In the 1960s-1990s, the top global brands made memorable TV advertisements. It was the era when no one had smartphones, and the only way to reach the audience was through mass marketing campaigns. The effectiveness of some campaigns led these brands to develop a strong brand name and grab a huge chunk of the market share.
Nike exemplifies how the right marketing leads a business to grow tenfold. Nike elevated its sales from just $800 million in 1988 to $9.2 billion in 1998. The brand amassed many customers in just ten years through its “Just Do It” campaign. The slogan was short, sweet, and memorable. But it was notable also because it was repeated on TV and applied to many situations. Today, pay-per-click (PPC) is an innovative marketing tool that, if used correctly, can help the business to make its brand memorable.
Why Choose a PPC Strategy for Your Business?
In the era before the internet was popularized, TV commercials were the way to go. But the internet, smartphone technology, and data have helped brands target customers according to their age, demographics, and interests.
PPC or pay-per-click is one of the ways brands can create a higher brand recall because of repeated advertisements. It is a better approach to online advertising than pay-per-view (PPV) advertising. It is because even if the brand’s ad is displayed, the business only pays when there’s a click. So, advertisers can easily use PPC retargeting to help create brand awareness and get a click when they have established trust with their customers.
An optimized PPC campaign on search results also helps establish a top-of-the-mind recall for the brand or website. In fact, according to a source, PPC Ads can help increase the brand’s awareness amongst potential customers by 80%. It also allows people to associate keywords with a certain brand.
For example, people might associate TalkSpace or BetterHelp with virtual mental health help because they have been conditioned to associate these words with the brands. So, whenever they consider seeking mental health help, the 2-3 top brands will come to mind. The right PPC strategy can help businesses position themselves as the solution to the problem that comes to mind.
Five PPC Tips for Business Growth
We have established that PPC is critical for brand awareness in the digital world. But how to effectively put PPC to use? Here are five tips that can help you use PPC effectively for business growth:
1. Choose the Right Platform
You must choose the right platform to get the best results from a PPC strategy. The right platform is one that your audience uses the most. If you are an e-commerce business and your target audience is 18-30, you should go for Instagram PPC. If your audience uses LinkedIn, it is better to choose that platform despite PPC rates being higher than others.
LinkedIn charges an average of $5.26 per PPC ad. On the other hand, Google display ads cost around $2.32 per click. Instagram ads are also higher than Google’s at $3.56 per click. These rates vary based on the expected conversion rates of the audience clicking through these platforms.
2. Use PPC in Conjunction with SEO
SEO is a strategy that allows your business to get organic reach. However, ranking your website through SEO is not easy. Compared to this, PPC can help you get to the first page of search results within a day. Also, over a quarter (27%) of website visits come from paid ads, and these clicks through PPC are 50% more likely to become customers than the organic audience. Still, 53% of website visits are organic, which shows that you cannot beat the importance of SEO.
Since PPC has become quite competitive recently, you need to target the right keywords and ad group structure. So, unless you focus on striking visuals, impactful copy, and effective retargeting strategies, PPC won’t work for you. So, optimized PPC – a blend of SEO and PPC is the way to grow your business.
3. Remarket to Your Visitors
92% of the visitors on your website are highly unlikely to buy anything on their first visit. It is true for brands selling luxury apparel and products at high prices. So, it is important to remarket to your visitors to get that top-of-the-mind position. You could even retarget them with a different ad or get their emails on their first visit to make them a part of your marketing funnel.
4. Focus on Website Design
Nowadays, people mostly use their smartphones to browse the internet. If the business’ website is not mobile-friendly, potential leads will take no time to close it. When your bounce rate is high, it shows a problem with your website or your PPC targeting.
Furthermore, if your website loads slowly, it will drastically increase your bounce rate, no matter how much you spend on your PPC campaign and landing page copy. The bounce rate difference between a website that takes 2 seconds to load and one that takes 5 seconds to load will surprise you. From 9%, the bounce rate goes up to 38%, only with a 3-second delay in the loading time.
It is important to focus on the website design, reduce the loading time, and use stellar copy to help further the potential customer make the purchase decision.
5. A/B Split Testing
If your business has multiple products, the same ad copy might perform well for one audience rather than for another slightly different one. Whether starting from scratch with PPC or having had multiple successful PPC campaigns, you cannot underestimate the power of A/B testing. This testing helps you determine how changes in ads like the description, headline, keywords, audience, and location impact PPC performance. Many businesses rely on a premier PPC management company to help them navigate these complex variables and optimize their campaigns for better results. With expert guidance, companies can make informed decisions and continuously improve their PPC strategy for long-term success.
Testing helps you optimize your PPC strategy, so designing your campaign before you run it is essential.
Final Words
In this digital era, if your business is still not using PPC advertising, it is missing out on much potential. But because of the competition for customers, PPC is the new SEO. You must expect sales by paying a lot of money. The tips mentioned in this article will help you perfect your PPC strategy and ensure that you maximize lead generation through each dollar you invest in PPC marketing.
