Who To Trust With Your PPC Management: In-House vs. Agency Marketing
In-house vs. agency marketing: which is the savviest approach to your PPC ad management?
If the circumstances are right, there is a solid business case for both in-house and agency marketing.
Choosing the right approach for your business will have a huge impact ‒ whether that means in-house, agency, or some strategic hybrid. There are many factors to consider and making the wrong choice can be very costly.
Read on for a detailed breakdown of the real pros and cons of partnering with a marketing agency vs. in-house PPC management, starting with the one big mistake you can’t afford.
Here’s the Biggest Misconception: What Does In-House vs. Agency Marketing Really Cost?
To begin, there is a major misconception about in-house vs. agency marketing that many companies fall victim to:
The cost of keeping their PPC advertising in-house vs. agency marketing solutions.
Cost is often the deciding factor for companies on the question of when to hire a marketing agency for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
And many business owners believe that hiring a marketing agency to do your PPC is inherently more expensive than doing it in-house.
But in reality, for numerous reasons, doing PPC management in-house is often far more expensive than outsourcing it to a capable agency.
- Maintaining a successful PPC advertising campaign requires experience and skill. Adding just one intermediate PPC manager to your staff will cost roughly $86,000 in salary, insurance, and benefits alone.
- That means that having a small internal marketing department of three or four employees will easily run you upward of $200,000 per year.
- Compare that to the cost of outsourcing your PPC management to an agency, which ranges from $20,000 to $200,000 per year depending on your needs ‒ and which gets you an experienced team managing and creating your PPC ads.
Plus, as with any employee, hiring an in-house PPC manager will cost more than just what you pay in salary, benefits, and insurance. There’s also:
- Recruitment costs. To find the right candidate, you have to set aside a budget that covers the costs of ads, networking events, and recruitment staff.
- Training and onboarding costs. Even the best new employees take time to adapt and reach full productivity.
- Equipment and software costs. An in-house marketing team will need software tools for analytics, ad creation, and more in order to do their jobs.
- Management costs. Spending time and resources managing and maintaining that person’s employment, from payroll to ensuring they produce quality work.
PPC advertising is an integral part of your lead generation strategy. It should be managed with the same care and attention as any other key part of your business.
If you are not able to dedicate the resources to this area, then it is almost always better to outsource your PPC management to a professional agency instead. Full stop.
Beyond Costs: Doing PPC In-House vs. Agency Marketing
Let’s put costs aside for a moment and look at other factors to consider when deciding whether to hire an agency or manage your PPC campaigns in-house.
When it comes to in-house vs. agency marketing, the TrafficSoda team has experience on both sides of the coin:
- We’re a digital marketing agency, and PPC management is something we handle for a number of clients across North America.
- However, there are times when we tell prospective clients that they would be better off handling their own PPC management, or outsourcing only a small part of it.
- And as a company that does most of our own marketing in-house, we are fully aware of the advantages and challenges involved.
In the following sections, we will examine the differences between working with an agency and hiring your own PPC team to help you decide the best choice for your business.
3 Benefits of a Professional PPC Management Agency
Marketing agencies that provide PPC management services are invaluable partners for small and medium-size businesses that want to increase traffic, leads, and sales online – but don’t want to spend $200,000/year or more on an internal marketing department.
1. Agency Expertise Gives You More Value
The best agencies give you access to a level of skill and expertise at a cost that is otherwise out of reach for most small and medium-sized businesses.
Many agencies give you access to team members specializing in many areas so you can take advantage of multiple marketing channels: Google Ads management, eCommerce PPC management, and more.
The benefits of agency experience include:
- Confidence in decision-making. Giving up some control can be scary, but a trusted digital marketing agency will give you the confidence that they have your best interest in mind with their ideas and execution.
- Advanced technology. Most agencies have an expert knowledge of the technologies they work with. They know the best ways to employ these technologies to reach their desired goals. You will gain access to advanced tools and bespoke services to suit your needs and requirements.
- New opportunities. The creative potential when you work with an agency is virtually limitless since you get an entire team of specialists with a wide range of skill sets who can be quickly called on depending on the project needs.
