In the realm of ad optimization, we’re well-acquainted with industry giants like AdWords Graders, SEMrush, and even Google Keyword Planner (a necessary evil, some might say). These tools are undeniably valuable for campaign management, whether it’s unearthing fresh keywords or pinpointing ad errors for improvement. However, crafting winning ad campaigns extends beyond these utilities – it delves into the art of copywriting, the allure of creativity, and the ever-important ROI.

Let’s explore five unconventional yet powerful tools that can elevate your ad game, despite not being directly tied to advertising.

1. Dodge Common Errors with Grammarly

Writing compelling ad copy is a craft, demanding a unique blend of business acumen, consumer psychology, and top-notch copywriting skills. And let’s be honest, mastering all three is rarely a formal education experience. Hiring for each aspect separately often backfires, leaving you with a business whiz who can’t string a sentence together or a wordsmith clueless about your product or target audience. Enter Grammarly, your saving grace. Unlike basic spell checkers, Grammarly delves into context. It detects misused words that are technically spelled correctly, a common oversight in other tools. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Take the classic it’s versus its dilemma. Confusing the contraction (it is) with the possessive (its) is a widespread error. Thankfully, Grammarly swoops in to untangle these pesky language quirks, preventing embarrassing slip-ups in your ad copy and landing pages.

The cherry on top? The Chrome Extension integrates seamlessly with platforms like WordPress and Gmail, notorious breeding grounds for typos.

While it won’t magically transform your colleague who communicates solely in emojis (or seemingly skipped elementary school), it can prevent you from making similarly cringeworthy blunders. Give it a whirl for your next ad copy or landing page draft and sidestep those credibility-crushing mistakes.

2. Bridge the Platform Gap with Zapier

Zapier, in a nutshell, connects apps that typically exist in isolation. Clear as mud? Let’s break it down. There’s a jungle of over 2,000 marketing technology software companies out there, and you’re likely using at least a handful. The catch is, many lack a straightforward way to share data. Instead of a smooth API exchange, you’re stuck manually transferring AdWords leads to another team for qualification before they reach Sales. Zapier steps in to bridge this gap, not only connecting your internal apps but also paving the way for automation. This means (1) saying goodbye to time-consuming tasks, (2) boosting accuracy, and (3) freeing up precious time for more strategic work (like those ad campaigns!). Let’s revisit our AdWords lead scenario to illustrate. Imagine using Gravity Forms, a popular choice, on your WordPress site. Here’s how Zapier can streamline your qualification process.

Let’s decipher the image above:

1. New Form Submission: Self-explanatory – someone arrives from your ad campaign and fills out your landing page form.
2. Create a Deal: This action generates a new opportunity or deal in your chosen Sales/CRM platform (in this case, Pipedrive).
3. Only continue if: This allows for filtering. Based on form responses, we can either disqualify leads or add specific notes and tasks (customization galore!).
4. Create Note: We can attach relevant details about the lead, like the source campaign, specific form answers, to provide context for the recipient. Clicking on any of these Actions reveals further options:

Not only can we pull in Gravity Forms responses, but we can also define the next step in the process. In this instance, we’re routing the lead to the appropriate person and creating a task for swift qualification and contact (complete with helpful links outlining the exact procedure).

3. Get Lead Savvy with Leadin

Most businesses can track how many conversions or leads their AdWords campaigns generate. Fewer can pinpoint the exact number of paying customers each campaign or ad group delivers. And almost none can tell you that John Smith, their newest customer who spent $5,486, came from the Dog Toys campaign, specifically the Pug Ad Group, through the ad headline: “Pugs are People Too”. (That’s a whole lotta chew toys!) The issue arises when one campaign yields 10 leads while another generates only 5. Superficially, you’d allocate more resources to the higher volume campaign. But this overlooks (a) the actual customer count and, crucially, (b) the total revenue generated by each. Implementing call tracking in the final stage can provide more clarity, but ultimately you’ll need to integrate this data into a CRM that also captures Point of Sale information. A free (though somewhat manual) solution is LeadIn by HubSpot. This lightweight CRM, installable on your WordPress site, automatically captures new contact form submissions from platforms like Gravity Forms.

