How To Use PPC For Lead Generation

4 Tips To Increase Warm Prospects

Today we’re taking a deeper dive into pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, especially for generating leads. The right SEO keywords paired with the right campaigns can significantly boost the number of leads you get.

What Is PPC?

A PPC ad appears at the top of a relevant search engine results page, typically Google or Bing. You most likely see a few of them every day; most product and business-related searches have one to three PPC ads on the results page.

The reason they’re called “pay-per-click” is just how it sounds: the advertiser doesn’t pay a dime for the ad unless somebody clicks on it. The price per click ranges anywhere from a few cents to a couple of hundred dollars, depending on how competitive the keyword is. Businesses bid on the keywords their ad appears on. The more money invested in the campaign, the more clicks it can pay for before it dries up and gets removed.

READ MORE: SEO and PPC Better Together: Optimizing Marketing Campaigns

Why You Should Add PPC To Your Strategy

Regardless of your level of prior experience, consider adding PPC to your toolbelt. Here are a few reasons why:

  1. Double Your Money!

This is a useful rule of thumb: An effective PPC campaign should net you two dollars for every dollar you invest. In other words, you can quickly double the money on your investment by going with PPC.

Many marketers search for the magic bullet; the strategy or tactic to guarantee success. While I’m not convinced there is one, this could be the closest thing.

  1. Put Your Money To Work

Another reason that PPC is so effective is due to the very nature of paying “per click.” Every dollar they charge comes from somebody clicking on your ad. This beats paying for an ad campaign elsewhere that generates zero engagement.

This also means that you can adjust your campaign on the fly if you’re getting no engagement, with no financial loss. 

As a platform that could double your money and ensure that every dollar you spend pays for direct engagement, things are starting to look really good.

  1. Build Brand Awareness

The second page of Google results is a barren wasteland, and yet those results are still ahead of millions. What really matters is getting to the front page. With PPC, you can skip the line, becoming the first offer people see. 

If it truly takes 8-10 “touches” to get people to commit, your ad serves as the first touch. Seeing your name at the top will build awareness and familiarity with your brand even if the prospect doesn’t click, and if they don’t, you pay nothing.

This alone should make you want to start a PPC campaign today. When you pair it with the financial facts, PPC becomes irresistible.

Here’s the kicker: The businesses you consult for will want you to help with their PPC campaigns, so you may as well gain expertise while you gain leads.

WATCH THIS: Special Case Study Recording With Nick (Establishing Yourself As An Expert)

How To Get More Leads On Your PPC Campaigns

The fact that you can double your investment, maximize your leverage, and gain brand awareness makes PPC a very competitive platform. Here are a few tips to stand out from the pack. 

  1. Match the words in your ad to the terms the prospect searches for.

You would be surprised how often people miss this. Say somebody searches “Marketing plan,” because they want someone to develop a strategy for their business. You want to make sure your ad includes the phrase “marketing plan” at least once. Otherwise, the prospect won’t even look at it.

If you bid on a keyword, be sure to write that keyword into your ad copy as much as possible.

  1. Match the ad’s copy with your brand’s copy.

A PPC ad is your brand’s first impression. With it, you begin developing a relationship with the prospect. Therefore, make sure that it matches the overall tone and style of your brand. 

Here are a few examples of tone: authoritative, knowledgeable, confident, plucky, empathetic.

This consistency also helps after they make the click. Make the language on your landing page or sales page match the language on the ad, so that the experience isn’t disjointed for the prospect. If they feel a lack of continuity, they will click away.

  1. Give something away!

This is possibly the best way to generate leads using PPC, but one that often goes underutilized.

Many make the mistake of asking for too much commitment upfront: A PPC ad takes the prospect to a sales page for a product costing several hundred dollars. Perhaps the prospect clicks the ad, but then the high price tag on the sales page scares them away. The marketer has paid for the first click, but gets nothing in return.

The best way to gain commitment is through a sense of reciprocity. Take baby steps. Give something away for free to the prospect, in exchange for their email address. What you give depends on your business model.

If you want to work with startups, you could give away a PDF about pitfalls to avoid during the first few months. If you work with a larger business, maybe you give away a free audit of their website or analytics for their current campaigns.

You want to give them every reason to click and reward the click thoroughly. In fact, reward a potential customer for every step of commitment they take. 

  1. Run a limited-time offer.

Once you have the previous tip down, you can pair it with this to send your engagement through the roof!

Either offer a temporary sale on one of your services like “50% off SEO cleanup for your website,” or a limited-giveaway like “the first ten to click get a free SWOT analysis on their marketing strategy.”

Make sure that you always follow through on your freebies and limited-time offers. Don’t act like a furniture store with perpetual-yet-urgent sales; your prospects will see through that. Make it a genuine limited-time offer, and honor the sale or giveaway.

 A lack of integrity in this area may give you some short-term success, but the way to stay successful is consistency and integrity.

Unlock The Power Of PPC

Consider adding PPC to your advertising strategy. If you’re just starting out, experiment with it. It could serve as a way to generate leads like none other.

Make sure that the wording and copy are consistent, and that you reward every click. In no time you’ll start to gain all the prospects you can handle.

 

Nick Ponte

Nick Ponte

Born and raised on Maui, Nick was employed as an automobile mechanic before founding his own local marketing agency. Nick naturally wrestled with the change from tradesman to marketer (not an easy transition) but, like Tom, he wouldn't give up. Through years of commitment, Nick has grown to be a highly skilled web developer and marketing expert with a specialized skill-sets in a variety of fields. He has developed many high-traffic, high-quality websites that incorporate the best practices for today's digital marketing. Today, Nick eagerly shares his experience and knowledge by helping others in cultivating their business.

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