Attacats Tim and Andrew were recently asked to go and speak at the New Media Breakfast in Edinburgh and Glasgow. (We love #nmbrek, they’re always filled with funky people doing interesting things!)
This week, Andrew and Tim went along to wax lyrical about all things PPC (Pay per click). They make loads of great points and we have done the hard job of picking out the best bits for you. Here’s the slide deck from the talks.
May’s New Media Breakfast is on Video and will take place in Edinburgh on 12th of May and in Glasgow on the 27th of May. Video is one of the biggest trends of 2016 and think it is increasingly becoming a major part of creative strategies – and something we are interested in learning more about!
Highlights
PPC has expanded way beyond search
PPC is not just about product searches anymore. It’s also about about using paid search to promote content. You can take a general subject and create interest before there is any buying intent. e.g. marathon running tips on a running shoe site. There are a lot more search queries for “marathon running tips” than for running shoes but by creating early interest, it means that you are at the top of their mind when they come to buy at a later stage.
PPC is not just about search. It is also about social, and because of their sophisticated targeting Facebook ads are leading the charge. The tracking of customers extends way beyond web activity. We all know that Google knows more about you than your Mum and it now tracks advertising back to sales that occur in store through your location settings. Scary for us mortals but the insight that this gives organisations over their PPC strategy is phenomenal.
The momentum is towards paid
Google is getting much better at commercialising any click as now they focus much more on “moments” as Google describes them as opposed to the search itself. Most of our time online is spent outside Google search – on Youtube, Twitter, Facebook the list goes on. PPC ads can now reach all of these.
Organizations have jumped on this band-wagon massively and have realised the value of using Paid Advertising to appeal to potential customers who haven’t yet developed intent. Complex, but lucrative.
Remarketing
Ever been followed all over the web to within an inch of your life, when all you have done is innocently look a pair of jeans?
Remarketing is a key part of the deal. Yes, it can be done badly (or annoyingly) but when done well it’s what’s going to keep you on the minds of your customers. By using it to link your content to your sales, it allows you to target customers who perhaps checked out your marathon tips and now want to come back for the shoes you’ve been placing throughout their web journey. Remarketing is not just about banner ads any more either. You can now remarket in search ads, shopping search ads,YouTube ads and ads across Social Networks, like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Automation
Not for the faint hearted but using 3rd party data to automatically change bidding strategies is producing great results. Automation in general is becoming a core part of paid search. Knowing when to automate and when not to automate has become a real skill. Not one to try at home.
PPC remains very cost effective
Yes, it is more competitive than it has ever been but PPC still drives results (we track £10 of revenue for every pound spent – on average).
There’s also a common perception that PPC budgets need to rival the levels of small country debt. Not true! Tim showed examples of a start-up spending the odd £100 here and there (as well as those generating more than a million pounds of revenue in a month). Facebook can help you create shareable content for people in the research phase who have been driven to the site for as little as a penny per visit!
In short it’s not about competing on budget size, it’s about being more relevant to your audience.
Would you like us to take a look at your AdWords or Facebook accounts?
A good few attendees have taken us up on our invitation to take a look at their PPC accounts. That offer is still open so please feel free to take us up on it.
