Most marketing secrets published online are just common sense. However, there are some real gems you can only learn from experienced PPC marketing experts who have worked with hundreds of thousands – or even millions – of advertising dollars.
Here are 4 of those secrets.
1. Your keywords might not be responsible for your conversions
Keywords are what you bid on. However, your ads are displayed based on search terms, which don’t always match your keywords. In the PPC world, you pay for impressions and clicks based on search terms – not your keywords.
If there’s a discrepancy between your keywords and search terms, you’ll want to identify that gap because it’s an opportunity to tighten up your budget. For instance, when your keywords aren’t driving your conversions, you’re spending money on ads that won’t convert.
A single keyword might have hundreds of related search terms that are responsible for your conversions. If those search terms are generating your conversions, you might not need to bid on all of your chosen keywords.
Closing the gap between your keywords and search terms will put you back in control. When you regain control, you’ll be able to optimize your PPC ad campaign by lowering your cost per click (CPC) and cost per acquisition (CPA), among other metrics.
2. Intent changes across PPC ad platforms and ad types
If you’re like most people, you’ll run some PPC ads, identify what works, and then apply your findings to other PPC ad campaigns on other platforms and ad styles. That sounds logical, but it’s a guaranteed way to fail.
The problem is that your potential leads are in a different head space across different platforms and ad types. For example, people who watch video ads are usually just casually interested, while visitors who searched for keywords and found your ad are more likely to be ready to buy.
This difference in mindset makes a world of difference in how you can successfully reach your market. You won’t easily convert someone who is merely curious about your product, so you don’t want to use a hard-sell approach for those people.
If you’ve noticed your PPC ads failing on certain platforms or in certain formats, it might be because your ads are speaking to people in a different head space. Your calls-to-action (CTAs) and landing page offers need to match your audience’s intent.
The following offers are effective for people who are curious and interested:
· A free webinar
· Infographics
· Statistics and white papers
· Discount codes
· Free informative downloads
The following offers are effective for people who are looking to buy:
· A free consultation or free quote
· Hard selling a purchase
· A free demo or a free trial
· A CTA to call your company and speak to a representative
3. Optimize your PPC ads for sales, not conversions
Do you think you need a huge ad spend to run a successful PPC ad campaign? While that seems to be the general consensus, it’s not entirely true.
In the grand scheme of things, conversions are good, but sales are better. The keywords that generate sales might appear to be performing worse than other keywords. That’s because the stats you’re looking at only show your conversion rate, which doesn’t show you sales.
For example, say you have two keywords with the same cost per click. Keyword A converts at 40%, while keyword B converts at 10%. Keyword A has a lower cost per conversion, so it would seem like keyword A is performing better. However, when you analyze data from your CRM, you might find that keyword B has a 70% sale rate.
What matters more? Conversions or sales? If your goal is to make money, sales matter most. Start optimizing your PPC ads for sales, and you might not spend as much on your ads, but you will see a higher sale rate.
4. Don’t get lost in metrics minutia
Who doesn’t enjoy looking at metrics, running reports, and analyzing data? Metrics are important, but you don’t need to spend all of your time analyzing every tiny detail. Some metrics will only keep you distracted and hanging out in the weeds.
Keep track of metrics, but stay focused on the most important data like CPC, CPA, and of course, your sale rate.
PPC ads are a complex marketing strategy
No matter how long you’ve been running PPC ads, there will always be more to learn. PPC ads are just one of many advanced, complex marketing strategies that work well when you know how to play the game.
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