If you’re in the business of selling products or services, you’re likely familiar with many different advertising techniques. Though the old ways of advertising in print media can still work, businesses get the most bang for their buck by advertising online. There are many ways to do this, but PPC (Pay-per-click) is the gold standard that will give you the most leads.
PPC Marketing At Its Finest
When you use PPC marketing, your website will pop up on a user’s search engine result page (SERP). This is when a user types in certain keywords or phrases. You only pay a predetermined rate if the user clicks your ad.
With Google being the most popular search engine in the world, many businesses choose to use Google Ads for their PPC needs. Some of the best examples of PPC advertising over the years have come from companies thinking outside of the box.
In 2010, Converse executed one of the biggest and perhaps most successful PPC campaigns of all time. The popular sneaker company paid GoogleAds big bucks to direct teenagers to their website via a sneaky but genius path. The campaign was called “Converse Domaination.”
But, they didn’t use shoe-related keywords. Instead, the company picked terms that were hyper-relevant to the day. “Spelling Bee” was a PPC term they used on the day of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Users who clicked on that particular ad on that day were directed to a Converse-produced video that introduced a game. The video asked them to go back to their search engine and type in “ludicrous.” From there, the game went on until the user was inevitably led to Converse’s website.
PPC Management Can Be Creative
Though it might sound a bit tedious on paper, at the time, the “Converse Domaination” PPC ad was a huge hit. It garnered a ton of new customers, and paved the way for PPC management.
It was so successful, in fact, that Converse continued with the campaign using other of-the-moment terms. Terms such as “first day of summer” and more evergreen teenage search terms, such as “how to kiss.”
Another example of a highly successful and creative PPC ad was one created by Snickers. The Mars Company took advantage of the number of accidental misspellings that go into search engine bars every day. They targeted keywords such as “wether,” “amazin,” and “definately.”
When a hurried user would type those misspellings into Google, a Snickers ad would come up. In just two days, they received well over 500,000 ad impressions and close to 6,000 visitors clicked on it. When clicked, they were brought to a website proclaiming:
“Oh deer! Its hard to spel when your hungry. If you keap making typing mistakes, grab yourself a Snickers fast!”
Regardless that it was riddled with errors, the ad put its brand in front of a lot of people.
Keeping an Eye on Your PPC Ads
Like anything else, PPC advertising can be a trial-and-error venture. Once you set up a campaign, give it a couple of weeks to breathe and get going. Then, you should watch the key performance indicators (KPIs) closely. These will show you how successful your current ads are by using various data.
If your PPC ad is giving you high impressions but low clicks, something is amiss with your ad copy. However, if you are seeing a high clickthrough rate but low sales, you might want to restructure the language on your website.
One example of this is BP Oil. The big company had a successful PPC campaign that garnered a high click-through rate with little interest. In 2010, after their disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP launched a PPC ad campaign. Their intention was to offer a response to their calamitous spill. However, the language they used on their website was full of impersonal jargon. At the time, people were looking for BP Oil to offer heartfelt apologies at the bare minimum. Though the PPC campaign was largely successful, many believed their message to be murky and insincere.
Professional PPC Ads That Deliver
For more information on creative ways to grab the attention of relevant customers, our dedicated team at Web Content Development can help! Treat your business right. Contact us today!