12 Insightful PPC Tips to Attract Local Audience
1. Set Your Budget
The first step to any PPC campaign is setting the right budget. As a first step, budgeting sets the tone for the entire campaign. It sets a monetary guideline that can help the campaign direction.
The budget can vary according to different factors. The industry vertical, geographic location, and company size are important factors. Budgets can vary, but you need to research and find a number you're comfortable with.
Budgeting is also critical to finding the right agency to get your PPC done. It is the first question an agency usually asks you. They can give you a good starting budget if you've engaged the agency before.
2. Understand The Business
This is an area where a lot of companies tend to skim over. To get the most out of your PPC marketing, you need to know your industry inside out. This means several aspects of your business that you might not have discussed before.
Once you know your business, you can factor in strengths that you can apply. Another aspect is to work with PPC to help weak areas of your business. Together, you can create a consolidated ad campaign covering your business.
The key here is to understand the nuances of your business and apply them to PPC. You also need to figure out how your competitors approach their ad campaigns. You can either opt for tools or professional PPC marketing agencies to help you with this.
3. Identify Your Competition
Talking about competition and their PPC campaigns, you need to identify the right ones first. Depending on your industry, this might be pretty straightforward or complicated.
More general high competition niches tend to have restricted competitors. These are brands that are consistently at the top of the rankings. People also naturally gravitate toward them for their services.
One way of identifying the right competitors is to monitor social feeds particular to your industry. Check out the comments and tags regularly. These normally give you an idea of the popular players in the business. Start with the top five competitors and work beating the top brand.
4. Focus On Keyword Research
Adequate keyword research is one of the most crucial parts of the entire PPC process. This is where you need to spend a lot of time highlighting the right keywords. And because marketing is volatile, these tend to change over time.
There are several ways to come up with an exhaustive list of keywords. Once you've come up with a keyword list, try using them in content pieces and ads. These have a marked effect on your ranking.
There are several tools available that can get you the right keywords. The best tools tend to be expensive, especially if you're just starting. You could also opt for a full-service digital marketing agency. They can give you access to tools and talent at a low cost.
5. Set Up Google Ads
Once you've done the above steps, it's time to create your own Google Ad. This is where all your keyword research will be important. Keywords form the basis for Google Ads. But there are still a few choices that you need to make for keywords.
Several types of matches for keywords are broad, phrase, and exact. These vary in their usage, but they need to come together in an ad campaign. The key here is to create a Single Keyword Ad Group (SKAG).
This allows the usage of keywords in a better context for Google Ads. It combines the practicality of board search with the flexibility of phrase and power of exact search. These give you the best option to be used in multiple ad campaigns.
6. Apply Metrics And Tracking
Once you've set up your Google Ad campaign, it's time to implement tracking. While many of us take tracking for granted, it is mandatory to perform well. There are instances when companies do not even link their Analytics to their website.
As with any other campaign, tracking is an important part of the process. It was complicated earlier to set up tracking for your website. Today, it is easy, and all it takes is about a few minutes to set up.
The most common tracking tools for your website are Google Analytics, Tag Manager, and HotJar. Once these are connected to your website, you can draw many insights through their numbers. Facebook Pixel is another option for social media tracking.
7. Create Quality Ad Copy
People underestimate the power of quality copy when creating ads. You need to create ad copy now that you've set up your Google ads and tracking. The general thinking about ad copy is that the copy isn't important once you've set up the technical side.
This is far from true in the current context. People have become more discerning of late because they have a lot of choices in any industry. Tools and keywords can get your ads in front of the user. But only a good copy can get them to click.
You need to do your homework if you want them to click on your ad. Use words that are enticing to them depending on the niche you're in. These can vary, and you need to do some research or even reverse engineer competitor copy.
8. Opt For Extensions
Once you've got your ad copy down, the next step is to focus on better ad visibility. This is where extensions can help you get the most out of your ad. Not just that, ad extensions also improve your quality score, meaning more traffic.
There are several types of extensions that you can opt for. They deliver different results as required. For example, call extensions attach call buttons to your ad. There are also location extensions that can show nearby locations of your business.
