Online advertising for MacDonald & Son

Trustpilot’s No. 1 Scottish Butcher required Google Ads expertise to increase e-commerce sales of their key products.

Background

MacDonald & Son have an established and popular brand, as well as a proven and effective e-commerce website that sells and delivers thousands of meat-based items across Scotland each month. However, they needed to increase sales from a challenging segment of their target audience – people based outside Scotland who will pay a premium compared to their local butcher’s prices for high-quality Scottish meat (and the occasional Scottish treat like shortbread and tablet).

Goals

• Perform keyword research to identify the most cost-effective keywords that resonate with the target audience and establish the required daily budget
• Connect the Google Ads account with the website and ensure accurate tracking of product sales
• Create and run a Google Ads campaign to direct engaged visitors from the target audience to the website with the ultimate aim of increasing sales
• Manage and refine campaign performance over time
• Provide detailed and regular updates on performance

Process

Research

The first step in the process was to perform research that established what keywords would drive the most high-quality traffic to the website and what the ideal daily budget would be for those keywords. Website and social media advertising analytics were also reviewed.

Account and campaign set-up

The initial campaign was be created based on the research and list of keywords. The campaign was tuned to the most appropriate geographical regions, time of day, and bidding strategy. Connections with Google Analytics, the website, and other tools were set up at this stage too.

The campaign was structured into multiple Ad Groups, one for each product type. This allowed close control of the daily budget, keywords, ad creative, ad features, and reporting for each product type.

Advert copy and imagery

Headlines, descriptions, links, imagery, and other campaign assets were created based on the MacDonald & Son brand, research, and campaign goals. These are optimised throughout the life of the campaign.

Campaign launch

The campaign launched in October 2023 for an initial three months to gather valuable information about the keywords, headings, call-to-actions, and imagery that resonate with the audience. The first three months proved successful, and the campaign is now running on an ongoing basis.

Ongoing management and reporting

A cost-effective campaign requires ongoing, active management to compete with other businesses bidding on the same keywords and trying to attract the same customers. This work involves regular adjustments and improvements to adverts, target keywords, bidding strategies, and budget, all helping to ensure the campaign remains successful and profitable in the long term.

A monthly, detailed report is provided each month to communicate the outcome of the campaign for the past month, providing detail on keyword performance, conversions, website visitors, geographic and demographic data, and product sales.

Results

✓ Average monthly ROI of 282%
✓ 10-15% of all monthly sales
✓ 13-14% CTR for Scottish Meat Pack advert
✓ 100+ new customers each month
✓ Over 30K monthly impressions
✓ 30%+ cart-to-sale conversation rate

Enquire about digital advertising

Let’s talk about how Google Ads or social media advertising can boost traffic, leads, and sales for your business.