Agencies are experts in their field, they know how to create the best PPC strategy for your business.
2. You Can Ramp Up Advertising FAST (and Scale Back Just as Quickly)
Scalability is one of the biggest benefits of outsourcing your PPC management to an agency. Whether you want to boost your advertising during busy seasons or get more business in slower times, an agency can help.
In-house teams are limited in both resources and team members. Agencies have access to a larger number of team members with different skill sets that makes scaling seamless on your end.
Among the benefits of ramping up and scaling back quickly are:
- Outpace competitors. A quick response to changes in your market gives you an advantage over your competitors by targeting specific needs or segments of your audience.
- Get to market faster. Have a new business or product line? Hire an agency instead of building your own team until you have the time and resources to do so.
- Always on point. If you ever need to stop your ads or change your messaging quickly, an agency can handle it. There is no need to mobilize your internal resources. Remember how many businesses had to shut down or switch to curbside service early in 2020? Our team at TrafficSoda immediately jumped into action to ensure our clients’ advertising complied.
3. Your Agency’s Success Is Measured By YOUR Outcomes
Reputable agencies go out of their way to make sure that they deliver the best results for you and, in return, get more business opportunities with future potential clients.
You and your agency partners both know what’s on the line if they don’t deliver results. So, agencies work tirelessly to deliver.
There are many benefits to you from this dynamic, including:
- Fuel your growth. A good agency knows that they must deliver results and work hard for your business. You can trust an agency partner to deliver what you need to grow, whether it’s traffic, leads, or sales.
- Know what you’re paying for. In order to prove their results, a professional PPC management agency will meticulously track the performance of your ads and provide you with detailed reports. You see exactly what you’re paying for, so you’re confident you’re making the right choice.
- Constant improvement. Agencies are constantly evolving to stay competitive in the industry. With clients demanding more and better results, agencies have to find ways to keep up with that. It’s hard to maintain that kind of momentum in an internal team.
Marketing agencies are more than just a business that helps you with your marketing needs. They have the skillset to help you grow with your business with qualified resources, analytics and data, and insights.
3 Benefits of an In-House Marketing Team
For some businesses, building an in-house team to handle PPC advertising just makes sense. Internal PPC managers give you a greater level of control and a more focused approach.
1. Your In-House Team Knows Your Brand Inside and Out
You have a brand at the core of your marketing strategy, and your internal team knows it best. An in-house team is already immersed in and understands your company’s culture.
Your in-house team will already have more immediate and intimate knowledge of your brand and company culture, while it will take time for an agency to understand you. A PPC campaign aimed solely at branding rather than lead or sales generation may be better handled by an in-house team.
However, in the same way as your internal team takes time to get to know your brand, a good and professional PPC management agency will take time to get to know your brand as well.
2. Your Marketers Are Just Down the Hall
Because you’re all under one roof, having an in-house marketing team will save you from ever playing phone-tag with your marketers. It will be easier for your marketing team to coordinate with you and with other departments, allowing for greater collaboration and communication.
Since agencies aren’t next door, and you have to contact them by phone or email, it is essential that you find an agency that is responsive to your needs.
3. Your Team Works Only For You
Since digital marketing agencies have many clients, you might feel at times that you aren’t at the top of their priority list.
Your in-house marketing team focuses 100% on your business, not on other clients.
That said, it’s a mistake to assume that just because your team has singular focus means they’ll definitely achieve the results you need. You can still benefit from an agency’s experience even if they work with multiple clients.
When to Use an Agency and In-House PPC Advertising
While PPC advertising can generate significant business revenue, it requires a substantial investment of money and time.
Agencies, on the other hand, are more cost-effective, tend to produce better results, and offer the convenience of not having to manage PPC campaigns yourself.
We have outlined a few common business cases for both to help you better understand how they can benefit your business.
When to Hire a Marketing Agency for PPC Management
PPC advertising is a complex process that involves many strategies and tools.
You should hire an agency to do your PPC management if:
- You want a team with the most experienced people in the industry with specialized skills, and don’t want to build out a minimum $200,000/year PPC department.
- You want to be able to scale quickly, pause or pivot when required, without having to muster resources in-house.
