Google’s Ad Parameter

Google’s new Ad Parameter option is an innovative tool to assist businesses in advertising their services and products in the face of competition frequently so stiff in the online world that it often seems an unremittingly uphill struggle to cut through it and get your stuff identified effectively, let alone sold.

The crowded and indeed almost saturated virtual advertising environment forces companies to be continually on the lookout for cost-effective new methods of targeting their client base, and even when they have already implemented best practice such as the creative use of keywords, trademarks, imperatives to action and everything up to and including dynamic keyword inclusion in their pages, it often still seems that they have scarcely made a dent. There is a sort of rubbish heap of similar messages and other initiatives created by the competition that acts as a barrier to the company’s message getting through, despite all the correct online marketing buttons having been pressed.

Google’s new Ad Parameters tool allows advertisers to insert and update parameters on a dynamic basis into ad creative, of up to two numeric or currency values, which can then be updated on the fly. A company’s database can be hooked up to Google’s API to update the Ad Parameters continually as circumstances change, whilst at the same time retaining the history, and letting customers and prospective clients view information about a product or service as it changes. But the main value of Google Ad Parameters from a marketing point of view is that it enables a marketer’s advertisements to be distinguished from similar ones put out by competitors, with the ultimate goal of effectively driving more traffic to their site.

Although launched in 2009, online advertisers have slowly but surely taken up Ad Parameters, overcoming an initial reluctance to adopt it because of the somewhat tortuous implementation. It is ideal for companies dealing with a relatively large and dynamic catalogue of products, those for example that promote a wide range of discounts, inventories and prices. The travel industry is one that seems tailor-made to take advantage of Ad Products, for example, with its promotion of short breaks and weekend sales, in a fast-changing environment where the consumer has to be kept constantly up-to-date as circumstances change often by the hour. Google searches will be kept fully informed as the information fluctuates. And industries that need to keep customers informed of the amount of an item still in stock would also benefit from the tool.

A common traditional marketing strategy has been to create a sensation of alarm and panic in the customer base, to create a fast response when the message is sent out that a product is available for a limited time only. Ad Parameters is ideal for emergency marketing, and a useful way of incorporating it into a company’s bigger sales picture, as it has been shown very effective in the real world for boosting sales figures.