BEGINNING OF COOPERATION
Leo Express is a private multimodal transport group that started its operations in 2012 with new trains on backbone lines in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and since 2018 also in Poland. It also operates bus services to Krakow, Lviv, Warsaw, Vienna, Salzburg, Dresden and Mukachevo, following the train timetables. They also offer a new service called “Pick-up and drop-off from address”, which allows customers to travel from the airport or train station directly home to a specific address.
We started cooperation in October 2018 (cooperation is still ongoing).
Prior to the start of the cooperation, Leo Express approached us as part of a tender for the complete management of performance PPC campaigns (Google Ads) for 6 European countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Germany, Austria, Ukraine).
It was already a well-established project. We took over the campaigns from the previous agency. The expectation of the cooperation was to complement, redesign and reshape the existing campaigns for better effectiveness of the investment in this marketing channel. Furthermore, our task was to deploy new campaigns and meaningfully connect this channel to the overall marketing mix; also to gradually deploy new solutions and strategies after optimizing the existing situation.
RESULT OF ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS AFTER 6 MONTHS
- Increase in total campaign revenue by +89.28%
Increase in total non-brand campaign revenue by +133.49%
Decrease in total campaign ROI (Marketing Cost to Revenue Ratio) by -28.32%
Decrease in the total ROI of non-brand campaigns (Marketing Costs vs. Sales) by -38.06%
Increase in orders from campaigns by +59.4%
* i.e. “non-brand” campaigns = campaigns that do not target the company’s brand, but specific expressions aimed at potential new customers.
*e.g. to the charts: The first (top) chart shows a comparison of March 2018 and 2019 revenue for non-branded Google Ads campaigns. The second chart compares the same period across all campaigns.
Based on a detailed initial audit of the ad account and proper strategy setup along with optimization, we were able to improve the spend on performance campaigns fairly quickly (28% overall reduction and 38% reduction for non-branded campaigns), along with an increase in revenue within the Google ads ad account.
HOW WE PROCEEDED
During the first few sessions we listened to the client’s requirements and expectations. We found out about how the project works, the current situation and got to know the company’s services and philosophy in detail.
We continued with a complete audit of the existing campaigns (overall Google ads account). We further consulted the output of the audit along with recommended changes, options and ideas. Once we started working together, we began implementing these suggestions.
In the first months of cooperation, we progressed primarily from activities that were able to bring the client the fastest results, to changes that were more complex and time-consuming.
HOW COMMUNICATION AND REPORTING TAKES PLACE
In our opinion, proper communication is an essential aspect of a well-functioning cooperation.
We regularly send a large summary report with comments at the end of each month. During the cooperation and also in the monthly report we meet in person, where we also plan further activities together and get mutual suggestions and ideas.
We try to be in the position of a partner in the communication, better said as an external part of the company representing partly the marketing department rather than as a classic service provider. We believe that one of the great added values of working with a good marketing team is just a different perspective, the opportunity for feedback and a new wind in the sails.
A sample (fictitious) example of the summary report we produce at the end of each month for all our clients
Sample of (sample) interactive “live” report that we prepare for our clients (especially e-shops) in GDS.
CONCLUSION
Currently, we are still actively working on the project, preparing and gradually implementing a longer-term plan including consolidating our market position within the performance campaigns in Google Ads. We are also planning to extend our cooperation to SEO activities and linkbuilding.
Our approach to performance campaigns always revolves around going into action as quickly as possible, and along with that, delivering the first results to the client as quickly and efficiently as possible.