- You value results and accountability. When your agency partner fails to deliver results, you won’t have a working relationship for long, so incentives are aligned and there’s a sense of urgency.
You can save time and money by having a PPC agency handle everything for you, and you will receive the quality of results only experienced and specialized teams can deliver.
When to Keep PPC Management In-House
In certain cases, it may be more efficient for the company to handle its PPC internally.
You may do better doing PPC advertising in-house if:
- You need local expertise. In a unique market, you might not want your ad campaigns managed by a third party who doesn’t understand local market conditions.
- You are a startup with venture funding. Startups that receive venture capital are usually expected to use that capital to expand their own internal teams, and you’ll have the means to acquire top talent.
- You work in a very obscure market. Some markets require unique marketing channels that are impossible to scale linearly. PPC aimed at government contracts or seasonal cycles, for example, may be better handled by in-house experts.
Keep in mind that this may not be an all or nothing decision. You can also use a digital marketing agency and an in-house team together, bringing some aspects of PPC advertising in-house or outsourcing others.
Drive More Traffic and Revenue with PPC Advertising
While both in-house and agency marketing have their advantages, most companies are far better off with one or the other. When choosing which method is best for your company, take the time to carefully weigh your options.
Our PPC advertising experts know how it’s done, and we have the track record to prove it.
Start with a FREE consultation and see how we get you results.
How Long Does It Take for PPC to Work?
PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is often considered the fastest solution in the digital marketing “toolkit” for driving traffic, generating leads, and making sales for your business.
And while PPC advertising generates impressions and clicks faster than SEO (search engine optimization), PPC doesn’t give you instant results like form fills and sales conversions.
Just like any digital marketing strategy, buying traffic through PPC ads takes planning, patience, and monitoring.
Meaningful results don’t happen overnight.
So, how long does it take for PPC to work? Let’s look at an overview of a typical PPC timeline, the main factors that influence how long it takes, and strategies to speed up the process.
How Long PPC Takes: What a Typical Timeline Looks Like
To answer the question of how long it takes for PPC to work, it’s important to define what we’re talking about in terms of results.
Yes, PPC advertising can bring in impressions and clicks right away. Sometimes you can even get lucky with a few sales and leads in the first few days and weeks.
But fine-tuning your campaign to bring in consistent, cost-efficient, and high-quality results takes time. Getting all aspects of the campaign working together can take between 3 and 9 months.
Here’s a quick overview of how this process can play out over a 9-month timeline.
Months 1-3: Gather Data and Make Early Adjustments
You can’t optimize a PPC campaign without data. So, the first stage of the campaign is getting enough relevant traffic to gather data for campaign optimization and expansion.
As soon as you have enough data to start noticing trends, you can begin to refine your campaign to increase its visibility and performance. For example:
- In a search ad campaign, adjust your keywords to ensure your ads show up for relevant searches. You can also add negative keywords to keep your ads from showing up for search queries that aren’t related or swap out headlines and descriptions that aren’t getting impressions.
- In a display ad campaign, pause underperforming ad creatives or exclude publisher placements that aren’t relevant to your ad or aren’t generating results.
- In a social media ad campaign, pause ads that are underperforming so more of your budget is spent on what works. You can also pause ad placements if they aren’t generating results or adjust your audience targeting.
With these early optimizations, your PPC traffic quality, conversion rate, and return on investment will improve. But to truly bring your PPC campaign results to the next level, there is still more work to do.
Months 3-6: Build on What Works
Once you have an idea of what’s working, you can start experimenting with new options that iterate on your current strategy.
Having some confidence in what’s going to drive clicks, leads, and sales can also allow you to increase your budget. Spending more on ad groups that are already bringing results can boost your results while also bringing in even more valuable data.
This is also the time when you have clarity on what’s not working, which may include entire advertising platforms. For example, if you started out with a combination of search ads and social media ads and only one channel is working, you should have enough data by now to decide whether to stop one channel altogether and focus on the one that is working.
Lastly, at this stage in your campaign, focus on your landing page’s quality and performance, especially if your ads are still underperforming. Be sure to pay attention not only to the technical performance (like load times and mobile responsiveness) of your landing pages but also to the relevance of its messaging to your ads.
