Top 7 Salesforce & Google Ads Best Practices

In this post, we'll explore seven key practices that will help you get the most out of the combination of Salesforce and Google Ads for your marketing and sales strategies.

These practices include:

System integration.
Set up attribution.
Audience segmentation.
Content customization.
Automation of bid management.
Continuous monitoring and optimization.
Training and collaboration between teams.

Salesforce and Google Ads profitability

By following these practices, we can significantly improve the performance of our advertising campaigns in Google Ads and generate a greater return on investment in your marketing and sales efforts. Let's get started!

System Integration

Make sure Salesforce and Google Ads are properly integrated and synchronized to ensure accurate conversion measurement and better lead tracking.

The integration between Salesforce and Google Ads is essential to ensure an efficient flow of data and adequate measurement of the performance of your campaigns. By correctly connecting both systems, you will be able to:

Track Google Ads Conversions in Salesforce: By integrating Salesforce with Google Ads, you can automatically import Google Ads conversions into Salesforce. This allows you to have a more complete view of the performance of your campaigns and understand how they influence the generation of business opportunities.
Sync Lead Data: With the integration, you can ensure that lead data captured through your Google Ads campaigns is automatically synced to Salesforce. This makes it easy to manage leads, track their progress through the sales funnel, and assign them to the right sales reps.
Share information between platforms: The integration allows data to flow both ways, meaning you can use Salesforce information, such as customer segments and demographics, to improve the segmentation and personalization of your campaigns in Google Ads.

To integrate Salesforce and Google Ads, you would have to follow these steps :

Sign in to your Salesforce account and navigate to the Settings area.
Look for the Integrations section and select Google Ads.
Sign in to your Google Ads account using your login credentials.
Configure conversion import and data sync options to your preferences.
Verify that the integration is working correctly and that data is syncing between the two platforms.

Once you've established the connection, be sure to keep the integration up to date and periodically review that it's working correctly.

Set up attribution

Set up appropriate attribution models in Google Ads and Salesforce to evaluate the performance of your campaigns and determine how your leads are generated.

Attribution is a key aspect in analyzing your marketing efforts, as it allows you to understand how different interactions and channels contribute to the generation of conversions and business opportunities. By setting up attribution models in Google Ads and Salesforce, you'll be able to:

Evaluate the performance of your Google Ads campaigns: Attribution models allow you to assign a value to each customer interaction with your ads before converting. This helps you identify which ads, keywords, and channels are generating optimal results and how to adjust your campaigns accordingly.
Understand the Customer Journey: By integrating attribution models into Salesforce, you can get a clearer view of how users interact with your ads and other marketing channels before converting into leads. This allows you to optimize the sales funnel and improve the effectiveness of your marketing and sales efforts.

To set up attribution models in Google Ads and Salesforce, you would have to follow these steps:

In Google Ads:

Sign in to your Google Ads account and go to the "Tools & Settings" menu.
Click "Attribution" in the "Measurement" section.
On the "Attribution models" page, select the model that best suits your needs (for example, data- driven).
Apply the selected attribution model to your conversions in Google Ads to analyze the performance of your campaigns according to that model.

In Salesforce:

Sign in to your Salesforce account and navigate to the “Reports and Dashboards” area.
Create a custom report that shows how different marketing interactions, including Google ad clicks, are contributing to business opportunities.
Use the data in the report to assign a value to each interaction and channel based on its contribution to the bottom line (for example, lead generation, sales closure, etc.).
Adjust your marketing and sales strategies based on the results of attribution analysis in Salesforce.

By setting up and using attribution models in Google Ads and Salesforce, you'll be able to make informed decisions about how to allocate your marketing resources and how to optimize your efforts for a higher return on investment.

Google Ads campaign selection screen

Audience segmentation

Use Salesforce data to create custom audiences in Google Ads, allowing you to target your ads to the most relevant leads and increase conversion rates.

Audience segmentation is crucial to the success of your Google Ads campaigns, as it allows you to show your ads to the people most likely to be interested in your products or services. By using Salesforce data to create custom audiences in Google Ads, you can:

Leverage CRM Data: Salesforce stores a vast amount of information about your customers and prospects, such as demographics, purchasing behaviors, and interaction history with your company. By using this information, you can create highly targeted audience segments based on criteria such as location, age, interests, and purchase history.
Create lookalike audiences: Google Ads allows you to create lookalike audiences from your custom audience segments. These lookalike audiences are groups of people who share similar characteristics and behaviors as your existing customers, increasing the likelihood that they will be interested in your products or services.
Optimize your campaigns: By targeting your ads to custom and lookalike audiences in Google Ads, you can improve the relevance of your ads and increase conversion rates. Additionally, this allows you to optimize your campaigns based on the audience segments that generate the best results, optimizing the overall performance of your marketing efforts.

