Paid Search Marketing or Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) advertising is an amazing tool for reaching customers online. It acts as a pull marketing technique that brings customers to you based on their searches. Through Paid search marketing (PPC), advertisers pay only when a user clicks on their ad; these clicks increase site traffic and, ultimately, also increase the chances of converting these leads into buyers or clients. Paid search marketing (PPC) is generally intent based marketing since it brings in customers based on their searches and what they’re looking for. This is especially useful for industrial companies since their target audience is usually more specific and harder to reach via organic SEO or traditional forms of marketing. Let’s explore.

Paid Search Marketing (PPC) is Quick to Start

Unlike a number of other traffic sources, paid search can be a comparatively quick way to substantially increase the amount of targeted, high quality traffic visiting your site. For industrial companies in particular, it may take months before SEO or content initiatives begin driving traffic volume and leads at a level you want. In contrast, paid search marketing (PPC) allows you to build campaigns in a relatively short time and can drive as much traffic as you’re willing to pay for. It can be an efficient and effective way to quickly introduce your products and services to a large new audience.

Paid search marketing (PPC) allows you to start with a small campaign and later scale it up or down based on your results and needs. For example, you can decide which keywords and placements you want to target and how restrictive they should be, allowing you to better determine who you target. Paid search marketing (PPC) also gives you great financial control over your marketing strategy, allowing you to set daily budgets to determine how much you want to spend. Also, unlike traditional marketing, changes can be made quickly and on an as-needed basis throughout the course of a PPC campaign, meaning you can tailor your messaging at any time to improve your reach. This feature is also the foundation for A/ B testing, which is having 2 different ads in the same campaign with slight variations to see which yields better results.

Paid Search Marketing (PPC) is Measurable

One of the most attractive aspects of paid search marketing (PPC) is the level of detail you’ll get in terms of reporting. We know most industrial companies are large scale businesses who may experience significant website traffic. Directing PPC traffic to dedicated landing pages allows you to precisely measure customers’ rates of interaction — from initial click all the way to final purchase. By using tools like Google Analytics, you can check most key performance indicators (KPIs) to quickly and easily gauge how well your advertising is performing and make changes on the fly to make your campaigns more effective. You can track exactly how many times your ad is seen, the number of clicks each keyword is generating, average cost per click, your click through rate, average ad position, conversion rate, cost per conversion, and much more.

Paid Search Marketing (PPC) Allows You to Reach Your Target Audience

One of the greatest challenges for businesses of any kind is figuring out how to reach their target audiences. With traditional outbound marketing techniques, advertisers send out ads to a broad audience hoping to find interested potential buyers or clients. With paid search marketing (PPC), however, advertisements only appear when users search online for a specific product or service, for example “Aluminum metal tools”; in this way, the ads only target people who are already interested in what you’re offering. Using paid search marketing (PPC) ads strategically allows you to target consumers at specific stages of the buying cycle, when they’re already exploring options and ready to buy.

Paid Search Marketing (PPC) is Competitive

Because paid search marketing (PPC) is essentially a live auction for advertising space, cost per click for a keyword is market-driven. That means that the cost per click in a given category will rise upon demand until it reaches the point that it’s difficult to be successful. Achieving ongoing success requires excellent execution at all points in the process, including precise targeting, compelling copy, and product or service quality levels that drive repeat business. Make sure the content you’re producing is high quality and professional!

Paid Search Marketing (PPC) Requires Strategy

Paid search marketing is a great opportunity to make first contact with potential industrial customers who might otherwise have never considered your company. A huge portion of the market begins their search for products and services by going to Google. Paid search marketing (PPC) is too important, effective, and measurable to be ignored. But devoting all your energy and budget toward solely paid marketing is NOT a good idea. Paid search marketing (PPC) is effective when combined with a simple and attractive website with clear calls to action, content and resources that educate the buyer as they research, lead nurturing that keeps users engaged, a social media presence that empowers existing customers to recommend you to their friends and family, and a precise sales funnel to close the deal. 

If you need help building your paid search marketing strategy, don’t hesitate to contact our experts at Virtual Image. We would love to help!