Given the rising penetration and inclusivity of the Internet, digital marketing has become a new necessity. More so, search marketing. We shall be taking a look at what a PPC is, as well as the right PPC strategy to apply.
Search marketing is where people use the online space to find information, tools, products, and services. It includes search engines such as Google and Bing and social networks such as Facebook and Instagram.
With that being said, marketing limited to search engines is deemed search engine marketing, and this can be unpaid or paid. Paid strategy or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing includes both search engines and social networks. Consult a PPC agency in London, if you may, to kickstart your marketing plan.
Table of Contents
Why Pay-Per-Click advertising?
Ever wonder why PPC has garnered so much popularity recently? For one, the above explanation comes in handy. Secondly, PPC only kicks in once prospects or online users have clicked upon a banner ad online. Once a click is registered, the brand gets charged. This is the modus operandi of PPC. A profound PPC strategy helps boost your business by driving traffic and increasing revenue potential.
Creating a PPC strategy
Goals and Objectives
PPC is dynamic and serves several goals, such as boosting growth and profits and conversions from other channels. That is, it is an omnichannel or multichannel marketing strategy of sorts. Given the diverse goals that are achievable with PPC, you should start by defining the overall objective. For instance, if the goal is to elevate online traffic, the PPC strategy should increase the Click-Through Rate (CTR).
Apart from defining the goals and objectives, brands should identify the Key Performance Indicators or KPIs. Since PPC is a prevalent and effective strategy, there are some KPIs that businesses should note.
For instance, if the PPC strategy is about generating sales, the KPI of Measuring sales lift for eCommerce, in-store purchases, and marketing mix modeling is ideal. Speaking of sales lift for eCommerce, brands should also look at computing lead generation through CTR, among others. The reason is eCommerce generates sales in geometric progression.
Research about keywords
As PPC is a part of SEM or Search Engine Marketing, the gambit is extensive. You cannot go without doing research. Online users type keywords to keep their quest for information or other needs going. It is paramount that businesses and brands engage in some preliminary research. To do keyword research, numerous search marketing tools such as PPC tools, SEO tools, Keyword Tools, and Adwords Tools are available.
An inbound marketing strategy of sorts, PPC is where brands and advertisers bid on keywords to curate user-oriented ads and draw clicks, engagement, and sales. However, the online space is dynamic and evolving, and hence this research needs to be continuous and ongoing.
Budgeting
Now that your goals and objectives are defined and research around keywords done, the next step for brands is to set a digital marketing budget. According to Google Economic Impact Reports, corporations earn two dollars for every one dollar spent on paid advertising through Google Ads. More so, Google products render avenues for brands to grow their businesses through Google Ads and AdSense.
To get with setting the budget, brands first need to build their account structure. The account structure shall define the ad campaigns and associated ad groups. For instance, if the ad campaign is about women’s shoes, then the ad groups such as women’s running shoes, women’s trail running shoes, or women’s sports shoes are some possibilities. Businesses should also define the action; this could be users clicking on the ad site link that redirects users to either the brand social media account or website.
Setting a budget allows companies to assess the success of their campaigns through ROI or Return on Investment. However, when it comes to PPC strategy, the metric of Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) also merits consideration. ROAS divides Revenue by advertising expenditure. It helps the business gauge whether its ad spends generate the expected impact and value. However, a flaw of the metric is it does not account for any other costs.
Study the Competitive Landscape
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising campaigns expose businesses and put them out in the open. How do they do this? Firstly, brands can gauge their competitors and gain insights into their campaigns. Secondly, PPC ad campaigns are not organic like the unpaid ones, and they are replicable. For this reason, it is in the best interest of businesses to keep tabs on their competitive landscape.
An analysis of the competitive landscape allows businesses to understand their closest competitors. Also, doing so helps know what makes their competitors successful. Additionally, it enables businesses to gauge the aggressiveness of the proposed paid search campaign. For a company that finds it challenging to identify the competition, Alexa provides the Audience Overlap Tool; it helps a brand identify other players who have the same target audience.
Moreover, companies can avail the Competitor Keyword Matrix to assess organic and paid keywords from up to ten competitors. If this is not enough, then brands can also outrank their competition and reach the top spot using the Target outranking share feature by Google.
Summary
Given the rising penetration and inclusivity of the Internet, digital marketing has become the marketing norm. This advent gave rise to search marketing and paid advertising strategies through search engines and social networks. PPC or Pay-Per-Click strategies are profound and prevalent among the business community today.
A PPC strategy is where a business pays the platform once an online user or surfer clicks upon the banner ad. When curating a PPC strategy, brands should first define the goals and objectives. PPC revolves around keywords as this is how people search for information, tools, and products online. Businesses should engage in considerable research for keywords.
Once done, it is time to set up an advertising budget. Setting budgets allows businesses to gauge the campaign’s success through metrics such as ROI and ROAS. Lastly, brands should study the competitive landscape to gain competitor insights, including success credos and campaigns.