Google has added a new way to let you introduce your products and brands to Google shoppers. They are called Showcase shopping ads. Google defines them as:
“Shopping ads [that] let you group together related products and present them together to introduce your brand or business.”
Showcase ads will not replace your PLA ads but will give you a new way to engage shoppers. You can group products together along with a branding banner so you can get improved brand awareness.
They give you an opportunity to educate consumers when they are using non-branded keywords about your brand as it relates to their search. In other words, it’s a way to get a consumer browsing Google to learn about your brand while tire kicking, for people who are higher up in the search funnel and are still not quite sure what they want.
You can find Google Showcase ads right now in your ad words account by going to shopping ads and setting up a new campaign, go through the initial steps and you will see the shopping campaign type. Simply choose the Showcase ads option and fill out the form.
Be prepared to have a banner image ready and an idea of which particular products from you advertising feed you want to advertise. You’ll need to be specific, this is not a one campaign fits all your products approach especially if you carry many different product categories.
Images need to be 1080 × 566 and no more than 10 MB and also in .jpg or .png format. Don’t use an image that contains promotional text, watermarks, borders, collages, or references to competitor products.
Google recommends when choosing a lifestyle image:
“Choose a header image that represents all of the products you target with your ad. Since it may be the first thing users see it will influence click through rate. If you don’t have a header image for a category of product select the setting to show a product image in the card. Then use a more generic brand header image for the expanded ad.”
We at BrandNexity recommend starting slowly and testing out a few ads. You don’t get charged for showing these ads unless the user opens your ad and views for 10 seconds or they place a click.
If you become the early adopter amongst your competition, you’re sure to sneak in a few extra sales.
If you want to read more on how to do it, visit the official Google support page on creating Showcase Ads