Are You Using PPC Effectively?
All it takes is a quick Google search or a look at your Facebook page to see that loads of companies are using PPC. The question is whether it is being used effectively or not…
How do you know if a company is using PPC effectively or not?
Take a look at whether the ads you are seeing are targeted to what you are interested in or searching for or not. For example, you are on Facebook and you have been talking to your family about your upcoming wedding and the stress of picking out your dress and whether it will be ready on time. Suddenly, the sidebars of your feed are covered in suggestions for dresses, shoes and makeup artists – these are potentially effective PPC campaigns. The message compelling you to spin the roulette wheel – less effective use of PPC for you.
An effective PPC campaign is one that reaches the audience most likely to actually be interested in the products or services being sold or the appeal being made.
How does a company know if its PPC is effective or not?
The end result of an effective PPC campaign is a better bottom line. If you are running advertisements on as many platforms as your budget will allow and using the full budget on clicks but your sales funnel is running dry, your PPC is not being done effectively. On the other hand, if you are running around like a headless chicken not sure which quote request to respond to first – then you are doing well and can probably scale back a little so that you can stop and catch your breath a little.
Of course, not every part of a PPC campaign is going to be as effective as the next. You may find that one product or service is selling far better than another. This does not mean that your PPC campaign is not effective, but rather that the underperforming product or service needs a little looking at.
It could be that a rewrite of the advertisements will boost those sales more. Or perhaps the keywords need more refinement so that your audience is more targeted. It might just be that there is not demand for that particular product just yet.
A particular network may be more effective for a certain product than another. For example – when it comes to the general consumer, Facebook is an amazing platform. But if you are selling to a business market instead, LinkedIn may serve you far better.
In short, an effective PPC campaign is one that brings home the bacon. It should reach the intended market and should generate sales or leads. If it is doing anything other than what you intended it to do, then it is not being effective.