If you don’t know what Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is, please check out this post before continuing.
If you’re a business owner, I’m guessing marketing is a task that consumes much of your time throughout the day. Half science, half art, there is no single one-size-fits-all strategy that acts as the “holy grail” for generating leads and attracting clients to your business. Rather, a combination of strategies are required to see results from your marketing efforts, one of which is Pay-Per-Click advertising.
This concept has helped thousands of small business owners get their products and services in front of prospects, helping them to grow their client base and increase sales without spending a fortune.
Here are 4 benefits of PPC advertising for your small business:
1. PPC Ads Allow you to Target Your Ideal Customer
PPC ads allow you to target the specific audience of consumers who are most likely to spend their hard-earned dollars on your business. According to Google ads, there are two main types of targeting – audience targeting and content targeting.
Audience Targeting
Audience targeting involves setting your sights on the actual people you are hoping to attract to your website. It considers things like:
- Demographics – what is the gender, age, and occupation of your intended audience? Where are they located? What devices to they use?
- Specific Intent – what keywords, URL’s, Youtube content, and apps appeal to the people who have the highest likelihood of visiting your site with the intent of making a purchase?
- Similar Audiences – grow your audience by targeting users who express similar interests to those who have already engaged with your business.
- Remarketing – specifically pursue people who have previously interacted with your ads or campaigns in the past.
- In-the-market – shows your ads to people who have been recently searching for a product or service similar to those you offer.
Content Targeting
Content targeting searches for content related to your business or content that people who might be interested in your business have interacted with. This includes:
- Topics – Google and other search engines analyze millions of pages of content to determine if they match your topic selection. This way, you can target one ad to multiple pages that match your selected topic, all at the same time.
- Placement – this involves finding out which websites your customers visit regularly and placing a display ad on those sites.
- Content Keywords – finding out which keywords are relevant to your product/service and targeting prospects who are entering those same keywords into a search engine’s search field.
- Display Expansion for Search – combines targeting and bidding to capitalize on high-performance moments.
2. PPC Ads are Immediately Effective
Unlike organically building the SEO score of your website – which can often take several months or even years – the moment you post PPC ads, they can immediately begin to drive traffic to your site.
Also, companies like Google and Facebook have streamlined the ad creation process. From writing to posting, your ad can begin generating quality traffic for your site within minutes!
This instantaneous feature comes in handy in several situations where time is of the essence. For example, the efficiency of PPC ads can help your new product be the first to market and get your brand’s name out there before competitors. Or, if you need a quick ad for a promotion or event, you can do that too!
3. PPC Ads are Measurable
Most, if not all, platforms that offer PPC ad services will provide you with a comprehensive dashboard for measuring the progress of each campaign. For example, Google’s PPC ads allow you to track things like:
- Purchases
- Sign-ups
- Phone calls
- Contact form applications
- App downloads
- Local actions
- Etc…
The measurable aspects of PPC ads are extremely helpful when evaluating where in the conversion process your business needs to improve. For example, if you see that people are clicking on your ads and are directed to your website, yet your conversion rates are still low, this may give you a clue that you don’t have an effective landing page. (If this is a problem for you, please check out 5 Things you Can Do Right Now to Improve Conversion rates on Your Website.)
Once you figure out the problem, you can implement a solution and observe if your changes have produced the intended result!
4. PPC Ads are Cost-Effective
As long as people who click on your ads are being directed to an effective landing page on your website, PPC ads are well worth the money. Take a look at these 2019 PPC stats provided by Value + Meter:
- For every $1 spent on Google Adwords, businesses see an average return of $2 – A 100% ROI!
- PPC ads are one of the top 3 generators of on-page conversions.
- PPC ads are responsible for 65% of all clicks made by users who intend to make a purchase.
Some people find it hard to stomach the average $1-$2 cost-per-click when using PPC ads. However, this small charge has the potential to result in hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for your business in the long run.
If you are confident in the quality of your product or service, all you need is prospects to see them. PPC ads can help do the legwork to get prospects to your site to view your products/services. After that, many of these customers may even become loyal repeat buyers in the future, resulting in a steady stream of income for your business!
Should You Invest In PPC Ads For Your Small Business?
The answer to this question depends on what type of business you have and what you are trying to accomplish. Remember, PPC ads provide:
- Options for advanced customer targeting
- Ability to immediately activate your ads
- Inputs for measuring and tracking progress and results
- Cost-effective advertising solution
If you think these points align with your business’s objectives, why not give PPC advertising a shot!
