Isuzu

Isuzu are a leading name in their field, winning at the 2023 Pick-up of the Year awards. Appealing to a range of customers from businesses in construction, agriculture, and consumers who want a larger vehicle for leisure.

Prior to tmwi partnering with Isuzu, Google’s Automated tools had taken control of their PPC account, making decisions on campaigns, keywords, and strategy. And we had a sneaking suspicion that this was driving inefficiencies in performance.

We were challenged to audit and improve PPC activity, regain control of AI automations and create a strategy to improve results. Isuzu were looking to increase search traffic to the site, reduce inefficiencies and ultimately drive leads and test drive bookings.

1. First, we knew we had to understand where Google had been spending money through the automations. The previous managers had used the ‘auto-apply’ function a lot as this is encouraged in the platform, and our team of PPC experts were immediately concerned. This feature not only took the wheel, but raced towards high CPAs, low performance, and questionable Google-generated keywords. All of this was driving inefficiencies and wasting budget, without securing the best results.
2. We turned off irrelevant keywords and carefully audited the account to remove irrelevant and competitor terms. This allowed us to effectively spread the cost in areas that were performing, and support areas that were not given the chance to perform well with automations.
3. Our PPC team used data from various industry keyword research tools to determine volume and intent. When we find a missed opportunity, we put it into a separate ad group or campaign to force Google to optimise it. From our testing plan, we saw click volumes increase on these keywords, showing that Google’s automation was missing hundreds of customers.
4. Our PPC specialists and SEO team conducted thorough research to identify relevant and high-intent keywords related to cars, automotive brands, models, and related terms. This included longer-tail, lower-volume keywords that are high-intent and often missed by Google’s obsession with high volume keywords.
5. We organised PPC campaigns into well-structured ad groups, each focusing on specific car models around their brand terms, features, or services. This allowed us to create highly targeted and relevant ads for each group and test for different audiences.
6. The PPC strategist then worked closely with our integrated content team to create compelling ad copy that highlighted the USPs and key claims. We focused on strong CTAs to encourage a better CTR and drive towards lead generation. We also tested variations of keyword usage in the ad copy to improve relevance and quality score.

After the initial transition period and tmwi activations going live with Isuzu, the new activity from our team saw rapid improvement in performance as automations were tamed and new PPC strategy applied.

After priority fixes, we saw an upward trajectory of users coming to the site and massive increase in Isuzu’s conversions to book a test drive & download brochure.

“The 39% increase in paid search clicks as automations were brought under control was very pleasing. tmwi had quickly increased PPC effectiveness and this provided instant validation on our decision to work with the team. Like many tmwi recommendations around digital, this helped prove that the media budget was in good hands, where honest results and measurement ensures that we are maximising efficiency in the digital space”.

George Wallis, Head of Marketing, Isuzu (UK) Ltd