Looking to drive extra traffic to your company website? Paid advertising is a great strategy to help if budget permits.
So, what is paid advertising?
Paid advertising as a marketing strategy that allows businesses to target potential clients based on their search activity, location, interests and other relevant information.
The most common form of paid advertising is pay-per-click (PPC).
PPC is where businesses bid on specific terms relevant to their industry. This then serves up content to people who are searching related terms. If they click on your link, you then pay the relevant amount for the click.
You will commonly see PPC adverts when you perform a google search, but these also feature across social media platforms, and other sites across the internet.
Paid advertising is a very effective way to generate new leads, as it allows you to be more specific and targeted than traditional forms of marketing, such as printed adverts in your local press.
How do I choose the best format for my business?
There are several types of PPC adverts to choose from – search, video, display, shopping and retargeting are just a few of the formats available.
When you are starting out marketing your services, a great place to start is with search and social media advertising. Both formats allow to you to be targeted in your approach, but they are also easy to set up and low maintenance to keep running.
- Search ad campaigns are built using keywords (search terms commonly used when searching on Google). To get started with advertising on Google, you will need to create a Google Ads account.
- Social media ads use data based on people’s behaviours and interests. To activate on Facebook and Instagram, you will need a Meta for business account.
Make your budget work harder for you
It is important to have a clear budget in mind when you start advertising to make sure you don’t overspend. It is easy to think that more money equals more revenue, but this isn’t always the case. It is important to be targeted when running an effective paid advertising strategy to ensure it generates a good return over time, even on a small budget.
For PPC search ads in Google, the amount you pay will vary by search term – you will pay more money to bid on a broader search term, e.g. “power drill” and less money for more specific and targeted terms, e.g. “Ryobi 18v One+ Cordless Compact Driver”.
For paid ads in Social media, you can take advantage of the available data about user’ behaviours and interests to build audiences. If using Meta for business (Facebook, Instagram), you can import your existing clients’ email addresses to generate a ‘lookalike’ audience, allowing you to show your ads to leads with a similar profile to your existing clients.
By being targeted in your approach, you can drive better high-quality traffic to you site, and less cost for your business.
So, where should I direct the incoming traffic?
The first part of an effective paid advertising strategy is to get customers to click on your ad.
The second part, is getting the customers to take action once they land on your website.
Think about where you are sending your traffic to – is this page reflective of your brand? Does it include all the information potential clients need? Is your proposition clearly highlighted? Is it easy to understand the services you are offering and pricing clearly displayed? Are your contact details clear and is there a form where customers can fill in their details to register interest?
A clear landing page is more likely to convert potential leads in to customers, and this means that the money spent on the click is not wasted.
If you are struggling for ideas, remember its always a good idea to review what similar businesses that you respect are doing – what sort of ads are they running? And where do they drive their traffic to?
Let’s give this a try!
What have you got to lose? Agreeing a small budget amount is a test is a great way to see if paid advertising can work for you.
Remember there are also lots of free ways to market your business such as search engine optimisation (SEO) and content marketing.
All this extra traffic is great for business! If you need support with your accounts, we’d love to help.
Get in touch with our friendly team today on 01234 326 447.