Using these extensions can have a marked difference to your ad performance. It makes your ad pop out more to people browsing and results in better clicks.
9. Add Geo-Targeting
Another area where people do not pay much attention to PPC is geo-targeting. You need to configure the right locations to get optimal traffic from the area. Here, you need to know where the bulk of your audience is from to consolidate this.
The Google Ad platform allows people to opt for specific areas - country, cities, even locales. This gives you unprecedented control over your ad location. It allows you to funnel relevant traffic to your website.
Combining this with appropriate landing pages to get a high-conversion PPC marketing funnel. This can also significantly cut down bounce rates and low on-page visit times.
10. Analyze Search Reports
Reports are a useful source of information and insights. Search reports can generate useful data which can be used to improve your PPC campaign. Many people overlook this, so don't make the same mistake.
Not many companies look in-depth at reports after setting up all the different parts of the PPC marketing funnel. This is a problem because it can tell you so much about your pipeline.
It can add several new keywords or even unearth new niches for you to focus on. Reports can also highlight weak areas of your marketing process which you can remove.
11. Configure Retargeting Process
Retargeting is the way of getting back to people who didn't complete the marketing process. This is a powerful method of getting more traction for your PPC marketing.
You don't want to lose people from your marketing pipeline as a brand. They can end up with your competitors and hence costing your business. Effective retargeting gives you a second chance to win their business back.
Building a retargeting mechanism to add to your PPC marketing process is vital to success. You can also use Facebook retargeting for your business. It's a great way to build relationships with people who visited but didn't buy.
12. Test The Process Repeatedly
Once you've completed all the processes here, you're still not done. Testing is crucial to finding out errors that arise from your marketing processes. Set up different A/B testing methods to determine the best results for your marketing.
It can help salvage performance and reduce spending for your campaign. Various AI-assisted tools can be used for testing ads. These can reduce the time taken to create a powerful PPC marketing campaign.
Companies that have ignored testing can have issues in the long run. It can explain why your campaign suddenly drops in performance after an update.
Local Audience & PPC - FAQs
1. What Is PPC Marketing?
Simply put, pay-per-click marketing is a part of internet marketing. It works by charging advertisers a fee each time a person clicks the ad. It is an advantage when you consider other traditional ads. You only have to pay if the person engages with your ad. It has become as effective as organic methods of gaining traction for brands.
2. What Is A Minimal Budget For A PPC Campaign?
Unfortunately, the best applicable answer is - it depends on the niche. Some niches might be a lot more competitive than others, for example, law firms versus pest control contractors. There is no way to determine a minimal budget. Reports suggest that SMBs spend up to $10k every month on just PPC.
3. Can PPC Benefit My Business?
It definitely can help you get more customers. Unlike traditional or fully organic marketing, you get results quicker with PPC. It works for both B2B and B2C enterprise paradigms. The cost per lead is also lower than other forms of marketing, making it flexible even for newer companies. It can also help you compete better with bigger competitors in the market.
4. Is PPC Management Critical To The Local Audience?
Managing your PPC process is a critical part of marketing success. A team of marketers strategize, execute, and monitor a PPC pipeline. This provides companies a real-time view of their marketing process working for them. It can be done in-house if you have the specialized team it requires. Or, you can outsource it to another digital agency which can save you time and money in the long run.
5. How Is PPC Different From Paid Ads?
They are similar in that PPC is a type of paid ad. But all paid ads are not PPC. Paid ads refer to any ad content that you pay for. This includes search engine display ads or banners. PPC differs because it is only displayed when the user searches for a specific keyword. The ad is only charged if the user clicks on it, unlike paid ads that keep them running.
6. How Can I Find Someone To Manage My PPC Campaign?
Today's marketing processes have been complex due to the competition in the market. While it was possible to have a multifunctional team execute PPC earlier, it isn't today. You need a specialized team of marketers to produce the results you want. If you don't have one, it can be expensive to hire a team and might take longer. The best solution would be to opt for a professional PPC marketing agency for your company.