Why PPC Marketing Rocks

As I aimlessly scroll through my Facebook feed laughing at funny fail videos and awing at cute dogs, I see a really cool piece of art that I absolutely adore. I click to visit their webpage and see it's a canvas print, and it's a style I love. I am an impulse buyer and I think that would make the perfect addition to my wall art collection, so I add it to my cart and buy it right then and there.

This form of advertising is called pay per click. The advertiser was charged when I clicked on the ad and went to the website. When I bought that super cool piece of art after clicking the ad, that was marked as a sale, or a conversion. This is why PPC is such a powerful way to market in the digital world that we live in.

So What Is PPC?

Pumpkin Pie Casserole? Maybe it's a new type of fusion where the pumpkin is cooked in a square instead of your typical circular pie style. Okay as much as that does sound delicious, we know PPC stands for pay per click. This means every time a consumer clicks on your ad you will be charged. Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Bing, Instagram, Snapchat, and many more platforms have their own ad networks where advertisers can utilize their services with this PPC model. This works like an auction. Every time an ad enters into the auction it is competing with bids for a certain position. This is why targeting is important.

Reaching The Right Person.

Depending on which ad network we are using, targeting options may vary. Some things we need to take into consideration for an effective PPC strategy are:

• Location
• Device Type
• Time Of Day
• Day Of The Week
• Keywords
• Age
• Gender
• Household Income
• Career
• Interests
• Behaviors
• Website Content

The varied targeting methods that we layer will create a venn diagram where certain criteria must be met before our ad will be visible. This allows us to be highly effective and compete where it counts.

Is Advertising Really Worth It?

All the cool kids are doing it. To be relevant in business today you must have an online presence. We are at a point where most people are aware of this. If I want to succeed as a new business, first I need a website. Once I have my site I will create a few social media channels and begin posting content. Next, I will acquire business cards and then I am ready to network. Maybe I'm getting a few hits here and there from my efforts, but this isn't really sustainable. I've also wasted some money sending out mailers that got no responses. If only there was a way to spend money effectively to attain real leads for my business.

My Personal Favorite Is AdWords

 Google Ads is by far the most powerful ad network that exists. It utilizes a complex algorithm that gives favoritism to consumer based marketing. What that means is ads that are more relevant to what the person is searching for will place higher in the rank, and on Google Search. This is where I believe PPC beats every other form of advertising. It allows us not only to craft something that we can guarantee the consumer is actually interested in, but make educated, well informed decisions based on quantifiable facts as well.

Pay The Best Price For Leads.

Sales, purchases, sign ups, phone calls, store visits, and downloads are what we really want. High engagement rates and impressions are metrics not to be disregarded entirely, because they do tell us part of the story. What we really want is for our website visitors to take certain actions that are valuable to our business. We create custom landing pages in theme with our ad copy, that gives us higher quality scores. When we have the foundations set, our next step would be to optimize towards lower cost per acquisitions. What we are doing with PPC is next to impossible to do anywhere else. We are able to study the data and use it to get more leads at better prices.

Do What Works.

It's easy to look at a successful business model and take inspiration from that. You can go online right now and search for almost any service or product within policy boundaries and see a Google, Bing, Facebook ad, etc. This is because it's a proven model that works to scale a new business quickly, affordably, and effectively. Your competition is likely advertising, but chances are they may not be using best practices. Advertising with a PPC ad network is a good use of your new advertising budget, but it is important to use an expert who knows how to make your advertising efforts flourish. In the long run this will help by saving you money, using that spend effectively, meticulously, and with intention. With these tools you may become a force to be reckoned with.