PPC is already a complicated area for many marketers, especially when advertising on multiple search engines and attempting to keep up with the dynamically shifting landscape of digital marketing. Many companies—particularly agencies or businesses that advertise on many search engines and ad platforms —opt to use bid management tools such as Kenshoo, Marin, DoubleClick, and Acquisio to help handle the day-to-day management of their campaigns. Bid management tools can be helpful to ensure you get the most bang for your PPC budget’s buck, and with these four tips, the bang is even bigger.
Analyze Historical Data
Producing optimal results means not just plowing ahead without considering where you’ve been. Understanding past performance is key when adjusting current programs. Checking daily, weekly, monthly, and annual reports can be very helpful in uncovering some insights that can help boost your future performance.
Don’t Be Afraid To Boost Bids
If there’s a key date approaching—an important trade show, a launch, a big promotion or seasonal event for your businesses (or your competitors), etc.—don’t be afraid to increase bids to meet competition head-to-head. Shying away from raising bids for critical events is setting yourself up for failure.
Don’t Forget The Phone
Thanks to smartphones, search has gone mobile, and is expected to generate more than 70 billion calls to businesses in 2018. What’s more, study after study has confirmed that inbound calls are more lucrative than web conversions, on average converting to revenue 10 to 15 times more frequently. Search marketers can no longer afford to ignore call conversions if they wish to optimize ROI. As you’re considering how to optimize performance, be sure you’re working with a bid management tool that integrates with a call tracking provider so you are able to see the call conversion activity on keywords that generate phone calls alongside keywords that generate clicks. This will give you full transparency into the impact of your PPC programs.
Consider What Happens After The Conversion
Paying careful attention to your call to action can increase your chances of conversion. For CTAs that are encouraging clicks, ensure your copy is seasonal and specific, and be sure that it is reflected in the landing page your send them to upon clicking. In addition (as mentioned above) calls are the new clicks, so encouraging viewers to call a number in an ad or on the corresponding landing page is a good CTA as long as you 1) have the means to track those interactions and 2) have a setup that handles those calls efficiently and effectively. For example, agency Sq1 increased their client’s phone leads from search by 75 percent, but the way they handled those leads didn’t stop with generating the phone call itself. Their use of tools in-call optimization tools like IVR for automated call filtering and geo-location call routing ensured a continual flow of qualified phone leads to their client’s local agents; so when you think about what happens after a conversion, think about context, the action you’re asking that lead to take, and ways to optimize lead conversions to sales.
Want to learn more about how to optimize your PPC campaigns? Download this free on-demand webinar, From Click to Call to Conversion: Using Big Data to Optimize PPC.
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