PPC advertising provides an effective way for startups to upgrade their growth strategy. It offers great results when properly designed and executed.
If you’ve run PPC ads or consider to hire a PPC expert, you already know it is difficult to manage and, in some cases, quite expensive. So, in this article, I am going to teach you all the tips and tricks involved in optimizing your PPC campaigns without breaking the bank.
Tip 1 – Focus on your competitor’s brand terms
No one has the monopoly of reach in the online space – not even your competitors in the same niche. This is why you should target the same users your competitors are targeting. Here is how to go about this:
- Do keyword research targeting your competitor brand names and the search tags users use when searching for them in search engines.
- Create an excellent tactic that guarantees your ads’ relevancy, for instance, a landing page telling the audience why you are better.
- Present the upsides of your product and the downsides of your competitors’.
While at it, however, you should avoid attacking your competitors directly. Instead, list the facts and evidence and leave your audience to decide.
Tip 2 – Nurture leads and maximize the top of the funnel
Contrary to the popular strategy of targeting the keywords closer to the conversion moment, doing the opposite helps you avoid the fierce competition at the bottom of the funnel. Targeting top-of-the-funnel keywords also helps maximize your ad spend since you are somewhere your competitors are not.
- The goal here is to capture your prospects early on – before they get to that point where they make their purchase decisions. This is called lead nurturing.
- The best way to do this is to offer them something very valuable for free. Such offers endear your users to your brand and your product.
- Since you target top-funnel keywords, it is even easier to convince them before your competitors get to that level.
Offering a useful resource for free is a proven way to increase your chances of conversion and sales.
Tip 3 – Leverage credibility to convert visitors to leads
This technique works for your ads, but it is better deployed on your landing pages. Let the visitors to your landing page see how credible you are. Showcase your past and present partnerships with top brands, badges for awards, endorsements from regulators or other companies, client testimonials, and success stories.
All these social proof reassures your potential customers that they are in safe hands.
Tip 4 – Use long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords are not limited to SEO; they work excellently in paid advertising. Searchers use long-tail keywords when they are closer to making a purchase. Both “shoes” and “buy shoes for eight-year-old child” are keywords, but the latter shows the user knows what they want and are ready to get it.
Using long-tail keywords helps you avoid competition and increase your chances of converting more leads. So, go ahead and use specific keywords instead of the vague keywords that drain your budget with no impressive results.
Tip 5 – Find an easy Point of Entry
This is another landing page hack. Your point of entry is that specific point where you want your user to end their research and take action – this should be your landing page. Optimizing your landing page for an easy point of entry makes conversion easier.
You can optimize your landing page by offering trials, test-drives, or a freemium version of your products. You can also offer discounts or deals on your services. The goal is to ensure that your users find it easy to take action.
Tip 6 – Target low competition keywords with downloadable content
You can attract the right customers to your brand by offering them valuable downloadable content. Like the long-tail keyword and top-of-the-funnel hacks, this is a strategy that delivers in the long run.
Offering downloadable content for free allows you to use long-tail keywords to draw your users in and take them closer to conversion. Likewise, it allows you to collect email addresses, a potent source of fresh leads in the future through email campaigns.
This will definitely work for you if you can put in the work and be patient.
Tip 7 – Move up in the funnel
When doing your keyword research, focus on untapped opportunities. High-competition keywords will not get you the best results, plus it is not cost-effective. Instead, focus on understanding your user intent and how your target audience uses the search engines.
Knowing how people are searching for your services or product is the first step in getting the most productive keywords. This will require a lot of testing to see what works best, but you can strike a balance between the bottom and top of your sales funnel to boost your ROI once you know your user language.
Tip 8 – Use Google Audiences
Google Audiences can be the gamechanger if you know how to use it. Using the tool, you can monitor the groups related to your target audience and draw up conclusions to help your PPC campaign.
The audiences you monitor have certain similarities with the users that clicked your ads, especially in demography and interests. You can use the data to draw a purchase pattern and set up your ads around it.
Tip 9 – Prioritize optimizing for revenue
You are not running PPC ads just to get more clicks on your landing page. The campaigns offer you valuable data and metric that counts for your ROI. The best way to maximize this data is to keep track of your campaign reports and find ways to improve.
Analyzing your patterns gives you a clear idea of what you have to do to make your ads better and more effective. So, the key here is measuring data to optimize revenue.
Finally…
PPC is highly competitive. Getting maximum results means you need to ensure proper planning and adequate execution. The tips we have provided above will help you get the best out of your PPC campaigns. Remember, analyze your reports and let your findings guide your tactics. No campaign is perfect; it only gets better with every data-backed changed.
Understand your PPC goals and how to reach them, then use PPC ads as the vehicle to get you to these goals. Good luck!
About the author:
Kamel Ben Yacoub is a digital marketing consultant specialized in online acquisition for B2B SaaS companies with his consultancy Getuplead. Kamel has worked in several international SaaS companies as director of digital marketing, creating and implementing online strategies that generate more sales. He’s also a mentor at Startup Wise Guys.