Months 6-9: Remarket and Optimize
Now that we have collected a wealth of data and know what works, it’s time to start remarketing to track down lost leads and potential customers that need a little push.
Remarketing can also help to boost brand awareness and increase conversions.
At this point, you may need to refresh your ads with new imagery, headlines, or descriptive copy. Eventually, your audience will grow tired of the same old ads, especially if you’re dealing with a smaller audience.
Keep an eye on your social media and display ad frequency. You want to get in front of your customers, but you don’t want to overwhelm them with ads.
Why Aren’t PPC Ads Always an Overnight Success?
In order to be successful at PPC advertising, regularly monitoring and optimizing campaigns based on real, statistically relevant data is imperative.
Although PPC advertising can sometimes generate fast results, getting consistent, cost-efficient, and high-quality results is a long-term process.
You need to collect enough data to make smart decisions on which messages, imagery, keywords, and/or targeting strategies will work best. That takes time, especially if your budget can only buy you so many impressions and clicks per day.
How to Speed Up Your PPC Advertising Success
While there’s no ‘magic bullet’ that leads to overnight PPC advertising success, there are a few factors you should be aware of that may give you an edge.
- Send clicks to an awesome landing page. Having a great landing page waiting for your visitors when they click through from your ad is crucial. Clicks become sales when they land on a well-designed, incredibly relevant landing page that fulfills the promise of your ads.
- Start by building a great brand. Having a well-established product or website page with lots of organic traffic and a high conversion rate will greatly influence your PPC advertising success. It takes time for new businesses to build brand awareness and domain authority online, so expect PPC advertising to take longer as well if you are a new business.
- Make ads just one part of your digital marketing mix. The more trustworthy your brand and website are, the easier it will be to establish a foothold in PPC advertising. Using SEO, social media marketing, and email marketing in addition to PPC advertising will boost your brand awareness and produce the best results.
- Constantly monitor, manage, and optimize your campaigns. It is clear from the timeline above that PPC advertising is an ongoing process. Only by continuously improving your ad setup will you be able to ramp up its visibility, cost-efficiency, and overall success.
- Choose the best objective/goal for your campaign. There are many different ways to get value out of ads: you can build awareness of your business, get more website traffic, sell more products, and more. Think about what exactly you want to achieve and choose a campaign objective/goal that fits! For example, if you want to reach new customers and start building a relationship, choose Reach or Impressions as your goal rather than Conversions.
- Make sure your ads fit your buyer journey. Someone who already knows and loves your business won’t hesitate to click an ad that says, “Buy Now!” But someone who only just heard of you will probably need more convincing ‒ they don’t know who you are or how you can help them yet! Think about your buyer’s journey and adjust your ads accordingly.
PPC advertising is one of the most cost-effective ways to generate qualified traffic, leads, and sales online. For small businesses, using PPC campaigns can be their “big break” and a cost-effective way to get in front of potential customers who may have never heard or thought of them.
Success doesn’t happen overnight, but the right team with the right expertise can dramatically speed up your success rate and save you money in the process.
Looking for PPC advertising advice from digital marketing pros? Reach out to our team if you need help getting started!
Wondering If PPC Ads Are Still Worth It? Read This.
Understanding the Benefits vs. Rising Costs of Paid Advertising
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads aren’t as cheap as they used to be.
You can thank new privacy regulations, higher competition, and tighter audience restrictions for that.
Right now, even veteran marketers are questioning whether PPC ads are still worth it.
But even in this tough market, PPC is a powerful way of reaching and engaging with your audience.
The Data Doesn’t Lie: PPC Advertising Still Works
Study after study has shown us that PPC ads continue to offer some of the best returns on investment of any marketing channel.
We know that:
- PPC ads return $2 for every $1 spent for an ROI of 200%.
- 74% of brands rely heavily on PPC to drive their business.
- PPC visitors are 50% more likely to buy than organic visitors.
For most businesses, there is simply no substitute for PPC as a means of getting you leads, sales, and revenue.
Here’s the catch:
More than ever, proper PPC management is what makes or breaks your campaign. No exceptions.
