Why PPC Is So Powerful for New and Growing Businesses

Pay per click (PPC) ads are advertisements placed on a given platform, usually a search engine or social media, with the intention of attracting traffic to a specific destination. The name comes from the fact that advertisers only pay for the clicks they actually generate; instead of paying on the basis of something like impressions, you’ll only pay for the traffic you meaningfully earn through your ads.

It’s commonly touted as one of the most powerful strategies for new and growing businesses.

But why is this the case?

The Advantages of PPC Ads for New and Growing Businesses

These are some of the greatest advantages of PPC ads for new and growing businesses:

•       Immediate visibility. Many marketing strategies take a long time to develop. For example, if you practice SEO, you know it usually takes months of effort before you see noticeable results. But with these paid ads, you can start generating visibility and results as soon as you start paying for them. In other words, you can get immediate visibility and traffic.
•       Guaranteed results. These ads are also advantageous because they practically guarantee results. Again, you’re only going to pay for the clicks you generate, so you can guarantee that your money isn’t going to be wasted. That said, conversion optimization is a separate issue; generating traffic is just one step of the process for most businesses.
•       Strategic flexibility. People love PPC ads because they offer strategic flexibility. You can choose any target keywords you want, pursue different competitive bidding strategies, scale up your budget as necessary, and make other general tweaks to accomplish almost any conceivable marketing goal.
•       Competitive possibilities. New and growing businesses also love these ads because of the competitive possibilities. Because placement is based on bidding and ad quality, it’s possible to earn more visibility than even your fiercest competitors.

The Caveats

However, there are a few caveats to keep in mind.

•       PPC ads can be tricky to get right. First, there is a learning curve associated with PPC ad management. If you don’t have much familiarity with this strategy, your ads and your results may suffer. Professional PPC managers could be the right solution. Niche experts in this field can make your budget go further and guide you to better overall results.
•       PPC ads do demand investment. You do have to pay for PPC ads, and in some cases, they can be expensive. If you have a razor thin budget, they may not be accessible to you, but keep in mind the return on investment (ROI) is often quite high. If you have reservations about PPC ads, or if money is tight, you can start with a small budget and see how it goes; you can always increase your spending (and accordingly, your reach) as your budget allows. In fact, this is the course that most new and emerging businesses take.
•       Some niches are highly competitive. There are some niches that are extremely competitive, artificially driving up prices and making it harder for businesses to enter. Conversely, there are some niches that have almost no competition – keeping prices low and making it easier for new businesses to enter. Always keep your industry and competitors in mind when plotting a strategy.
•       Complementary strategies are still important. Omnichannel marketing strategies are dominant for a reason. While PPC ads are generally quite useful, they do have some drawbacks and weaknesses to consider. In most cases, it pays to implement complementary strategies so you can get the best of all worlds.

Helping Other Businesses With PPC Ads

If you’re reading this article from the perspective of a marketing agency, you’re likely interested in learning how you can better leverage PPC ads for your clients.

If this is the case, there are two options available to you. The first is to develop your own PPC ad strategy in-house, either by hiring an existing expert or educating and training people who already work for you. This can be an effective strategy in the long term, but it does take time and money to develop.

The second is working with a white label PPC marketing agency. The idea here is to have your partner provide all PPC services externally, with the option of marketing those services as your own. As long as you choose a partner with genuine expertise, this can be beneficial for all parties involved, including you, your clients, and the white label agency.

PPC ads have come a long way, and they’ll likely be relevant for decades to come. With the right mindset and a team of experienced professionals behind you, you can take even a limited budget and generate an abundance of traffic with it.