To use Salesforce data to create custom audiences in Google Ads, you have to follow these steps:

Export your Salesforce audience segments: Create reports in Salesforce that show the customer and prospect segments you want to target in your Google Ads campaigns. Export these reports in a Google Ads-compatible format, such as CSV or Excel.
Import your audience segments to Google Ads: Sign in to your Google Ads account and go to the "Audiences" section in the "Tools & Settings" menu. Click the "Import" button and select the file that contains your Salesforce audience segments.
Create custom and lookalike audiences in Google Ads: Use audience segments imported from Salesforce to create custom audiences in Google Ads. Then, create lookalike audiences from these custom audiences to expand your reach even further.
Apply your audiences to your campaigns: Assign custom and lookalike audiences to your Google Ads campaigns and adjust your bids and budgets based on the performance of each segment.

By using Salesforce data to segment your audiences in Google Ads, you can target your ads to the most relevant leads and significantly improve the performance of your campaigns.

Content customization

Leverage Salesforce insights to personalize your ads in Google Ads, improving the relevance and performance of your campaigns.

Personalizing the content of your ads can significantly increase click-through and conversion rates by offering a more relevant and attractive message to your target audiences. By using the information stored in Salesforce, you can create personalized ads in Google Ads that are tailored to the specific needs and interests of your customers and prospects.

To personalize the content of your ads in Google Ads using information from Salesforce, you have to follow these steps:

Identify relevant data in Salesforce: Analyze the information stored in Salesforce to determine what data can be useful to personalize your ads in Google Ads. For example, you could use demographic data, purchase history, interests, browsing behaviors, and level of engagement with your company.
Create dynamic ads in Google Ads: Dynamic ads allow you to adapt the content of your ads based on the information you have about your customers and prospects. To create dynamic ads in Google Ads, you would have to access the "Ads and extensions" section in your account and select the "Dynamic ads" option.
Use personalization parameters: When creating your dynamic ads, you can use personalization parameters to insert specific information about your customers and prospects into the ad content to display the product category you are most interested in.
Link your dynamic ads to Salesforce: For your dynamic ads to use information stored in Salesforce, you must connect them to the platform. This usually involves using a third-party service or developing a custom integration that allows Google Ads to access Salesforce data in real time.
Monitor and optimize your personalized ads: Once you've implemented your dynamic, personalized ads in Google Ads, monitor their performance and make adjustments as necessary. For example, you could test different combinations of personalized content to determine which messages generate the highest click-through and conversion rates.

By customizing your ad content in Google Ads using insights from Salesforce, you'll be able to deliver more relevant and engaging marketing experiences to your customers and prospects, which can significantly improve the performance of your ad campaigns.

Bid management automation

Combine Salesforce Einstein and Google Ads Smart Bidding to automatically optimize your bids based on your business goals and historical campaign performance data.

Automating bid management can help you improve the performance of your Google Ads campaigns by automatically adjusting bids based on your goals and the behavior of your audiences. By combining Salesforce Einstein and Google Ads Smart Bidding, you will be able to:

Leverage machine learning: Both Salesforce Einstein and Google Ads Smart Bidding use machine learning algorithms to analyze the historical performance of your campaigns and determine optimal bids based on your business goals.
Set business goals in Google Ads: Using Google Ads Smart Bidding, you can set specific goals for your campaigns, such as cost per acquisition (CPA), return on ad spend (ROAS), or cost per click (CPC). Smart Bidding algorithms will automatically adjust bids based on these goals and the historical performance of your campaigns.
Integrate Salesforce data into your bidding strategy: With Salesforce Einstein you can import and analyze data from your Google Ads campaigns and use this information to optimize your bids and marketing strategies. For example, you could adjust bids based on a lead's lifetime value (LTV) or conversion likelihood.

In order to implement bid management automation with Salesforce Einstein and Google Ads Smart Bidding, you will have to follow these steps:

Activate Google Ads Smart Bidding: In your Google Ads account, go to campaign settings and select the bidding strategy that best suits your business goals, such as Target CPA, Target ROAS, or Maximize Conversions.
Set up Salesforce Einstein: Make sure Salesforce Einstein is enabled and configured in your Salesforce account. This includes connecting to Google Ads and importing campaign performance data.
Analyze the performance of your campaigns in Salesforce: Use Salesforce Einstein to analyze the performance of your Google Ads campaigns and learn how to optimize your bids and marketing strategies. For example, you could identify high-value audience segments or keywords that generate a high return on investment.
Adjust your Google Ads bidding strategies: Based on Salesforce Einstein analytics, adjust your Google Ads bidding strategies to align with your business goals and improve campaign performance.

