do this, they walk through the different types of retargeting lists in Google Ads, discuss the importance of aligning audience cookie length with appropriate messaging, explore B2B & D2C audiences based on funnel stages, and offer prompts to use when thinking about audience exclusion and expansion. I categorized the lesson in my notes in the following way:
- Audience Time Lag and Messaging
- On-Site Segments
- Off-Site Social Segments
- Prompts for Retargeting & Exclusion Lists
- Audience Expansion
I just finished the lesson 2 video, so I’ll be filling in the details and offering my thoughts on the outline above in next week’s post.
TL;DR Review
Joe and Michelle are passionate about researching, discovering, and testing audiences throughout the PPC funnel. It’s clear that they have been through the audience optimization journey with many client accounts, and I appreciated the clear and example-based way in which they are teaching the course. So far, I would definitely recommend this course to anyone seeking to optimize their Google Ads, Bing, or Youtube campaigns using more than just keywords.
