Worksheet: Competitor Campaign Planning

“The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow”
~ William Blake

Not many digital marketing blogs whip out 18th century poets (probably?), but full disclosure: this line is also quoted in a Jim Jarmusch movie, so I can’t take full credit for being the well-bred intellectual I might seem…

In this post, we break down how/why you would (or wouldn’t) target your PPC competitors’ audience in your campaigns, plus provide a worksheet so you can launch your own campaign!

Main Takeaways

• Competitor campaign planning is only necessary in niches with prominent competitors and is not typically required in industries like medical, legal, and manufacturing.

• Targeting competitor keywords is costly and legally sensitive; focus resources on high-intent "Competitor Alternatives" campaigns for better efficiency and lower risks.

Why Shouldn’t I Do this?

The vast majority of industries won’t need this.

We’ve worked with clients that specialized in the medical, legal, and manufacturing field. We’ve worked with non-profits. Heck, even some EComm segments don’t need this.

Unless there are prominent names in your niche, or if you can’t name three competitors off the top of your head, you likely won’t get much use out of this worksheet.

Furthermore, Google knows you aren’t your competitor, and will ding you HARD on quality score, driving your CPCs up. Targeting your competitor’s keywords can not only be expensive, there are also legal considerations when you put a brand name in your ad copy.

Be prepared to watch this campaign, budget properly for it, and enact spend limits to keep it from running away with your money.

How This Works

This worksheet tackles the four target groups mentioned in SEL’s competitor’s article:

• Users that are searching for your competitors’ brands

• Users that are seeking an alternative to your competitors

• Users that are comparing your competitors to one another

• Users that are ready to cancel their services with your competitors

On the first sheet, you’ll enter in three of your competitors’ brand names in the indicated fields.

Then, the second sheet will automatically populate with those terms, producing a bulksheet that you can paste into Google Ads Editor.

The output will be two campaigns, one targeting your competitors’ brands, the other housing all the alternative, comparison, and churn ad groups.

For the Brands campaign, it’s advisable to put a lower budget cap on this (or control your bids). Don’t overspend here - it generally doesn’t work out.

Focus most of your resources and budget on the “Competitor Alternatives” campaign, as these are more intention based than simple brand terms.

Using Competitor Keywords

Avoid using your competitor’s brand name in the ad copy itself - at best, you’ll draw Google’s ire for misrepresentation and, at worst, you risk legal action.

Easiest advice - just don’t do it.