And in the world of PPC ads, mistakes come with a high price tag.
Knowing what to look for can save you a lot of headaches, so read on to learn key background info and tips to make sure that PPC ads are worth your investment.
We’ll tell you what you should look out for, what the risks are and how to avoid them.
Why Use PPC Ads to Promote Your Business?
PPC ads are a great way to reach your target audience across Google and social media.
- Incredible ROI: A PPC campaign returns $2 for every dollar spent, which is a 200% return on investment.
- High conversion rate: PPC visitors have a 50% higher likelihood of purchasing than organic visitors.
- Fast deployment: PPC ads can be launched quickly and start bringing in results immediately, unlike search engine optimization (SEO), which can take months to really get rolling.
- Unlimited flexibility: You can switch the ads on and off easily, which is perfect for small businesses or those working on a budget. And if your market conditions change, you can immediately adjust your PPC strategy to adapt.
What You Need to Know Before Launching PPC Ads
There are many other PPC advertising platforms, but these are some of the most popular:
- Google and other search engines: you can display your website in the search engine results page (SERP) when someone types in specific keywords or phrases. Visitors will see the ads you create to direct them to your site, and you pay based on whether they click on the ads.
- Google Display ads: show up as banner ads on a huge variety of websites across Google’s advertising network, including YouTube.
- Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram: PPC ads usually appear in the audience’s main newsfeed, with the word “Sponsored” or “Promoted” tagged at the top or bottom of the post. You can also have your ads appear on videos (at the beginning, middle, or end of a video), in Facebook Marketplace, or in the Facebook sidebar.
What you need to know is that every platform demands a different approach. It isn’t possible to create one ad and run it across all PPC advertising platforms.
It takes time to experiment with which ad designs and platforms work best for your product or service industry. Not every ad will be as successful as the next.
Moreover, PPC advertising constantly changes. Keeping up with the latest trends and practices is essential if you want to stay competitive and convert those clicks to sales.
How Privacy Changes Affect Your PPC Advertising Strategy
One more thing you should know before you start doing PPC:
New privacy laws have made audience targeting harder for PPC ads.
In response to these laws and privacy concerns, a lot of the big ad platforms, including Google and Facebook, have limited how you can reach your audiences with PPC ads.
For example:
- Apple has prevented advertisers from collecting consumer data through both Safari searches and certain applications on Apple devices.
- Google plans to remove third-party cookie tracking from the Chrome browser in 2023, which will account for about 65% of the global web browser share.
These changes will make it harder to target ads to very specific segments of customers, or track conversions accurately.
Without getting into the weeds here, the bottom line is that PPC advertising is going to depend more and more on a holistic digital marketing strategy that includes other channels like SEO, Email Marketing, and Content Marketing.
PPC Ads are Worth the Time and Money
There’s no doubt that PPC advertising is still valuable. But as costs rise and challenges increase, a carefully managed PPC campaign becomes even more critical to success.
You get wildly different results based on the platform you choose, the content of your ads, and audience you are trying to target, as well as the efficacy of your overall PPC advertising strategy.
You must also optimize and monitor your PPC ads throughout the process.
To learn more about running a successful PPC ad campaign, feel free to consult with our team of digital marketing professionals who can walk you through the entire process, from planning to execution.
How To Choose The Best PPC Advertising Channel For Your Service Business
Running a service-based business can be undoubtedly lucrative, especially when you’ve got the experience, tools and skills to build yourself a lifelong customer base.
But in today’s highly competitive landscape, you need to do everything possible to maintain your edge.
You know that marketing and advertising are essential to your continued growth and success, and these days, there’s no marketing without the internet. But also know you’re no expert in digital advertising ‒ not to mention you’re busy providing essential services to your clients!
To cut to the chase, you need to get the most bang for your advertising buck. And that means choosing the best PPC advertising channel for your service business from day one.
I, for one, hate seeing time and money go to waste. So I’ve put together some points to help you get off on the right foot and choose the right ad channel for your business.
