Pay per click (PPC) campaigns are arguably the most important form of paid digital ads in recent years. Used across the web, including most websites, search engines and social platforms, PPC ads can drive more traffic and conversions than almost any other form of digital marketing. But what do you really need to know before running a successful PPC campaign? Continue reading to get some tips that will get you started!
1. Know Your Campaign Type
There are many different types of PPC campaigns to choose from, with the most common being search, display, remarketing and video. Deciding which is the best choice for you depends on your goals and the products or services that you provide. For example, if you would like to increase awareness about your brand and drive traffic to your website, display ads will get your message in front of people that may have not heard about your company, but may be browsing for products or services like the ones you offer. Want to show up in search engine results during that critical moment someone is looking for the products or services that your business supplies? Search is the campaign type that will help you reach that goal!
2. Establish Your Budget
Many business owners may fear PPC campaigns because they feel that their marketing budget isn’t large enough to accommodate these types of ads. However, you can run PPC ads on even the smallest of budgets, you just have to develop a well-thought strategy to reach your potential customers.
One key aspect to consider when developing your budget: the larger your target audience, the more expensive it will be to effectively reach. People usually need to see an ad more than once in order to take action, and when you spread your budget thin on a huge amount of people, they will only see the message once or twice and are less likely to be impacted. Knowing who your customer is and how you can best reach them online is crucial in this regard.
3. Choose Your Location
This also goes back to establishing your budget, as targeting a larger location is going to cost more. If you sell a product, do you ship nationally? If you are advertising cleaning services, you probably don’t want to waste valuable marketing dollars showing your ads to someone 500 miles away. You have to decide what makes the most sense for your business and include only locations that will reach paying customers.
4. Plan Your Schedule
It is important to determine how long you want your campaign to run – you can choose to have it going for only a few days or have it running indefinitely. Our recommendation? Again, think about your budget – longer campaigns naturally need more money. Your goals should also be taken into consideration. Setting up a general awareness campaign or advertising a product that you always carry can span for months, whereas you may want to promote a special 2-day sale for only a week.
5. Gather Your Creative
For ad types where you can use graphics and video, it is important to research beforehand what sizes and video lengths are allowed so that you don’t waste time putting together assets that you can’t even use. Make sure that your creative is immediately identifiable as belonging to your brand, has an enticing offer of some sort, and contains a clear call-to-action that compels your viewer to take the next step.
We know this is a lot of information to take in, and it’s really just a peek into the vast world of PPC digital ads. Want some help navigating these unknown waters? Give us a call at 605-716-5666 today and we’ll take care of it all, from strategy to optimization to reporting. Talk to you soon!
