Chapter 2. Marketing Campaign Foundation

A lot of marketers breeze through their keyword research. You might be compelled to race ahead, too. One step that makes this process much easier, though ‚ and prepares you to write high-performing ad copy ‚ is creating a marketing campaign foundation. You'll be setting benchmarks for measuring success before you launch your first ad listing. This is the cornerstone of your search engine advertising plan.

If you have a business plan, you've probably already outlined your marketing foundation: mission statement, target market, unique selling points, and call to action. If you haven't, take just 15 minutes, or several weeks for a more comprehensive marketing plan, to discuss the following sections with your team. Have your notes from this chapter handy because I'll be referring to your marketing foundation frequently in the upcoming chapters.

To illustrate how to apply the guidelines I'll be proposing to you, I'll reference Red Mountain Spa (www.redmountainspa.com) as an ongoing example, along with case studies from various companies. Red Mountain Spa is a fitness resort located in Utah (and home to one of my most memorable vacations !). My proposed copy for this spa is based on my personal experience with their service and their current web site (see Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1. Red Mountain Spa, an adventure spa, is used as an example in this section. This is their home page.