Read on to learn:
- Why You Must Spend Your Digital Ad Dollars (and Time) Wisely
- 5 Time-Saving Steps to Take Before You Decide On a PPC Advertising Channel
- 3 Digital Advertising Channels You Can Quickly Use to Get New Customers
1. Why You Must Spend Your Digital Ad Dollars (and Time) Wisely
Let’s start with the basics.
Even a well-written marketing message with a strong creative direction is wasted if it doesn’t reach the right audience. Focusing on the correct marketing channel is key.
That’s why you don’t overhear ads for HR software while your toddlers are watching Sesame Street clips on YouTube Kids; nor do you typically see display ads for Sesame Street while you’re browsing LinkedIn.
However, choosing the right advertising channel isn’t always so cut-and-dry.
Chances are your audience is a lot broader than something like, ‘kids age 2-4 who watch PBS’ or ‘tech-savvy HR professionals.’ Say you offer a service like plumbing or auto repair. Your customers don’t congregate on a particular channel at all – in fact, they’re practically everywhere!
On the other hand, your target audience could be also so specific that there’s simply no obvious, sure-fire avenue for reaching them. Say you’re trying to sell turnkey co-packing services for burgeoning hot sauce companies in the Northeast U.S. with between $200K and $750K annual revenue. Last I checked, there’s no such thing as Hotsaucebook where all the hot sauce aficionados congregate…and even if there were, they might not be the specific kind of aficionados you’re looking for!
Put simply, choosing the right online advertising channel can be tricky. There are dozens to choose from, and not all of them will bring in the client and customer leads your business needs to grow.
2. The 5 Time-Saving Steps to Take Before You Decide On a PPC Advertising Channel
To begin, here are a few of the basic steps you must take to be properly equipped to decide which digital advertising channel your business needs right now.
a. Familiarize Yourself with Forms of Online Marketing
You can’t advertise your business successfully without a basic understanding of the PPC landscape.
The only way to fully leverage the power of internet marketing by yourself is by taking the initiative to learn about it on an elementary level. When you lack this baseline comprehension, it’s far too easy to make costly mistakes (see: 5 Mistakes KILLING Your Google Ads Budget.)
If you haven’t got time to hit the books, do yourself a favour and find yourself a lead generation partner who’s already done the heavy lifting. You’ll save yourself dozens of hours of trial-and-error, not to mention potentially thousands of dollars in spending gone astray!
b. Thoroughly Weigh the Costs
Understanding the costs involved in digital marketing channels will allow you to shape a budget on what’s acceptable to spend. It’ll also help you temper your expectations on what kind of funds should be poured into each channel.
To illustrate, you could be earning $1,000,000 in revenue per week. If you’re spending $1,000,001 per week to generate those sales, you’re still in the hole $1.00! It’s Business 101, but easy to lose sight of when you’re still learning the ropes of a new advertising channel.
Here are a couple of considerations to ponder over:
- It’s possible to spend nothing on digital marketing and find some success, but the percentages aren’t high. You’d have to be online most of the time, not performing other vital functions for your company.
- Remember to weigh in time spent when you’re assessing costs. If you’re achieving modest results but spending all day milling through online marketing tasks, that’s not ideal.
- Outsourcing your marketing is the most time-efficient approach. But thorough due diligence will let you know what costs are fair, and if it will benefit your company.
c. Clearly Define Your Goals
For advertising to be profitable, and to decide the correct channels, you must know your objectives. Crafting an action plan is a must.
In an online marketing capacity, here are how goals align with strategies:
- If your goal is to build a reputable brand image, you will likely utilize a mix of social media marketing, display ads and SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
- Provide you want to come across as an industry expert, blogging, content marketing (e.g., writing free eBooks), and social media marketing are the most common approaches.
- Lastly, a lead generation strategy would necessitate online ads (PPC and social media), SEO, social media marketing, and content-based lead funnels.
d. Craft a Budget
At first, you might want to start with a smaller budget to get things started with your digital marketing. Understand that there’s a ceiling with how much success you’ll find with this approach.
Overspending is even worse, but that’s why you’ve performed the necessary cost research. You must coordinate those industry-standard prices with what’s affordable and makes sense for your current business model.
You’ll find that you’ll be able to steadily grow your marketing budget to reflect your company’s evolution.
e. Tune into Your Audience
Getting positive results with any marketing strategy or campaign necessitates a deep insight into your audience. Otherwise, you won’t know how to target your messaging.
