Is a PPC campaign worth it? If you do it right, yes!

Without online marketing solutions, sales and brand building are now major challenges. But the choice of tools needs to be considered. One of the most popular is PPC, which is a click-based, paid, digital advertising tool. There's a reason why PPC is considered one of the foundations of digital marketing, but the full picture is that it requires a great deal of expertise to run well and profitably. In this blog post, we've gathered the most important things to know about PPC campaigns.

People encounter thousands of advertisements on the internet every day, so it's no exaggeration to say that wherever we look, whatever website we visit, we are surrounded by ads. The first online ad was created by AT&T in 1994 as part of the "You Will" campaign. It was then that this universe of advertising, which has seen a lot of life, a lot of change and a lot of potential, was born. 

But what is a PPC campaign? Let's find out about the concept, its types and why it should not be missing from any company's marketing activities.

The essence of PPC

PPC is an acronym that stands for pay per click. It means that companies pay only for visitors who move from the platform to the advertiser's sales channel. The aim is therefore to move the target audience, to generate traffic, to generate leads.

There are several types, but they usually consist of three main units: the first is the technical set-up, where keywords, price and targeting are set, the second is some kind of visual element such as an image or video, and the third is the engaging and persuasive ad copy.

The choice of advertising space is wide. Some ads are displayed on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube or Pinterest. There are also PPC ads that are placed on websites and direct visitors to the landing page, and not to forget search engine ads that appear on platforms such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing. One of the most common is Google Ads, which covers ads on Google and the Display network.

What is a PPC campaign?

During a PPC campaign, PPC ads are sent to be deployed. What does this look like? You have a PPC ad, optimised for keywords that reflect the essence of the activity or service and that can be used to match the content to web surfers. 

Unfortunately, the process is not that simple. The strongest keywords are the ones that other people want to acquire, and this is how the bidding process is set up, which is about how much money the advertiser is willing to pay for a single click. In addition to PPC, it is also worth mentioning the concept of CPC (Cost Per Click), which indicates how much a click costs the advertiser during the advertising campaign. It is important that platforms only pay when a visitor clicks on an ad to ensure that relevant content is seen by the search engine.

Benefits of a PPC campaign

A PPC campaign is a very effective way to acquire customers. It has the advantage that you can achieve success quickly with this type of advertising. If the campaign is set up correctly, you will get a flood of interested and relevant clicks. You don't have to wait months for results, they are immediate. And not just visible, but measurable as well, because with PPC advertising everything is measurable.

On the plus side, it is all about the customer, understanding their needs, mapping their habits and using statistics to determine the most profitable keywords to target. A/B testing will ensure that you choose the best ones, the ones with the highest click-through rate, and continue with the campaign. 

PPC also provides the opportunity to create remarketing ads, which is a highly effective type of advertising. It can be used to reach users who have already shown interest in the product or service, for example by clicking on the landing page. These ads have a very good return on investment.

Disadvantages of a PPC campaign

The biggest downside of PPC campaigns is that they can be a real money-sucking drain if not managed by the right hands. It takes a huge amount of marketing experience for a PPC professional to set up the ads properly, as there are many points where mistakes can slip into the process and you will be wasting money that you are paying for ads. 

For example, if you don't optimise for the best keywords, the result will be that the ad will not appear for the right keywords, which means that it will not be relevant to users, meaning they will not click on the content.

It is not only incompetence that can cause problems, it is also not good luck to build your marketing activity solely and exclusively on PPC. When putting together marketing tools, you need to create a mix of elements that support each other from multiple angles. In the long term, this is the only way to achieve results at a realistic price.

PPC or SEO? Both!

Based on the above, the question may arise: do you need SEO if you have paid PPC ads? Yes, the answer is definitely yes, because in addition to paid traffic you also need organic traffic, which you can get with SEO. 

Search engine optimisation uses keywords from a list of keywords in the same way as a PPC campaign, but SEO is a long-term, conscious building block that provides a solid foundation for all marketing activities. The results are slower to come, but much more sustainable. While PPC only ‘works’ while the ad is running, search engine optimised content is constantly doing its job, quietly, in the background, and pushing up the results list.

So there is no need to choose between PPC and SEO, both are needed, just in different situations. SEO gives you great basic visibility which, if used consciously, can work wonders over time, and PPC is a good choice when you need quick results.

Revenue-generating digital advertising with Meraki

At Meraki, we believe that marketing is not just a pink mist. When we use a tool, when we launch a campaign, we expect a positive result. That's why, as the first step in setting up a PPC campaign, we conduct an audit to examine the ad account and identify any gaps or problems. 

A campaign and media plan is then put together to best serve your business objectives. We negotiate the best rates for the campaigns, and the ads are constantly tracked, monitored, measured and optimised. Summary reports are produced on the results of the ads, so the client can see what they have spent their money on.

Are you ready to help us increase your revenue? Get to know the Meraki method and if you like what you see, contact us!