case study
blue mountains running co.
The bricks and mortar local store moving beyond the Blue Mountains, to serving all of Australia through highly converting Australia wide e-commerce Google Ad campaigns, prioritising high profit, high volume products that compliment their business goals. Successfully making the transition from local business to big business and Bel. Digital is stoked to have contributed to the strategy to make this happen.
1207% ROI
Increase In Revenue over 5 Months to October 2021
$134,000
Total Revenue April 2021 till October 2021
1238% ROI
Return on Investment in September 2021
$12.07
Return on Ad Spend for $1 spent May to Sept 2021
about blue mountains running co.
Blue Mountains Running Company (BMRC) are a well-established specialist trail, road and ultra running brick and mortar store in Glenbrook, Blue Mountains NSW.
Owners Shane and Belinda also sell products via their website and were looking to take their online presence and digital sales out of the Blue Mountains and elevate revenue to the next level, making all the right moves to take their small business and turn it into a big business. To do this, Australia needed to be introduced to Blue Mountains Running Company.
Their timing couldn’t have been more ideal. Four months into Bel. Digital Google Ads management lockdown hit in NSW. The retail store was closed for 17 weeks & the entire business relied on digital channels for survival. The outcome couldn’t have been better.
The problem
Blue Mountains Running Company didn’t start with a problem, their Google Ads were doing ok. The business had grown and it was time to seek an external review from a broader perspective.
The owners wanted to verify current results, see if their Google Ads account was set up correctly, advertising the right products, well optimised, making the most of their ad spend & they were getting value for money.
The initial brief, was to complete an audit. This quickly turned into a large scale optimisation and retainer agreement for ongoing Google Ads management for Blue Mountains Running Company.
what Bel. Digital found
- broad keywords were triggering ads for branded search terms making product ad groups look like they were performing for product keywords when they weren’t
- duplicate keywords across ad groups & therefore competing against each other, therefore driving the cost up
- negative keywords weren’t comprehensive or organised
- account structure was based around overlapping styles of running shoes rather than the brand and product
- ad spend was spread too thinly across too many campaigns
restructured account
The account was restructured by brand & product, expensive non-converting campaigns were paused
shopping campaign
All competing shopping campaigns were paused. An all products shopping campaign was optimised
brand campaign
Branded terms were split out into their own brand campaign to increase visability & assess which keywords drive sales
extensive negative keywords
Account wide extensive negative keyword lists were created & applied to relevant campaigns
communication
Agile communication going into & during lockdown was vital, it helped us rock the results during this time
weekly review
The Google Ads continue to be optimised, making the most of the budget & market conditions
our solution
The Blue Mountains Running Co. PPC strategy mirrored the business goals and priority areas were determined. The Google Ads account was overhauled top to bottom, creating visability into high performance areas.
Due to the fortuitous timing, the account was optimised just prior to the NSW COVID lockdown. It was in step with market conditions being able to quickly adjust strategy to match the changing landscape when the Blue Mountains retail bricks & mortar store was forced to close temporarily for 17 weeks.
Sometimes less is more, after reviewing the Google Ads account all current search campaigns were paused due to the high cost per click (CPC) and high cost per conversion.
The competing Google Shopping campaigns were aligned & a brand campaign was created so that we could clearly see where branded terms were driving sales.
The Google Ads will continue to support their business & vice versa and I look forward to continuing to kick goals in partnership with Shane & Belinda.
results
In August 2021, Bel. Digital turned a moderate ad spend of $5100 returning $62,500, which significantly contributed to helping Blue Mountains Running Co. in business during the NSW lockdown.
The Google Ads went so well at one point we had to dial down the ad spend to ensure they didn’t run out of stock.
In five months, their Google Ads conversion value was $134,000 from an ad spend of $11,100, which is a 1207% return on investment.
Shane tells me sales were up 74.7% at the same time last year, including in-store and online sales. He also said he thinks that’s pretty amazing!
update
Increased ecomm ad costs, the expensive Christmas period, sensitivity to price and supply issues contributed to low sales volumes and expensive CPA (cost per acquisition) in 2022.
“Normal” times and RRP pricing was getting us no where. The ads financial viability came into question. It was time for Bel Digital to get strategically creative.
BMRC offers a 15% affiliate discount to various running clubs, with this idea in mind, Bel Digital set up a Google Ads only promotional 10% off code (not valid with any other offer).
This promotes a healthy product turnover and allows BMRC to remain competitive without reducing all prices all the time.
In other words, the Google Ads customers become another affiliate group and when combined with other marketing activities, play a key role for BMRC’s ongoing success.
BMRC has continued a solid streak in 2023 despite rising interest rates and the downturn in the economy. Bel Digital returned $76,000 in revenue from a $6,334 ad spend, 1200% ROI.
In May 2023, a clever multi-channel digital marketing strategy and relentless Google Ads management combined with a strategic sale around the Ultra Trail Australia running event in the Blue Mountains saw an 1850% ROI, that’s 18.5 x return on investment.
Sales resulted in $43,500 in revenue from an ad spend of $2352.
Shane Simpson
BLUE MOUNTAINS RUNNING CO.