Paid Search, also known as pay-per-click (PPC), is one of the most effective forms of digital advertising because it allows a company to get in front of people who are actively looking for a solution that the company offers. By utilizing keywords related to your business’ offerings or products, paid search can raise brand awareness with users previously unaware of the company.
Paid search can be used to target specific audiences through keyword research and campaign settings, including geotargeting and specific ad messaging. Because audiences on paid search are already actively looking for an answer to their query, this tactic is particularly effective as both an awareness and conversion tactic.
Still not convinced this is a worthwhile marketing investment for your company? Here are 4 reasons why you should consider using AdWords:
1. Define your own budget.
AdWords is a pay-for-performance model, meaning that with well-crafted ads, you pay for only relevant visits to relevant landing pages on your website. Considering TribalVision’s paid search efforts for an example, we set bids on keywords identified through our research so that we are only paying for highly targeted clicks.
Google provides full transparency on the cost-per-click associated with each keyword you are considering. Maybe you have a list of keywords you want to bid on, and the keyword planner tells you that each click will cost $1, on average. If you already know you have $1,000 to spend on this channel each month, you can now work your way backward and say that you can expect 1,000 clicks from AdWords ads.
2. Hone in on specific keywords.
Sit down and brainstorm, then dive into your keyword research. For what terms do you want your ads showing up on Google? Maybe your product offers a solution, so a keyword could be the search term someone with the problem is asking. For example, if my new product cleans red wine out of a white carpet, then my keyword search term could be along the lines of ‘how to get wine out’ or ‘wine stain removal.’
Once you define your keywords, you are ready to choose your match type. Automate just how specific or flexible you want your list of keywords to be by exploring the different match types available.
Wherever you land with your keywords, focus efforts on creating a customized experience that’s relevant to that user. Google wants to make sure that your ads are meaningful to their searchers, so create ad copy and pages that are optimized with this in mind.
3. See results, fast.
Unlike SEO, AdWords will provide you with more immediate results. Do you know of a search term that is exactly relevant to your company? Betting on your SEO to make sure you turn up on the first page of Google’s search results is not a guarantee. Create your campaign and ad, then place a competitive bid on that keyword (don’t worry, Google will tell you just how much that is) to ensure you are showing up first on the page.
4. Stay one step ahead of the competition.
We often receive emails from clients who are frustrated with their competitor’s ad showing up when they are searching for their own company’s name. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to take that ad down. The next best thing is to bid on your own branded keywords to ensure that someone who searches for you is going to see your business first.
In the example below, we can see that both Uber and Lyft are bidding on the keyword ‘Uber’. Luckily, Uber has their AdWords campaign in order so they are still showing up first, but if they did not have this bid in place, Lyft would be beating them to their own name.
