Pay-per-click is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies and when done right, it will not only boost your sales but it will also boost brand awareness.
However, you need a solid PPC strategy to create a fool-proof PPC marketing plan otherwise you would just be burning your cash to get zero return-on-investment.
1. Know your Audience
The first step towards creating a killer PPC marketing is identifying the specific characteristics of your target audience. You can know a lot about your audience including their:
· Demographics
· Location
· Personality traits
· Values
· Opinions
You can use analytics tools such as Google Analytics, create a survey, and research on social networks to know about the specific characteristics of your target audience.
2. Identify the best marketing platform for your business
You must identify which channel is best for you. There are various platforms where you can run PPC campaigns such as:
· Bing
· YouTube
Research where most of your target audience spends their time. For example, if you’re an eCommerce company selling women apparel, then Instagram might be the best marketing channel for you, but if you’re a SaaS company, then LinkedIn might be the best marketing channel for you.
3. Identify the keywords your target audience uses
Keywords are the most important part of PPC ads. Keywords determine when to trigger your ad. Therefore, it’s important to use the right keywords for each of your ads. But, don’t add too many keywords in one ad because it would affect your campaign negatively.
Use tools such as Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest to get a clearer picture of the keywords your target audience uses when searching for products or services similar to yours.
4. Use a combination of long-tail and short-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords are search phrases that contain more than 3 words. The only problem with short-tail keywords is high competition. Long-tail keywords are more specific and allow you to target your ideal customer. Using the correct mixture of long-tail and short-tail keywords can help you increase the click-through rate.
5. Utilize precise targeting features
With targeting features, you can laser-target the people who are more likely to convert, the ones who are looking for your products in real-time. The best targeting features available in various platforms include:
· Custom audiences on Facebook
· In-market Audiences for Google Display
· Recent Purchasing Behavior on Facebook and Twitter
· Lookalike Audiences in Facebook
6. Make an offer they can’t refuse
With so much competition, you need to stand out of the crowd to generate real results from PPC campaigns, and the best way to do so is by making an offer attractively. Highlight the value you’re providing. For example, if you’re giving free shipping, then capitalize on it with a CTA button. Encourage searchers to take action and let them know what to expect when they click on your ad.
7. Use Ad Extensions for your advantage
Ad extensions are additional pieces of information that provide additional information about your business to your audiences. They are used to increase CTR of Ad headline. Ad extensions typically include a phone number, email address, additional links from your website, location to your store, and more. For example, if you use callout extensions, viewers who click on call now button can directly make a call to your business.
8. Improve your Ad Quality Score
Quality score is a metric used by search engines that focuses on the relevance of both your keywords and PPC ads. The cost per click is directly proportional to your ad quality score. The higher the score, the lower the cost per click. You can improve your ad quality score by:
· Structuring your campaigns into smaller yet target groups
· Creating ad landing pages
· Using relevant keywords in each ad group
· Decreasing your ad landing page load time
9. Test, test, and test
Don’t just set up a PPC ad campaign and hope it’ll generate the best results. Create different ads and run a test ad copy to determine which works best for your business, which one is driving better results. To avoid losing money, don’t bid too high on keywords for test ad campaigns and set a limited daily budget. However, run these test ads for at least a week to gather proper data.
10. Optimize your ad copy
Once you’ve tested multiple ad copies, it’s time to optimize it. So, one ad has a higher click-through rate while another has a high conversion rate? Why not merge these two ads? Or one ad is working better than the other in every aspect? Try to improvise the first one to further improve the results. After all, it’s all about getting better results at a low-cost.
Final Thoughts
Running a PPC campaign is never easy, especially with an increase in competition and ever-changing Google’s algorithm. However, these steps can help you get the desired results, irrespective of the level of competition.
