It’s no secret that at Articulate, we love incoming marketing. Compared to outgoing advertising, incoming production strategies are less aggressive, more targeted and more profitable. Indeed, 91 percent of people think that advertising has increased dramatically in the last few years. That is why more than 615 million devices worldwide have an ad-blocker. However, this does not mean that you should abandon advertising completely. You just need to take another route. In this Pay-Per-Click Marketing Guide, we will show you what PPC is, why your B2B company should do it and how you can run an effective campaign.
What is PPC and How Can PPC Promote Your Business?
Despite its online presence, not many people know what PPC is. (Seriously, the number of times I had to explain myself to people who were told I was doing a ‘PCP’ is ridiculous.)
So, permanently, here is your direct answer as to what PPC is and how it can benefit your business.
What is PPC advertising?
Individual pay advertising (PPC) is a digital marketing method where you pay to show your ad to potential customers. Well-designed, highly targeted and an active part of any marketing campaign. PPC allows you to purchase relevant traffic that can convert them into leads on your website, rather than benefit your physical contacts.
It works on a bidding process, where you enter the amount you intend to use for a potential customer to see your ads. The amount you will need to spend will vary depending on which other businesses have the same ad bids.
Think of it as an online auction for website traffic and get a basic idea.
How PPC Can Benefit Your Business?
Presently that you know what PPC involves, here’s why it’s best for your business.
Engaging in any form of digital advertising means you’re reaching people where and when you want to. This can be via:
- Search engines (Google, Bing, etc),
- Social media platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram), and
- Third-party websites.
When you advertise on a platform that is relevant to your audience, you are contracting with potential customers on their terms. If you can make your adverts non-intrusive, personalized and valuable to your audience, then your campaign will be a success.
Here are a few other ways in which PPC can benefit your business:
PPC Provides Fast And Consistent Website Traffic
Because you are paying, you should see an increase in traffic to your site immediately after launching your campaign. Not only that, but if you budget your money well you can keep a steady stream of paid traffic for your entire campaign.
PPC Increases Product Awareness
With traditional incoming marketing strategies, it takes time to build live traffic. Until you reach a certain level, there may be very little awareness about your product. PPC lets you pay for your audience, increasing product knowledge.
You Can Define Your Target Audience
No matter the platform, you can choose the target audience for your PPC campaigns. This allows you to get your ads in front of your best customer. You can even exclude people who don’t fit your customer status. When you advertise, that’s where you can explain to your audience the high chance of succeeding in your campaign. Also, you will not be annoying people who will never become your customers in the first place, which is just a waste of everyone’s time. So, make sure you know who to market to.
PPC Campaigns Are Adaptable
In addition to choosing your target audience, you can customize your campaign in any way you see fit. You can:
Set and change the budget – This includes daily budgets as well as general campaign budgets.
Update / modify ads – If your campaign includes a lot of ads you can use the information to find out where your audience is responding. You may then review or install other ads that do not work properly.
Extend your campaign – You can start, stop or expand your campaign at any time.
How To Select Your Target Audience In Pay-Per-Click Advertising?
Defining your target audience is critical to the success of any PPC campaign. If you get it right, you can bring in personalized marketing messages. If you do not know your audience, you can bark at the wrong tree.
The definition of the audience is so important, that it can soon reach keywords as the main focus of search networks. So, even if you use AdWords, you will need to know your audience. This improved audience definition is very important. Also, the trend will only continue as we move forward.
Get To Know Your Personas
No matter what category you advertise, you need to know your marketing personas. However, you are not only preparing for personas in your PPC campaign. If you are serious about advertising your overall business, you will already know who your customers are because you mentioned the clearly defined personas.
All marketing activities are displayed to the people you choose. This is true whether you are blogging, email marketing or using a PPC campaign. Before you can do anything, you need to know who you are talking to.
Here Are Some Of The Key Benefits Of Having A Well-Defined Marketing Partner:
You Understand The Needs/Interests Of Your Customers – If you know your customers, you know what drives them. Because of this, you can create content for yourself, giving them important information that makes them want to engage with your business. He knows where they are spending their time. For example, you will know which platform your best customer might be on, so you can launch a PPC campaign there.
Better quality leadership – In all aspects of marketing, if you have a clear mind, you will attract the right people with your messages. This means better quality leads for those who are more willing and likely to be loyal customers.
Now that you know why explaining your marketing persona is useful in a broader sense, here’s how to apply these lessons to your PPC audience.
Simple Steps To Describe The Target Audience Of Your PPC Campaign:
Who Are They?
When defining your target market in any PPC, the first question you should ask is ‘who are they?’. Within your response, you must enter the following:
Gender
Age
Education
From Where Are They?
Once you identify who your target customer is, you need to know where they are. This is as easy as knowing where they will live. For example, if you were a local business, they would live nearby. If you are part of an international company your target market may include complete countries or continents. To make sure you identify the right people with your ads, include and exclude locations, which you can do on multiple platforms. So, you can say that your target market is based in London, but not Slough. This functionality can make your landmarks surprisingly accurate.
Remember that choosing your location can affect which language you need to use when advertising. Although you may be able to reach a few people who speak that language, you set boundaries for your audience.
This does not mean that you should not advertise in a non-native language. However, before you can do that, be sure that you will get the desired results.
What Are They Doing?
It is said that to know someone, look at his actions. Even in PPC advertising, this is an accurate measure of a person. Depending on the platform you are working on, you may be able to identify wholesome and personal behaviour. Some, like Facebook, allow you to point to both at the same time.
For example, the search history of a lawyer on LinkedIn will focus on their professional interests. While, on Facebook, if you choose to do so, you can find a very active and popular legal mind with the ‘Pretty Boys in Beige’ page. I’m not sure why you would want to identify that person, even if it’s just possible.
Therefore, whether it is professional or personal behaviour you need, be sure to include:
Interests – Whether it’s tennis or finance, defining your audience’s interests helps you identify the type of person you want to identify.
Work Experience – This may include job responsibilities (e.g. accounting), senior positions, titles, skills and years of experience. This is especially true if you need to identify decision-makers within the organization.
Company Details – This could include the company’s industry, name, size, affiliation or who the company follows on LinkedIn. This is useful if you are only identifying a particular type of business (eg legal advice firms with less than 250 employees).