PPC goes beyond Google Ads, including display advertising and social media. Choosing the right online channel depends on what and who you are selling to.
For example, a clothing brand about to open a new store may want to reach a young audience living near the store’s location. Through Facebook it can gather potential customers. For a plumber, a local Google Ads campaign is probably the best option. A car brand can use display advertising to create brand awareness so its target audience can make a purchase decision.
Despite the particularities of each channel, a successful PPC campaign will always depend on four variables:
- Global strategy, including channels and budgets;
- Campaign’s structure and optimization;
- Relevance of the ads for its targeted audience;
- Quality of the ads and its performance.
Google Ads
Google Ads is the most popular online advertising network, whose search ads are paid links identified with an ad note at the top and at the bottom of Google search pages.
Each time a person clicks on these links, the advertiser is charged an amount that depends on several aspects, such as the keyword search volume, the quality of the ad and the campaign optimization.
Display Ads
The Google Display Network (GDN) allows you to advertise on an endless range of websites, reaching over 80% of internet users. GDN supports text and image ads, including animations. Payment is normally made on a CPM (cost-per-thousand) system, which means that for every thousand times the ad is exhibited, an amount is paid.
Social Media Ads
Its main advantage is that it allows you to create highly targeted ads. Once social media requires new users to give their personal data, these informations are gathered by the channels and presented to the brands so they can accurately target their ads audience. To make clear: these data are all anonymous, and the brands can not know personal information from their target audience.
The pros and cons of PPC campaigns
Benefits
- Quick results – unlike organic results (SEO), which can take several months to be indexed on SERPs.
- It is scalable – you can increase or decrease campaigns, or pause them according to your needs. It is fully adjustable.
- Highly targetable – you can target your audience with several information about them, like location, gender, age etc. Which means, you can choose who will see your ads.
- It is one of the most measurable digital channels. You can find out which keywords generated more sales or return on investment (ROI).
Disadvantages
- As a campaign stops, so do its advantages. It is a short-term solution.
- Success comes at a cost. In order to get your ads at the top places, be conscious you will probably have to pay more.
- Research indicates that the majority of Internet users understand the difference between organic and paid results, therefore they trust more in the organic. About 85% of clicks on each search come from SEO.