When you combine Salesforce Einstein and Google Ads Smart Bidding for bid management automation, you can optimize your campaigns more efficiently and achieve a higher return on investment.

Continuous monitoring and optimization

Constantly track the performance of your Google Ads and Salesforce campaigns to identify areas for improvement and adjust your marketing strategies in real-time.

Maintaining continuous monitoring and optimization of your campaigns is crucial to ensuring the long-term success of your marketing efforts in Google Ads and Salesforce. By constantly tracking the performance of your campaigns, you will be able to:

Identify trends and patterns: Continuous analysis of your campaign performance data will allow you to identify trends and patterns in the behavior of your audiences, which in turn will help you adjust your marketing strategies accordingly.
Spot opportunities for improvement: Monitoring the performance of your campaigns will make it easier for you to identify areas where you could improve, such as poorly served audience segments, underperforming keywords, or unattractive ads.
Make data-driven decisions: By maintaining constant monitoring of your campaigns, you will be able to make informed decisions about how to allocate your marketing resources and how to optimize your efforts to achieve a higher return on investment.

To carry out continuous monitoring and optimization of your Google Ads and Salesforce campaigns, you will need to follow these steps:

Establish key performance metrics (KPIs): Identify the metrics that are most relevant to your business goals, such as cost per acquisition, return on ad spend, conversion rate, or click-through rate.
Create reports and dashboards in Salesforce: Use Salesforce to create custom reports and dashboards that show the performance of your campaigns based on key performance metrics you've established. This will allow you to have a clear view of the success of your marketing and sales efforts.
Monitor your Google Ads campaigns: Regularly review the performance of your Google Ads campaigns, paying special attention to key performance metrics and areas where you could improve.
Make adjustments in real-time: Based on the results of your monitoring and analysis, make adjustments to your Google Ads and Salesforce campaigns, such as modifying bids, updating audience segmentations, personalizing ad content, or changing targeting marketing strategies.
Evaluate and refine your marketing strategies: As you implement changes to your campaigns, evaluate the impact of these adjustments on performance and refine your marketing strategies accordingly.

With a continuous monitoring and optimization approach in your Google Ads and Salesforce campaigns, you will be able to quickly adapt to changes in the behavior of your audiences and market conditions, thus guaranteeing the long-term success of your actions.

Company employees at a meeting in the office

Training and collaboration between teams

Encourage training and collaboration between marketing and sales teams working with Salesforce and Google Ads to improve the efficiency, performance, and success of your campaigns.

Collaboration between marketing and sales teams is essential to the success of your marketing efforts in Google Ads and Salesforce. By promoting training and collaboration between these teams, you will be able to:

Align goals and strategies: By working together, marketing and sales teams can align their goals and strategies, ensuring a consistent and effective approach to customer acquisition and retention.
Share knowledge and skills: Marketing team members can share their knowledge about Google Ads and online advertising best practices, while sales team members can share valuable insights into customer needs and preferences gained through Salesforce.
Improve communication and information flow: Collaboration between teams facilitates communication and ensures that relevant information, such as campaign performance data and improvement opportunities, is shared in a timely and efficient manner.

To encourage training and collaboration between marketing and sales teams working with Salesforce and Google Ads, you can follow these steps:

Establish shared goals and objectives: Ensure marketing and sales teams have clear, shared goals and objectives, such as increasing sales, improving customer retention, or increasing customer satisfaction.
Host cross-training sessions: Conduct training sessions where marketing team members teach sales team members about Google Ads and online advertising best practices, and vice versa. This will help improve the knowledge and skills of both teams and facilitate collaboration.
Implement collaboration tools: Use collaboration tools, such as real-time chat applications, project management systems, and shared calendars, to facilitate communication and information sharing between teams.
Encourage open communication and feedback: Encourage marketing and sales team members to communicate openly and honestly about challenges, opportunities, and ideas to improve campaign performance.
Monitor and evaluate collaboration: Regularly review the effectiveness of collaboration between the marketing and sales teams, and identify areas for improvement. Be sure to recognize and celebrate joint successes.

When we encourage training and collaboration between the teams that work with Salesforce and Paid Media, we can improve the efficiency, performance, and success of our marketing actions and we will see it paid off in sales.

Do you want to revolutionize your marketing strategies and stand out in the digital landscape? Our expert, certified Salesforce and Google Ads consultants are here to help you get the most out of these powerful platforms. Don't miss the opportunity to increase your sales and improve your results.

Contact us today and discover how MarketiNet can boost your business growth!