Any knowledgeable lead generation partner will utilize industry and competitor research tools to help you round up essential data about your target market, such as:
- Where can they be found online (e.g., social media networks, blogs, or websites, etc.)?
- What content do they like?
- What online activities do they engage in?
3. Top 3 Digital Advertising Channels You Can Quickly Use to Get New Customers
Now that we’ve offered some criteria involved in choosing the right internet ad channel, it’s time to look at the channels you should be investigating.
When we launch a lead generation campaign for a new service client (HVAC, plumbing, contracting, etc.), we choose a combination of the following channels based on the client’s needs. Each of these channels offers a variety of audience targeting options, acceptable cost per lead, and (if executed well) a reliable return in the form of customer leads.
a. Google Search Advertising
Search ads are best utilized to leverage search-based intent. When customers need something ASAP, like a plumber for a burst pipe, they type something like, “Toronto plumbing” or wherever their hometown is. This is the most effective form of marketing for emergency-based services where a customer requires something immediately.
b. Display Advertising
When people see display ads online, they aren’t looking for something directly – they’re just browsing, going along with their usual web activities, and end up seeing a digital banner.
So, if your business is service-based and reliant on emergency calls, this might not be the best network for you.
But if the bulk of your revenue comes from renovations and rebuilds, this kind of brand awareness can really pay off. The use of display advertising is often more long-term strategy, and a way to ensure your business is top-of-mind for your target market.
Eventually, when they decide they want what you’re selling, your business will be who they contact—if you’ve executed correctly!
c. Social Media Advertising
Currently, 31% of people use social media as a primary research tool when they seek products. It’s playing more of a pivotal role than ever throughout the customer journey.
Ads on social media are more effective than other forms of marketing on the platform, including celebrity endorsements, updates on brands’ pages, and recommendations or comments.
Those who click on social media ads are 26% likelier to buy from the brands they see. However, these customers are more interested in signing up for a membership than purchasing a product or service.
Social media advertising is a wise avenue if you’re a plumber or electrician writing a blog and looking to grow an audience. This will help you establish yourself as an industry expert with a broader base.
Getting Started With Digital Advertising
Let’s be honest. Not all online marketing channels will profit your business.
Success depends on understanding the strengths and limitations of each channel.
At TrafficSoda, we specialize in determining the most efficient way to turn ad dollars into customer leads. We’ve worked with a broad range of service-based businesses including HVAC companies, builders, roofers, cybersecurity providers, data centers, car mechanics and dealerships to generate leads through targeted PPC ad campaigns.
We start by researching our clients thoroughly in what we call the discovery process. By understanding all aspects of your customer audience, market, competitors and sales process, we can help you choose the best PPC advertising channel for your business.
If you’re still not entirely sure which channel is right for you ‒ and you don’t have the time to invest in learning the ins and outs on your own ‒ feel free to drop us a line.
Why Advertise with Facebook?
Facebook advertising is a complex landscape where even the most experienced users can get lost amidst the expansive data and constantly changing features. To simplify the process, we offer this article, which breaks down the benefits of the three main campaigns we like to run on Facebook. This will allow you to understand the “why” behind every dollar your business spends.
A Page “Like” Campaign
The concept behind this one is simple: the more followers you have, the larger the audience you can reach. This is the main premise all social networks are built upon, but let’s take a detailed look at why you would consider paying to gain more followers.
The average organic growth rate for a Facebook business page is 0.64% per week or 39.34% per year. So, if you began with 100 followers and your goal was to get to 1000, it would take about seven years.
Now, let’s see how that growth rate changes when you spend some money. The following data is gathered from actual page “like” campaigns we have run for previous clients.
If you were to spend just $150 on a one-time page “like” campaign when you were at 100 followers, it would take about half the time for you to reach your goal of 1000! What’s even more impressive is the total your following should be at by the seven-year mark: about 6450! That’s just with $150, so imagine if you had a whole strategy!
If that sounds impressive, spending $150 per year on a page “like” campaign should get you around 13,480 after seven years!
