4 Easy Ways For SMB Owners To Run A Profitable PPC Campaign
It’s undeniable. Online marketing is now the most effective way to reach new customers. Considering the costs of online advertising, the ever increasing capabilities of smartphones and the fact that more and more people spend most of their day online, digital marketing is an obvious solution for business owners looking to promote their Brand and Services.
If you’re in any way familiar with digital marketing, you’ve probably heard of PPC, also known as pay-per-click advertising. PPC is an online advertising model that feeds ads to Internet surfers on Google and other search engines. The best part about it? You don’t have to pay unless someone clicks your ad. With that said, PPC can be overwhelming for business owners who’ve never tried it. Let me assure you, it’s not as scary as you think. What’s more, promoting your products or service with PPC can return huge dividends for your business in terms of brand awareness, increased sales and return on investment.
So how can you get started with this effective marketing strategy? We recommend starting with the basics.
What you must do to triumph with PPC
There are two core components that form the basis of PPC advertising (Search). The four tips we provide later in this article are important to gain a higher ROI, but they will fail to produce results if you don’t first master these two PPC fundamentals.
Use highly targeted keywords
You can use keyword research tools available online or Google’s free keyword planner to help you find the best keywords for your campaign (*Note if your campaign is inactive your monthly search volumes will be very broad). Once you’ve chosen a research tool, you’ll then type in your desired keywords, and the application will then reveal their search volume along with similar keywords to consider.
What’s important to note is, you don’t necessarily want the keywords with the highest search volumes. In fact, the right keyword depends more on your goals, target customer, and budget. With that said, it’s wise to tailor your keywords to a specific customer. For example, if you own a kids clothing store, the most popular keyword is likely ‘kids clothing store’. But how can you get more specific? Well, you could choose “girls clothing store”,“affordable kids clothes” or “infant clothing”. By choosing these keywords, you’ll compete with far fewer businesses, spend less on your ads (popular keywords are more expensive) and improve your click through rate.
You can also add “negative keywords” to eliminate those you don’t want customers associating you with, as these can lead to your Ad being shown to the wrong audience and Search Query. Back to our children’s clothing store example, the negative keywords for this industry may be “wholesale”, “Used” or “poor fabric quality”. When you apply these negative keywords, Google won’t display your ads to people searching for these terms.
Entice prospects with benefit-driven copy and clear calls to action
After you’ve chosen keywords, spend some time crafting eye-catching copy that reveals why your product is unique and the benefit it offers. What’s in it for your customer? Why should they click your ad? Whatever you write, your Ad copy should answer these questions. Also, think about how your products or services are different from competitors. If you can differentiate yourself from the competition, you’ll almost certainly increase your click through rate.
Most importantly, don’t forget to add your chosen keyword into the ad copy and tailor your message to your target customer. For example, if your keyword is ‘children’s clothing store’, most of your targets will be mums. So write your copy in a warm and friendly language/tone accordingly. Also, add a CTA, also known as a call to action, which tells or asks the person reading your ad to take a specific action. Here are two examples:
- Follow us today for a 10% discount
- Click here to learn more
See how each of these is asking the reader to take a specific action? The words “Follow us” or “Click here” tell the reader exactly what to do.
Now that you know the basics of PPC ads, here’s 4 tips to run a profitable campaign.
1. Target location
Location targeting is one of the quickest ways to gain results from your PPC and Google AdWords campaigns, so choose a target location where the majority of your customers buy your products or services. For most business owners, that will be in the city where your physical storefront is. Choose that city or even consider adding the postcode of where your target customers live.
2. Make a seasonal campaign
If your budget is limited, try a seasonal PPC campaign to increase ROI. For example, the children’s store (mentioned earlier) could advertise jackets and boots during the winter, or shorts and sunglasses in the summer. During Christmas, they could advertise festive outfits or heart-patterned clothing around Valentine’s Day.
3. Implement a ‘Dayparting’ function
Dayparting turns your ads on during certain periods of the day. By implementing this feature, you can choose peak hours when most people are online. This gives you the greatest chance of your ads getting clicked.
4. Drive prospects to a dedicated landing page
No matter what type of business you own, you can increase your chances of making a sale with a dedicated landing page. Landing pages are like digital versions of direct response letters. They’re highly focused on one result: getting visitors to buy a single product or service. On this page, you should include information about your product’s features, benefits, testimonials and other selling points. Once your page is created, you’ll then advertise it using your PPC campaign.
Remember
Remember, PPC should be one element of a larger marketing plan. We recommend combining PPC with social media marketing (such as Facebook or Instagram) to produce the most brand awareness, sales, and ROI for your business.
If you’re looking to conduct more profitable AdWords campaigns, DIGITAL BASE is happy to be your advisor. Our primary mission is to provide performance driven, end-to-end solutions that help you meet – and exceed – your online marketing objectives. We work with businesses of all sizes, helping them connect and communicate with their audience – from ink on paper to pixels on the screen, and everything in between.
DIGITAL BASE is based in Ratchadpisek, Bangkok. Drawing from our 10 years digital marketing experience, we deliver strong communication, effective marketing content and innovative design. For more information, call us at 02 541 4407 or contact us.
