PPC: The Best Online Diagnostic Tool Money Can Buy
I am a strong believer in doing your homework before taking action. Impulse marketing decisions not only have a slim chance of success, but they almost always have a negative effect on your brand, plus they are a waste of precious marketing dollars.
PPC is one of the best discovery tools of the online marketing trade. If used properly, it is the smart bomb in your arsenal of marketing tools. Here are some points to consider.
PPC answers the tough questions.
Every business needs to constantly reevaluate and refine their marketing efforts in today’s online marketing space. We all need up-to-date answers to questions like: Do I need a new website? Do I need to focus on a particular geographical segment? Am I currently getting revenue from the people I think should be spending with me… etc. A well-managed PPC campaign can be used to answer these questions based on actual numbers, instead of the whims and fancies of a marketing or management team.
PPC can provide answers fast.
On average, 3-6 months of data from a well-managed campaign can provide a business with some hard facts about which areas of their website are working and where the website has failed to connect with the target market. For any client that comes to us for a overhaul of their marketing strategy, I strongly recommend starting with PPC before blindly investing in website changes. Even if you have an existing PPC program, sometimes a new PPC campaign that focuses on different niche markets can bring in additional revenue and valuable information. In fact, sometimes a better-run, creative PPC campaign is all you need to reach the right audience and complement your SEO efforts. However, even if this isn’t enough, at least you get specifics on exactly what you need to do to improve your website and marketing program.
You can test new strategies at minimal cost.
Of all the online marketing channels, PPC provides the best reading you can get from Google. Think about it: you are paying them money to rank for certain keywords, a mutually beneficial relationship that provides revenue for Google and targeted traffic plus a goldmine of data for you. Instead of wondering how it would be to rank #1 for your top competitive keywords on Google, you get an actual taste of it. Most important, you can see how your website performs with the traffic that comes in from highly competitive keywords. This information allows you to focus on the areas of your website where you lose revenue. There is no other way to take your old or new website on such a realistic test drive and collect usable data along the way.
So, if a search marketing agency is pushing their extensive 5-year, 100,000-mile contract, ask them for a test ride before you sign up with them. Marketing plans based on faith, gut feelings and shiny collateral are almost guaranteed to fail. Do your homework, then invest wisely in a successful strategy.