If you’ve already configured UTM tagging, LeadIn will even capture those ’last attribution’ clicks. This gives you a foundation for manually comparing results with other departments or systems. For instance, many “intake” teams outside of the tech bubble still rely on trusty old spreadsheets (bonus points for Google Sheets!). Simply export your LeadIn data monthly and share it with them.

Now they have the ability to:

1. Connect a contact person from the initial phone call,
2. Identify the last source or destination they converted from, and
3. See any previous calls (thanks to call tracking) along with their original source data. It’s not the most elegant solution, but it’s effective nonetheless.

4. Streamline and Standardize with Pipefy

The world of PPC offers no shortage of tweaks, optimizations, and experiments to try on a daily basis. The only problem? Time, or rather the lack thereof. And let’s not forget about limited manpower. Checklists are a lifesaver. Providing (or delegating) 8 simple steps for campaign audits gets everyone up to speed quickly. A well-structured (and visually appealing) PPC money-saving checklist can guide your team towards, well, saving money.

Having comprehensive processes for scaling ad copywriting is fantastic. Process improvement is a beautiful thing. It’s liberating. But that initial setup? Excruciatingly time-consuming. Thankfully, tools like Pipefy swoop in to make the process of creating processes less painful. You can build detailed, surprisingly sophisticated workflows with branching scenarios based on each task’s outcome. They even offer pre-built templates for specific tasks. For instance, there’s one specifically designed for SEM management, allowing you to outsource (or delegate) campaign analysis. This is a game-changer because analysis usually relies heavily on intuition, pattern recognition from years of experience, and learning from past mistakes (in other words, stuff that’s near impossible to delegate).

While it might not be perfect right out of the box, you can customize each phase or step with specific task checklists, required attachments, and next actions to be completed before your review. Other noteworthy contenders in this category include SweetProcess, a more streamlined and simplified process tool with basic task lists ideal for managing contractors or entry-level employees.

5. Back to Basics with a Whiteboard

Yes, you read that right. Despite the plethora of sophisticated technology at our fingertips, sometimes the best solution is to ditch our desktops, laptops, tablets, iPhones, and iWatches in favor of good old-fashioned solitude. Why? Because technology is a productivity black hole. Studies have shown indicate that students with home computers don’t necessarily outperform those without (in fact, some performance scores even suffered). Technology-related interruptions lead students to experience score 20% lower compared to their less-distracted peers. Research from UCI discovered that “the average office worker enjoys a mere 11 minutes of uninterrupted time on a task before being interrupted.” ELEVEN! Reflect on your own work habits. Deep work, like writing, often happens in the quiet hours – early morning, late night, or weekends – when Slack messages, overflowing inboxes, ringing phones, and intrusive coworkers are at bay. (And let’s not even get started on the “open office” trend, which is the bane of only kill productivity further.) The results of carving out three to four distraction-free hours for focused work are astounding. Imagine outlining an entire campaign, complete with individual tasks and assigned personnel, all in half a day:

That’s more progress than most achieve in an entire week. Leaps in logic emphasizes the need for quiet reflection before collaboration to achieve groundbreaking (and profitable) results.

While large whiteboards can be pricey, they don’t have to break the bank. LifeHacker offers a $15 solution solution for a 4 by 8 foot surface that can transform an entire office wall. Most hardware stores carry hardboard wall panels, mimicking the writing surface of whiteboards at a fraction of the cost (around twelve bucks). For my setup, I used industrial strength velcro (also readily available at hardware stores) to securely mount it, ensuring it stays put.

Wrapping Up

While the heavy hitters in the PPC tool arena can undoubtedly help you build, manage, and optimize stellar ad campaigns, sometimes you need reinforcements. Think grammar checks for every ad and landing page, closing the analytics loop to identify top-performing campaigns (revenue, not just leads), and establishing standardized processes for teams with varying skill levels and experience. Though not directly tied to PPC, these tools can indirectly elevate your advertising game, slash costs, and significantly reduce the time it takes to launch profitable campaigns. And when in doubt, ditch the digital distractions and return to the drawing board – literally.