You had an idea and turned it into a brilliant product or service for your business. You created a stunning website with original content guaranteed to make even the ficklest of users swoon. Okay, now what?
Now you need to get your brand or business noticed, that’s what. In an era where content is king, you’re going to have a lot of competition no matter what “golden niche” you think you’ve found. And the internet is full of people with similarly presumed golden niches. But the gold only appears if people know you’re there. So how are you going to get their attention?
The easiest way to build awareness for your brand, product, or service, is through advertising.
Let’s talk PPC.
PPC, or pay-per-click advertising, does exactly what it says—only charges you if someone clicks on your ad.
It’s an essential ingredient to any business strategy, whether fledgling or mature, for one simple reason: the internet is massive. People are constantly searching for quality products, services, and information and whoever shows up first usually gets the customer. Thanks to the infamous Google algorithm, it’s going to take some work to get the visibility you’ll need for success.
By incorporating PPC campaigns into your marketing strategy you are setting yourself apart from the masses who solely rely on organic traffic to keep their lights on. However, your organic visibility is closely tied to your SEO, which relies on credibility metrics like reviews, followers, and website specs to assess the relevancy of your product, service, or business to a user’s search query. Did I lose you? Let me back up.
Google cares about user experience over everything else—meaning that it’ll only show results it deems to be the most relevant AND from trusted sources to its users. Therefore, if you have a new product, service, or a completely new business, you haven’t established that credibility yet. Meaning it could take months or years to build up enough awareness unless you have a one-in-a-million world-changing idea.
And let’s face it, statistics say that most of us just don’t have one-in-a-million ideas.
But you can compete with those credible sources via PPC advertising. By starting PPC campaigns on platforms like Google Adwords, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and many others, you can take advantage of sophisticated targeting measures to reach your ideal customers.
With a couple caveats.
One. Just because you start a PPC campaign does not guarantee that you’ll see results. You need to start the right PPC campaign for your business.
If you’re a mechanic, running PPC ads on Pinterest probably wouldn’t yield the greatest results since Pinterest is mostly blogs, DIY crafts, quotes, and image-intensive content. Similarly, if you’re a graphic designer, advertising on the Google Search network might not be the best since you’d want to showcase your artwork in the ad.
So, an awareness about your ideal customer base and where they spend time online is a critical ingredient to a successful PPC campaign.
And two. Setting the right budget will also determine your campaign’s success. The old adage is true, “you have to spend money to make money.” So, taking the time to sit down, do the math, and determine how much you’re willing to spend to get a sale (conversion) or a lead is important if you wish to succeed.
There’s also an added benefit of PPC in that it can significantly enhance organic traffic as well. How? Because people love to do homework nowadays. We devour reviews and testimonials like Halloween candy, trying to ensure our mighty dollar is doing what we want it to do.
If someone sees an ad for something they’re interested in—they’ll research it and your business. This drives more traffic to your website and social media channels.
The main takeaway here is that PPC can absolutely enhance your marketing efforts…if you use it correctly. So, do your homework and watch the results pour in.
