You just launched a startup company, and there are countless things you have on your “to do” list. One of the first things you should establish is PPC marketing. PPC, also known as pay-per-click, marketing allows you to measure and track return on investment (ROI), regularly test the market you are competing in and drive high intent users.
The following tips and tricks will help you grow your startup through pay-per-click marketing:
Educate yourself on pay-per-click marketing
PPC involves multiple moving parts, so you must be aware of each of them and how they function in order to manage a successful campaign. When learning about PPC, consider the following:
- Understand how to navigate platforms like Google AdWords, Bing Ads and WordStream
- Learn about all of the different categories like conversions, impressions, clicks, CTR and more, depending on what the platforms you utilize offers
- Learn about keyword research. Tools like Moz.com offer keyword research tools that can help you pick strong keywords to use in your campaigns and ad copy
- There are different types of keywords, so choose the kind that is best for your campaign and audience (broad vs. broad match)
- Establish a budget! Pay-per-click campaigns can drain money if they are not watched with a financial mindset
- The auction portion can be confusing. Run through the auction a few times with a smaller budget before bringing out the big bucks
Related: 5 Ways to Build Your Startup with Pay-Per-Click
Create attractive content
As digital marketers, we are selling a product or service, and we want potential customers to click on our content. Thus, it’s important to make that content appealing to your target audience:
- Create copy and campaigns that entice readers and make them want to buy the product/service you are offering
- Insert a clear call to action that makes them want to click on your ad
- Take the time to proofread and double check your work before publishing it
Pay attention to all factors involved
When ad groups are running, there are many things to watch, including ad spend, click-thru rate, conversions and more. To know how your ads are doing, you need a detailed understanding of all these little factors.
- Remember, your budget is flexible! If you think you are spending too much, you can pause a campaign until you want to rerun it
- Conversions are a significant factor to watch besides ad spend
- Click-thru rate is important, but not as important as conversions. You want people to click on your ads and campaigns, but the end goal is to buy or use the service/product being offered
- Impressions and clicks are a good indicator to see if your content is appealing. If you have high impressions and clicks, but low conversions, try altering your content. Your work is enticing enough to get people looking but needs a little extra push to get them to buy thus allowing your startup to profit and grow
Create a positive brand image
PPC allows you to bid for your placement virtually. If you are lucky to have Google choose to accept your bid, you can appear higher on pages compared to your competitors because you were willing to bid for that spot.
- PPC allows you to create an image faster and see results sooner than other types of marketing
- Paid advertising will enable you to pop up on search engines, compared to SEO, which can’t be paid for, because it is organically based
- Although you are paying for your position, you are also paying to be placed right in front of your customer’s eyes, which is where we all want to be
Optimize for all users
Every user can view ads and campaigns on different platforms, so take the time to make sure they all have the same experience.
- Individuals tend to prefer mobile devices for online searches where they will encounter ads. Make sure the mobile experience is as pleasant as the desktop or tablet experience
- If a call to action on the desktop version says “call now” and shows the phone number, embed the phone number in the call to action for mobile users. When the phone number is internally linked, they can eliminate the step of having to write down the number before calling it
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Test the market and outside forces
There is competition all around. If your competition is doing something better than you, don’t be afraid to learn from them.
- Always run A/B tests. Even if you only run one or two a week, keep them running. It’s the best way to learn about what does and doesn’t work
- Check your A/B tests every day. Results may occur faster than you anticipated, allowing you to use winning strategies to grow your startup faster
- If your budget allows, create ad groups for your competitors under your campaigns. Sometimes being closer to our competition helps give us the edge to strive to be number one
- One of the best features about PPC is the ability to test the market. You can pause and run live campaigns, all at the touch of your fingertips
- Many marketing managers run specific ad groups for one week and run another set of groups during the following week. They then compare the results to determine optimal spending for conversions, clicks, acquisitions and impressions
When combined, all of these factors can help your startup grow through effective pay-per-click marketing. When your content is optimized for all devices, and consumers have a positive user experience, it will only make them want to come back to your website.
The flexibility of turning campaigns on and off allows you to manage your budget on your terms, giving you total control of your finances and the content that is published. A/B testing allows you to continually understand what is and isn’t working. When you determine what is working, you can utilize it and make it the front-runner to help your startup grow even larger.
