If you are new to digital marketing and have the pleasure of familiarizing yourself with the Stukent Mimic Pro digital marketing simulation, allow me to welcome you to the wonderful world of Kent’s Camera Castle (insert fanfare here). In this digital marketing simulation, you are asked to create paid search ads, emails and corresponding landing pages in order to sell cameras online and drive Kent’s profits. Each round you are given a budget of $5000 and unique tasks to prod you along on your quest for digital marketing mastery.
I recently completed the Mimic Pro digital marketing simulation in conjunction with obtaining my certification in Google Ads. Fortunately, I have an awesome instructor who helped and encouraged everyone along the way and a great group of peers to discuss ideas and strategies with. Now, with my stint at Kent’s Camera Castle drawing to a close, I offer my best tips for not only surviving but thriving at the Stukent Mimic Pro digital marketing simulation.
Analyze and Understand Your Results
First of all, I would highly recommend watching the Stukent videos that accompany the Mimic Pro simulation. It is worth the time to understand the program basics as well as how to analyze your keywords and conversion rates.
I found working on my Google Ads certification in conjunction with Mimic Pro to be useful for understanding metrics. Google Ads goes in depth on metrics and analytics, which directly relates to the simulation.
Both the Stukent video and the Google Ads course enabled me to interpret my results, understand my most important metrics and know where I needed to make the necessary adjustments to my ad campaigns.
Adjust Ads and Keywords
Starting out in the simulation, you will need to pick keywords for your ads based on the cameras you sell. Unfortunately, one drawback of Mimic Pro is its limited keyword list. I discovered that some cameras have very few keywords with high buyer intent. In reality, you would have more keyword options.
When selecting my keywords, I focused on phrases I felt a consumer would use to search to purchase a camera (price, cheap, sale, deals, buy). After analyzing my results, I paused my keywords that had high cost per click (CPC) but were not converting well and tried new keywords or shifted my budget to other ads with higher conversion rates.
I also experimented with my ads by changing my call to action (CTA), headlines or my value proposition. Over the course of two rounds, I ran an A/B tests on one of my ads. By making adjustments based up what was working, I was able to increase my impressions and clicks for my ads.
Be Relevant and Consistent
One of the most important factors in digital marketing is the user experience. Therefore, it is essential that your keywords, ads and landing pages are all relevant to the camera you are offering. It is also important to link your ads to the landing page for the product you featured in your ad. I found both of these practices to be helpful in driving conversions for my Kent’s ads. In reality, Google will rank your ad partially based upon its relevancy to what users are searching for.
In addition to this, consistency is key. Your keywords, content and value proposition should be consistent in your ads and on your landing pages. When a user clicks on your ad, they expect you to deliver on the promise you made in your ad. This builds trust and drives conversions.
Through subsequent rounds, I was more mindful of using the same copy in my ads and on my landing pages. I also tried offering a unique value proposition – free service for life with the purchase of a camera from Kent’s. I believe being relevant, consistent and offering a unique value proposition helped boost my conversion rates in the Mimic Pro simulation.
Conclusion
The Mimic Pro simulation was a great introduction to paid search advertising. Through this process you can experiment and begin to understand effective digital marketing techniques while playing with fictional money (so you don’t get fired if you perform poorly). I believe the program does have its limitations but overall is a worthwhile experience for digital marketing students. Hopefully with these tips in mind, you will be able to not only survive but thrive at the Mimic Pro digital marketing simulation.
Good Luck!