Your business is unique, and your marketing plan should be designed to help you meet your specific goals. There are many ways you can use your advertising budget each year. Google Ads or Facebook Ads, which are considered pay-per-click advertising or PPC, offer an opportunity for you to maximize your marketing dollars by placing your ads directly in front of active and engaged consumers the exact moment they are searching for your type of product or service online. Marketing budgets have been a roller coaster in the most recent economic downturn, and many businesses and organizations have had to restrict their budgets. While it may be tempting to put a halt to marketing budgets out of fear of how sales will be impacted overall, businesses should instead focus on the best way to reach potential clients. PPC is an easy and affordable way to meet your target goals for reaching consumers. If you are not using PPC advertising, you may miss out on important website traffic and sales.
A simple description of PPC, or pay-per-click advertising, is targeted online marketing where an advertiser pays a publisher every time their ad is clicked on. This type of marketing began roughly 21 years ago as banner ads, and in its current form, is targeted ads. There are many benefits to PPC. Two main advantages being the ability to directly reach your target consumer and the second being you only pay for ads when they are clicked on. There is no cost if they are not clicked. PPC ad campaigns, when well designed, can not only boost your sales but also improve your overall brand awareness.
Marketing budgets may fluctuate as the economy is impacted by global events; however, there will never be a time when businesses do not need to reach their sales goals. There will always be an economy, even when things take a downturn. As more of our life converts to online platforms, it will become increasingly more important for your strategic marketing plan to include a digital approach to business growth. Competitive businesses will invest in their marketing budgets and continually evaluate their digital approach. It is wise to use data to inform your marketing plan, as it is the best way to boost conversions and bring in sales. Even in the past two years, individuals spent more time online than in previous years, and it became even more important to be able to reach your target audience. Pay-per-click advertising is a cost-effective way to reach target audiences and greatly increase your chances of maximizing your sales.
Let’s explore six ways pay-per-click advertising will benefit your business!
1. You Have Control Over Your Budget
One important reason you should include pay-per-click advertising as part of your marketing plan is the control you will have over your budget. Costs per click will vary across markets and keywords. You will have the flexibility to set your budget by a variety of different timeframes, including daily, weekly, and monthly spending limits. This gives you complete control of your budget. Additionally, if you have an extremely effective ad campaign, i.e., more conversions, your cost per conversion will be lower overall.
In times of economic downturn, costs will go down and create an optimal buyer’s market for you. When costs go down, you will save more on your budget but potentially reach more clients and sales, leading to a higher return on your investment. PPC is an excellent way to increase the visibility of your product or service over that of your competitors. Especially if your competitors are not as successful in their digital ad campaigns, you can successfully push them down on the results page.
You can further determine the effectiveness of your PPC ad campaign by comparing the total cost for the campaign, including any costs for content that has to be created, management of the ad campaign, and the cost per click, against other marketing activities and campaigns. Comparison of PPC ad campaigns to similar marketing campaigns, including organic search, email, and other offline marketing channels, will help you determine the return on your investment.
There are also tools to help you prepare your budget based on projections. You can use your current and/or projected conversion rate of various keywords to see what type of costs per click you can anticipate. This will help you determine how much of an investment it will be on your part.
2. You Have a Direct Line to Your Target Consumer
Whether this is the first time you have used PPC advertising or you are a seasoned veteran, data should be the basis of every ad campaign. Utilize the data available, including insights from your website and social media platforms, to identify your audience. The data will help you get to know your target audience through statistics such as buying patterns, age range, and location. It will help you know who is visiting your website, what time of day they are most and least active, and where they are from. Before you can reach them directly, you must be able to identify them. Once you have defined your target audience, you will be able to start building a relationship with them through advertisements.
You will be able to cast a wide net using data to inform your PPC ad campaign. Data will allow you to see what works best, where you are seeing high performance, and then adjust your budget accordingly to compare targeting methods. Using a multi-layered approach will allow you to fully test your ad campaigns while obtaining full coverage across various platforms in order to get the greatest brand exposure. This allows you to reach potential consumers who are not currently in your audience as well as those who are familiar with your brand. PPC gives you options!
3. You Will Have Instant Results
By design, PPC advertising allows you to see results of your ad campaign quickly. Contrary to organic reach, you do not have to invest vast quantities of time in each campaign in order to determine how successful it has or has not been. After you have researched your target audience, you can develop ads based on the keywords that are most significant. A simple ad can be created in a matter of days, and you will be able to see profitable results within as little as one day. This flexibility also allows you to pivot in a new direction if you find it necessary. Businesses are not forced into long ad campaigns. You will be able to spend money on what works well and not waste it on what does not.
