What is PPC and how can it help the growth of your small business?
PPC refers to pay-per-click advertising online.
Generally PPC refers to any time your business submits an advertising on a digital platform where the company is not charged until someone CLICKS on the ad.
This differs from "display" advertising where the company may be charged by the impressions, meaning every time someone sees an ad whether they take an action or not.
PPC is one of the most effective, if not the cheapest, means of marketing your business. Typically with PPC you are bidding against competitors in a behind-the-scenes auction to match your ad up with a keyword someone has entered into a platform (Google, Bing, Pinterest, etc...).
We all use it as consumers almost every day. You are looking for a new hardwood flooring, for example, and type "hardwood flooring near me" into the Google or some other search engines search bar. That phrase is called a keyword (a long-tail, local keywords as it is very specific). As a business your challenge is making sure you have enough budget and are bidding on the right phrases to be matched up with customers at their self-indicated point of need.
PPC can be expensive, but if done right it is the best return on your investment you will enjoy. Why? Because the people you are trying to be matched up with are whats called "high intent". They have self-selected, typed in a keyword and are waving their arms at you begging to give you their business. You want to be sure you are the one to respond and be first in line over your competitor when the results of their search come in.
Google, for one, makes it easy on small business with the basics called SMART ADS, using machine learning to do the bidding for your on your ads. More complex programs, with bigger budgets run through the Google Ad Manager, for example, and an agency to run your campaigns, work different levers to get you the greatest result for your budget.
How do they do this? There are a few key elements to a well run PPC campaign.
Goals: Is you goal to build awareness, et people to visit your site, collect leads or generate calls?
Bid Strategy: Do you want to set a monthly budget, or a target acquisition cost per action?
Audience: are you picking the right audience and audience signals to place you ads in the right spot at the right time?
Keywords: are you choosing competitive more expensive words, or looking to compete on less expensive words.
Quality Ranking: Do your headlines, ads, keywords and landing pages match keywords so that the relevancy to the potential customer is high?
Understanding all of the levers to your PPC campaigns is essential to get the most for your budget.
Click here to learn more in our video tutorials or contact us today to start your next campaign and see the power of "high-intent" advertising.