But it’s not a magic wand, and it’s not without its faults. It doesn’t work in isolation - it needs to be part of a considered strategy that considers factors beyond the search engine. It’s not essential - generating content through a blog and careful SEO can bring you near the top of the search results organically. It doesn’t stay cheap - the more successful it is, the more rival bidders for search terms of proven success will emerge, and the more money you’ll end up throwing into it if you want to stay at the top of the list.
Here are five tips to make your PPC strategy smarter.
Good marketing is data-driven. Don’t start a campaign unless you have some way to measure your results and don’t sacrifice rigour for the sake of a quick buck. Eliminate variables. Decide how much you’re going to spend, decide what you’re going to spend it on, and stick to those decisions. The only uncontrolled factor should be consumer behaviour, and you need to investigate that in detail. Don’t think you’re succeeding just because people are clicking on your PPC ads. Clicks aren’t the goal - business is. What are those people doing once they’re on your site? Are these clicks generating leads? Are customers buying something? It’s the answers to those questions that prove your PPC campaign is worth the investment. Make sure you’re measuring and reporting on activity.
It’s all very well just finding keywords that match your offering but consider the competition. If you’re selling birthday cards, a PPC campaign based around the keyword “birthday cards” is going to put you in direct competition with some huge players. They have a lot more money to throw at PPC auctions than you. If they’re willing to spend it you’ll never get the keyword for yourself and even if you do, outbidding them means your cost per click is up and your return per click isn’t. Look for more niche keywords you can attack, and test them to be sure they’re worth it.
If you’re a retailer, Christmas looks like a prime opportunity to push a PPC campaign - it’s the biggest sales season of the year, after all. The problem is, a million other retailers have had the same idea. The market’s crowded and competitive, there are only so many keywords that work, and so the bidding wars are intense. Again, the cost per click goes up and the return per click still isn’t guaranteed.
Make sure those clickthroughs from adverts translate into the actual business you’re looking to build by creating a landing page for your campaign. The customer is looking for a product, that’s why they’re using search engines: they don’t want to land on your homepage or your online store and have to search again. Guide them to what they want as directly as you can.
Even if PPC is working for you, you have to remember that consumers aren’t stupid. If you know the secret (that the first three Google results are sponsored and the next seven are the ones who are best integrated with Google, the so-called Google 7 Pack), they do too, and they’ll skip ahead to find the more “authentic” businesses who didn’t pay to be top of the list. The Google Shopping pictures that appear next to the results, though, are less obvious. Those coveted top slots are PPC ads too, but they show a product and a price and so they’re immediately more engaging to consumers. The answer? Test, test and test again.
Consumers aren't stupid: Many will skip to find unpaid Google search results
There are two questions you need to answer: “why am I using PPC?” and “how much money is it making me?” If you don’t have a clear answer to both of those, you need help. You need to monitor what you’re spending and why. As W Edwards Demming put it, "in God we trust, everyone else needs to bring data".
Our part-time marketing directors can help you do that, advising you on the best strategies for improving your brand’s presence. Get in touch or take our Marketing 360 Healthcheck today.