The campaign works through the power of compounding. The sooner you can gain a follower, the sooner you can leverage their network and grow your own. These campaigns are most important for pages that have a small follower base, as the value of a new follower is more impactful to the overall growth rate. The concept is a bit like the old notion of starting to save when you are young; in this case, you start spending when your base is small.
The takeaway: a page “like” campaign can have an exponential effect when it comes to growth. It’s a must for companies with a new page or a relatively small follower base.
Engagement
Engagement campaigns gain value from their ability to promote original content on user’s news feeds. These campaigns “boost” posts, allowing you to cut through the millions of pieces of content on Facebook and get your company in front of the right eyes. When users engage, they become attached, interested, and invested in your brand, coming back time and time again for relevant material. This is the modern iteration of top-of-mind advertising.
How does engagement compare to traditional methods of advertising? We will break it down by each medium.
First, let’s start with the three main outlets: TV, Radio, and Print. Generally, they are quoted in cost per 1000 people reached, so we followed that metric throughout this comparison.
TV is the most expensive. It costs $34.75 for a 60-second spot, not including the production costs.
Radio is more cost effective. It averages around $12-$16.
Print is more difficult to calculate because you pay for ad size. A small ad in a local paper is around $24.50.
Using real data we have collected from our clients’ engagement campaigns, Facebook sits at about $3.00 per 1000 people reached.
In addition to running campaigns optimized for people reached (known as “impressions”), Facebook allows us to optimize ads for action. Instead of simply showing your post to as many people as possible, Facebook will show your ad to those most likely to engage. When running an ad based on this metric, Facebook sits at about $18.00 (per 1000 people reached). We prefer this style of campaign.
Now you might not be seeing specifically why a Facebook engagement campaign is a clear winner over ‘traditional’ methods. After all, as we saw, radio is cheaper, but consider the following:
- Facebook numbers are fact. You know with 100% certainty how many people saw your post and how many people acted. With ‘traditional’ methods, the numbers are very “wishy-” Think about how many times you’ve changed the station or picked up your phone when commercials are on. There may not be as many people seeing your ad as they claim, which makes their cost-per-view much higher.
- You can have very targeted audiences on Facebook. This will ensure that only people fitting your buyer persona see the post you are paying to promote. How many times have you seen a commercial where the product didn’t relate to you at all?
- There’s a lot more flexibility in what you can spend and that makes scaling easier. You can spend $25 and get results on Facebook. Try running a commercial for $25!
The takeaway: Facebook is a great and highly cost-effective way to achieve a more engaged form of top-of-mind advertising.
Click-to-Website
The last style of ad we like to run is known as click-to-website. This one is all about driving customers to your website and converting their clicks into sales. Generating sales is the main reason anyone runs advertising, so maximizing your leads while minimizing your costs in this area is key!
Click-to-website falls within the pay-per-click style of advertising. Google AdWords is the largest player in this field, so let’s see how they compare.
Metric | Google AdWords | |
Click-Through Rate | 1.91% | 0.9% |
Cost-Per-Click | $2.32 | $1.72 |
Conversion Rate | 2.7% | 9.21% |
Cost Per Conversion | $85.93 | $18.68 |
The only area where GAW has an advantage is the click-through rate. However, note that these numbers are industry averages. The average click-through rate that we get with our clients for click-to-website ads on Facebook is essentially the same at 1.90%.
In every other category, Facebook is a huge winner (especially if you consider TrafficSoda’s average cost per click of $0.42). There are a lot of reasons for why there is such a difference in cost, but essentially, Facebook is much more complex than AdWords, as it gives more possibilities for targeting, ad creative conception, and styles of campaigns.
The takeaway: Facebook should be a part of most pay-per-click campaigns because of its cost-effectiveness.
Summary
- Page “like” campaigns can have a dramatic effect on your online growth. It’s a must for companies with a new page or a relatively small follower base.
- Engagement campaigns are a great and cost-effective way to achieve a more engaged form of top-of-mind advertising
- Facebook needs to be part of most pay-per-click efforts due to its cost-effectiveness over Google AdWords
Sources: Wordstream, Fanpage Karma, FitSmallBusiness