For any business trying to climb the ladder of success, having a successful marketing campaign in place is crucial. However, it can sometimes become difficult for businesses to decide whether investing in Pay Per Click (PPC) is the right thing to do or not, especially when Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is also an option.
A marketing campaign that perfectly reflects in your performance chart is what indicates improvement in your performance grade concerning PPC strategizing. So how steep do you want the graph to look? How effective do you think PPC could turn out for your business?
You are about to find out!
What’s PPC marketing?
So what exactly is PPC marketing? Is it worth the investment? Is the strategy effective enough to produce desirable results? Indeed, there are tons of questions that may pop in your head when it comes to using PPC advertising as your primary means of marketing.
For many businesses, Pay Per Click marketing has proven to be an essential part of their marketing strategy. It is an internet marketing model, where you pay a fee for getting a click on your ads about your brand, products, or services. In short, it is buying visits to your website then earning them organically.
This marketing strategy involves creating relevant content and displaying it on platforms with your potential customers. These are usually attractive ads that persuade customers to click on the ads. And when that happens, you will be charged for each click.
Other than paying for every click that takes your potential customer to your website, you may be charged an additional fee for other actions like on-site engagement, video views, and impressions.
PPC is considered a compelling opportunity that gives an instant boost to your business’ marketing strategy. It puts your brand in front of the potential customers why may not have found you or your website by any other means. When used right, it can be a valuable tool a business can utilize for generating leads, building brand awareness, and driving conversions.
Why does my business need PPC marketing?
Sometimes, relying on organic traffic alone is not. Despite the incredible benefits of SEO, some businesses need more than just an optimized website. If you are a startup, a non-popular struggling business, or a company that does not enjoy fame like one of those mega-corporations, showing up on top of the organic search results can be a challenge. This is more relevant if you are trying to rank up for searches that are highly competitive and in areas where consumers already rely on other brands.
While optimizing your website for search results is crucial for any band, this may not be enough to get the kind of exposure you may be looking for. This is where Pay Per Click advertising steps in.
Pros and cons of PPC marketing
So we are back to the question ‘Is PPC worth investing in for effective marketing?’
Here we have compiled the pros and cons of PPC to help you decide what is best for your business marketing campaign.
The Pros
- Ranking in search results
This is a very targeted form of marketing, where you get the opportunity to display your ads in search results based on the user’s keyword selection. You can choose any platform to prominently show-off your add to increase its exposure towards your potential customers.
Preparing your ad content as per relevant keywords can expose users to ads where they are looking for keywords pertinent to your business.
Placing ads makes more sense as it secures first three slots on a smart device and four slots on a desktop version. Keeping your bid amount and quality score in mind, your ad can appear in the top results when a user searches for the keywords you have used.
The quality score depends on three main factors: the landing page, the relevance of ad, and expected click-through rate.
The most popular platforms for PPC include:
- Google Adwords
- Facebook ads
- Promoted pins
- Twitter Ads
- LinkedIn Ads
- YouTube ads
- Quora ads
- And more
Reach your target audience
PPC allows you to customize your target audience for each of your ads. You can use factors like language, location, keywords, time, device, interests, and more to reach a specific targeted audience.
Since the idea is to boost overall exposure of the existence of your brand, customizing your ads to target your audience will bring you maximum visitors and leads.
1.Budget
PPC is a flexible system, which makes it quite controllable regarding the budget. As opposed to what most people think, you can make PPC an affordable, low-cost option if you work on your quality score. The higher you can manage, the less you have to pay for your ads without compromising on the benefits that PPC promises.
2.Flexibility
The data access makes PPC even more feasible for you. The system allows you to generate regular reports to identify the strategies and tactics offering positive results.
This also helps you allocate your resources in a more meaningful way. You can discontinue poor campaigns and increase the budget on high performing campaigns. Having these insights can help you offer a very tailored experience to the user. This, in turn, improves organic search efforts.
3.Diversity
Online platforms with regards to PPC offers a diverse landscape. Users are becoming more aware of the information they are looking for online. Instead of just blindly clicking on the top results, they find their way through the pages to get exactly what they are looking for.
People are now turning to speech options to search on Google and other search engines. Instead of sticking to fewer keywords, most speech-based searches are of long-tail keywords. For instance, instead of searching ‘weather today,’ users may be more relevant in the form of question and would rather ask ‘what’s the weather likely to be today in Connecticut.’
Keeping such details in mind, you can gain quite a profitable return on your PPC investment.
Cons
1. Expensive
If you are only about placing ads and encourage clicks, this could be a somewhat pricey option for you. Without proper knowledge, you may end up spending much more than needed. Also, if you are using competitive keywords, it may cost you even higher.
In such a case, PPC can be difficult to manage with a small budget.
2. Constant monitoring
PPC campaigns require constant monitoring. To get the best ROI, keeping a check on the marketing tactic on a regular basis is essential. Tweaking and improving your campaign on a weekly basis, if not daily, ensure your PPC marketing tactic is running smoothly and efficiently.
3. Temporary results
PPC does not guarantee permanent traffic flow. The results you may be getting right now may stop immediately if you call off the campaign or stop paying attention to its operations. This is not only applicable for PPC but also for SEO. Once you stop inputting your efforts, the results will dissipate almost immediately.
Final Word
It may not be the easiest thing to determine the right marketing tactic for your business. Therefore, it is imperative to know your business, your specific requirements, and your expectations in terms of ROI.
In an ideal world, a single marketing tactic is never enough. A combination of PPC with SEO can take your marketing tactics to the next level. Regardless of the size of your business, implementing these strategies together and taking utmost care to avoid the cons associated with PPC, you can definitely head towards success.
So educate yourself and use this information in the best interest of your business.