4. No Click, No Cost
Other marketing avenues require you to pay for advertising, and you may or may not be able to determine the success of the campaign. PPC advertising requires you pay only when consumers click on your ad. Of course, the hope is each click will convert to a sale. At the very least, each click will bring a potential sale to your website or landing page. Successful PPC ad campaigns will help you define your target audience, utilize keywords to motivate them to action, and lead them to your website. This will give you noticeable results. If consumers do not click on your ad, there is no cost. Other types of advertising require a financial investment whether the campaign is successful or not. This makes pay-per-click advertising more attractive because in this sense, it is less risky.
5. Data, Data, and More Data
PPC advertising removes the mystery of ad campaign performance because it is measurable and trackable. One of the most favorable aspects of PPC is the amount of data you are able to collect from your campaign. Each ad set will supply data, such as performance, impressions, clicks, and conversions. Other forms of advertisement do not always paint such a clear picture of your results, but with PPC, you will always have a variety of statistics available to show how your ads are performing. Combined with analytics on your website, you will be able to produce measurable results.
6. PPC and SEO Are the Dream Team of Advertising
PPC advertising and search engine optimization (SEO) work quite well together, as they are both opportunities to drive traffic for the same audience using online applications to find information, products, and services. Analytics provide you insight on performance data, using impressions, clicks, and conversions on the keywords you have chosen for PPC ad campaigns. You can use these insights to prioritize keywords and phrases for the SEO on your website.
You can also use the insights provided by your website’s SEO strategy and organic traffic performance to inform your PPC ad campaigns. This will ensure your goals for both forms of marketing are working together as a cohesive unit. Having a two-pronged approach to your digital marketing strategy will help your marketing campaigns be efficient and effective. PPC and SEO also work together with certain platforms for remarketing. Remarketing is a highly effective way to target individuals who have visited your website and shown interest in your brand. It is a second chance to engage them and convert them to a sale.
PPC advertising can also supplement your offline marketing campaigns. For instance, if you have a brick-and-mortar location, you can create PPC ad campaigns to drive visitors to come into your store. Similarly, if your business has an in-person event, you can create online ads to promote the event and stir up excitement for your event. PPC ads are also a great way to boost product or service announcements and sale campaigns. Online searches are a common way for consumers to find information on products and services, and PPC advertising has become increasingly important for offline marketing campaigns as well.
Now that we have discussed how pay-per-click advertising benefits your business and why you should include it in your marketing plan, let’s look at some ways you can implement it. Keep in mind, similar to other forms of marketing, there is no magic formula for PPC campaigns that will guarantee success. The success of your PPC campaign depends on the level of strategic planning you commit to doing and then continually reviewing performance to make necessary adjustments.
Here are four actionable steps to get you started on your PPC strategy:
- Define (and Redefine) Your Target Audience
Arguably the most important feature of PPC advertising is the ability to directly reach your target customer. It’s imperative to use the insights and statistics available to understand your ideal consumer. Remember, you want to cast the widest net possible, and general market research does not provide you enough information to do so. Additionally, you will want to revisit the parameters set for your target audience periodically to ensure your data is still relevant.
- Choose the Best Platforms
You have several options when it comes to platforms to use. Google and Facebook are two of the most common platforms. Each platform is tailored to specific audiences, so choosing the right platform for your message is vital to reaching your target audience.
- Design & Optimize Your Campaigns
It would be terrible if you spent all your time making sure you reach your target consumer if they are met with a boring ad. You want to make sure your ad campaigns are inviting and exciting to inspire them to click through. You can also test your ads to determine what works and where you can make improvements. Incorporating SEO and retargeting strategies will increase the success of your PPC ad campaigns.
- Make Sure Your PPC Goals are Realistic
It is imperative to set your campaign up for success by using data to set goals. Using data will help you determine measurable and trackable goals. PPC advertising should be an important component of every company’s strategic marketing plan. It will give you a deeper understanding of your target audience, identify keywords that are most relevant for your product or service, develop creative ads to target your audience, and implement a strategy to convert sales. You will be able to control your budget, spending as little or as much as you would like. Additionally, the chances for a successful return on investment is high due to the targeted nature of the ad campaign. A well designed PPC campaign will increase traffic on your website and produce conversions, which will ultimately lead to increased revenue for your business.
If you would like the help of a seasoned digital marketing team who has extensive experience managing PPC advertising campaigns as well as many other digital marketing strategies, get in touch with Digital Marketing Partners today! We can provide you with a free quote to get you started. Contact us today!