It’s impossible for digital marketers (and businesses) to ignore the part pay per click advertising can play within a broader digital marketing strategy. Pay-per-click, or PPC, is a form of online advertising that most people would see on a near-daily basis. On Google, PPC ads are the search results that appear at the very top of your results page when you type in your search.
As of early 2017, Google’s PPC ads for “dog walkers in Melbourne” look something like this:
Depending on the type of business you run, and whether your target market ‘lives’ online – this type of visibility may be exactly what you’re after. Your PPC advertising will be marked as an Ad on the results page, so your customer will typically know that they’re choosing to click on a result that’s been paid for.
Some sales-wary customers may scroll down to the non-paid results to choose from one of the ‘organic listings’. That’s where paid ads really come into their own, because they can lead prospective customers to search for you further down the page, and you get a click you didn’t have to pay for! There’s huge value in being the first-seen and most visible result on Google, and having an organic (unpaid) listing by optimising your website multiplies its impact.
Reach your customers where they already are
Targeting your customers in places where they hang out is crucial to the success of your PPC campaign (or any digital marketing campaign, for that matter). First, establish that your customers are online using search engines like Google or Bing (or Facebook, or another social platform) for businesses like yours.
Go to Google and type in the keywords you would expect your business’ website to appear beneath as a gauge. Use search terms that your customers would most likely use. See plenty of paid PPC results and businesses like yours? If yes, then you’re on the right track with choosing PPC as part of your digital marketing strategy.
The second step is to ask how your customers are accessing your website. If you have this data available, check out your percentage of mobile views vs. desktop views. PPC is particularly strong on mobile devices for the simple fact that there’s less screen real estate available to compete for than organic results. Mobile users are also more likely to be geo-targeted, so your message gets to the right people, in the right place and at the right time.
Find customers who are ready to purchase
If your customer is comfortable with browsing and purchasing from paid advertisers on Google, you have a clear advantage using PPC. If a customer is ready to buy, chances are they’re also comfortable in the position of being sold to. You already know that your business is relevant to the person who clicks; otherwise their search wouldn’t have returned your result. If they click on your ad, they’re essentially a genuine lead for your business, depending on where they are in the buyers journey.
Pay what you want, when you want
One reason businesses prefer PPC is that they get clear information as to how effective their PPC advertising spend is. You set the rate (or bid) for each click and run this rate for the time and overall budget you specify. It’s especially transparent and risk-free because you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
Do you have a deadline or a time-sensitive promotion you need to push? PPC might be a great option. Unlike SEO, it doesn’t take weeks or months to start seeing a difference. With PPC, as soon as you’ve set up your campaign you will start to see results within days.
Discover new paths to your customer through re-marketing
We know that in most cases, a customer won’t purchase based on the first click or interaction with a business. It can take effort to build online visibility as well as garner trust with your prospect. This is where re-marketing comes in. You know those little breadcrumb trails that follow from when you visit a business’ website? Suddenly, that business’ Facebook page is popping up in your newsfeed or you see little banner ads appear on an unrelated website. Annoying as it may be, this type of re-targeting is highly effective for businesses keen to stay top of mind and turn leads into customers.
Brad Geddes, Founder of AdAlysis told Search Engine Journal recently, “This year we will see a dramatic increase in actual audience targeting adoption by marketers. This will fuel the search engines to devote more resources to making audience targeting easier and more robust for companies of all sizes.
The last two years will be known as the rise of the audience targeting features. 2017 will be the adoption.”
Get support before stepping into PPC Advertising
If you think PPC is right for your business, we strongly recommend you seek the support of a reputable digital marketing agency that specialises in Google Adwords PPC.
The fact that there are countless blog posts, videos and tutorials on running your own PPC campaign can be tempting. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that with a few hours of self-study you’ll be able to effectively research, set up and execute a PPC campaign to get a solid ROI. What’s more likely is that you’ll waste time, feel stressed out and spend too much money without getting any return.
You’re best to work alongside a Search Engine Marketing expert or a local Digital Marketing Agency that’s equipped with the deep knowledge, skill-set and tools to ensure that your PPC campaign runs successfully.
Speak to our friendly team at Redline Digital and ask us how we’ve used PPC to help businesses just like yours.