What Are The Benefits of PPC Advertising? Is It Worth the Investment?
Running a PPC advertising campaign isn’t just smart, it’s essential for businesses large and small. Today, we’re going to talk about the benefits of PPC advertising and discuss why (or why not) it’s worth the investment.
Are you struggling to grow your business? Does it seem like all your marketing efforts amount to is a waste of time and money?
If so, you’re not alone. 69% of business owners report that converting leads to customers is their biggest struggle. Another 54% struggle just to drive more traffic to their website.
Does this mean all your marketing efforts are in vain? By no means! Many businesses just like yours are experiencing great success with pay-per-click or PPC advertising.
Why should you give this type of advertising a try? Here are 6 compelling reasons to include it in your next marketing campaign.
1. Quick Results
If you want fast–in many cases, immediate–results, PPC advertising is the way to go.
Why? Because it puts your business right in front of the people who are actively searching for it.
With over 3.5 billion searches happening every day, there are endless opportunities for new customers to discover your business.
While SEO efforts build your business over time, PPC advertising provides “instant gratification.”
All you need to start advertising is a live website and a Google Adwords account.
2. Immediate Feedback
When combined with Google Analytics, you can easily and instantly measure how well your PPC campaign is going.
At any time, you can view and track the live results of your campaign. You can see up-to-the-minute figures for impressions, clicks, and conversions. This means you know at all times whether you’re generating profit or loss.
Which ads are users clicking on the most? How close are you to achieving your end goal? What kind of ROI are you generating?
With PPC advertising, you’ll get instant answers to all those questions–and more. Unlike other types of advertising, there’s no guesswork involved. You’ll know right away what’s working and what isn’t.
What if you need help deciphering all this important data? You can see more here.
3. Separate from SEO
Does PPC advertising mean that SEO is no longer important? Far from it!
As we touched on earlier, SEO is still important for the long-term growth of your business. What makes SEO so tricky, though, is that Google is always updating its policies and ranking algorithms. This means your SEO strategy must also grow, change, and adapt.
The great thing about PPC advertising is that it’s not dependent on SEO or Google algorithms.
You’re paying for your business to appear first in search results, so that’s where it will appear.
A bonus? Keeping careful track of your PPC campaign can help you improve your SEO over time. By identifying which search terms and keywords yield the best results, you can tailor your other marketing efforts accordingly.
4. Improved Targeting
With other forms of advertising, you have little or no control over who sees your ads. This means it’s not as targeted as it could be–and your results will reflect this.
By comparison, PPC advertising allows you to target exactly the demographic you choose. You can customize your campaign by:
- Keyword
- Location
- Device
- Time
- Date
Do you want people to discover your restaurant’s great lunch specials? You can schedule ads to appear mid-morning on weekdays when they’re starting to get hungry and think about lunch.
Is your product geared towards adolescent girls? Middle-aged women? Senior men? Parents?
College students?
Whatever your target audience, you can build a PPC campaign that will target them–and only them. Otherwise, your high-fiber bars may end up in front of pre-teens and your prom dresses could end up in front of senior citizens.
Are you trying to hook past customers or those who have already been exposed to your brand?
Or are you trying to cast a wider net and attract new customers who haven’t heard of you?
Whatever your marketing goals, you can design a PPC campaign to meet them.
5. Build Brand Recognition
Have you ever noticed how the same brands seem to pop up over and over again when you’re searching online?
That’s not a coincidence. One of the best things about a successful PPC campaign is it will familiarize your target audience with your brand.
A teen shopping for a prom dress might not notice your ad the first time she looks. But if she searches every day and consistently sees your ad at the top of the search results, she’s more likely to click on it.
As for the senior shopping for high-fiber bars? When he sees your brand mentioned over and over again, he’ll come to view you as an authority and a leader. The constant reminder makes him more likely to remember you the next time he’s grocery shopping.
6. Total Control
If you’re not already convinced that PPC advertising is the way to go, this final point should “convert” you (see what we did there?).
Let’s say you have a limited marketing budget. You want to spend your money wisely and see the biggest bang for your buck.
The great news is that PPC campaigns are perfect for small budgets. You decide exactly how much you’re willing to spend per click or per day.
When you reach that pre-set limit, your ads stop appearing. This ensures you never go over budget.
What if you start seeing good results from your campaign? It’s easy to scale up and increase the number of ads that appear. The same is true if you hit a financial bump in the road and need to scale your efforts back.
Because you have instant access to analytics, you can also make immediate changes to your ads. Is a particular keyword driving more traffic than others? Is one of your ads receiving few (if any) clicks?
You can update your campaign with a few simple clicks of your own. No other type of advertising gives you this level of control.
Final Thoughts on PPC Advertising
So, is PPC advertising worth it?
The answer is a resounding yes! In fact, it can make the difference between your business merely surviving–or thriving.
If you haven’t already, include it in your next marketing plan. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results!
What should you expect when your business starts growing? Click here to learn how to cope with future business expansion.