Strategies

From the get-go, SearchAdNetwork developed an extremely organized pay per click campaign for National Jean Company, creating separate subcampaigns for each brand. This strategy allowed for numerous geo-targeting opportunities, inclusion of brand-specific negatives, unique distribution options, separate budgets and specific delivery options. The painstaking organization methods also permitted SearchAdNetwork to parcel out results for each brand and optimize campaigns accordingly.

From these 100-plus brand-specific campaigns, SearchAdNetwork opted to initially focus on nine of the best-performing, most popular brands. National Jean Company provided promotional codes for 15% off all purchases, which was incorporated into ad copy for each of the nine brands.

Search engine ad copy included discounts with unique promotional codes. Not only did this provide incentive for online shoppers, it allowed SearchAdNetwork to monitor the success of specific versions of ad copy.

SearchAdNetwork made recommendations for site structure modifications to create a better user experience and rank higher on search engine results pages. First, they suggested that National Jean Company remove the scrolling aspect of the navigation bar found on the left side of the entire site, which allowed visitors to either shop by category or shop by brand, and instead simply create a hyperlinked laundry list of categories and brands. To capture more organic traffic, SearchAdNetwork assigned keywords to each page—terms and phrases that both related to the brand and products and received a significant number of actual searches each day. These relevant, high-volume keywords were incorporated into the page titles, content and alternate texts for images. SearchAdNetwork also composed unique meta descriptions for each page using these keywords and call-to-action language.

Communication and media awareness played major roles in the National Jean Company search campaign. SearchAdNetwork utilized Google Alerts and scoured daily headlines to discover connections with National Jean Company’s brands and products. If a high-profile celebrity was seen wearing one of their items, SearchAdNetwork included it in ad copy and recommended that it be highlighted on the website. A successful example of this strategy occurred after an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show on which she mentioned Splendid sweats. SearchAdNetwork boosted bids on Splendid-related keywords following the episode, incorporated a reference to Oprah in both ad copy and meta descriptions and changed the page title to “Splendid Sweats as Seen on Oprah.” SearchAdNetwork also relied on the trend forecasting abilities of the National Jean Company team to predict the season’s top brand and clothing items—keywords were added or removed to account for these predictions, bids were adjusted accordingly and additional ad copy was created.

After Oprah Winfrey named Splendid sweats as one of her “Favorite Things,” SearchAdNetwork
increased keyword bids on this brand and included a reference to Oprah in ad copy.

Another strategy that relied on different variations of ad copy was the use of seasonal and holiday-inspired themes. Naturally, as the weather begins to change so do individuals’ clothing choices. Shorts, skirts and tanks were thus replaced by pants, sweaters and hoodies in ad copy text. Yet as the temperature drops, individuals’ pants sizes often rise due to holiday feasts and sedentary behavior. To reach these searchers, SearchAdNetwork included unique messages, such as the following:

Ad copy reflected messaging displayed on landing pages. The above ad used both a holiday theme and touched on the unique, “flaw-fixing” fit of David Kahn jeans, a description which could also be found on the David Kahn page of the website.

Two additional strategies utilized by SearchAdNetwork were geo- and demo-targeting. Utilizing National Jean Company’s internal tracking data combined with in-house tracking data, SearchAdNetwork first implemented geo-targeting on Google in the eight cities that were found to deliver the greatest amount of traffic. In addition, campaigns were concentrated around the 13 locations where physical National Jean Company stores are found. The searcher’s location was determined by tracking their IP address; if found within the set geographical location parameters, they were shown tailored ads. Ad copy messages either included a city name or some reference to the location.

Geo-targeting through location-specific ad copy.
Cities targeted (Clockwise from top left): Boston, Boston, New York and Los Angeles.

Next, SearchAdNetwork utilized data from Hitwise to set demo-targeting parameters within MSN ad Center (currently, MSN is the only search engine that offers demo-targeting for search campaigns). Hitwise revealed that the majority of National Jean Company’s traffic came from females between the ages of 25 and 34. SearchAdNetwork utilized MSN’s incremental bid option to increase bids 40% for females and 30% for any gender in the 25-34 age group.

Data provided by Hitwise revealed that the majority of National Jean Company’s
traffic generated from females and those between the ages of 25 and 34.

To account for these demographical findings, SearchAdNetwork increased bids on MSN for females and the 25-34 age group. Note:  MSN is currently the only search engine to offer demo-targeting for search.