PPC Management Tips to Turn Cold Prospects into Hot Leads

PPC Management Tips to Turn Cold Prospects into Hot Leads

With pay-per-click (PPC), getting things right from the get-go is always tricky. Most businesses are forced to burn precious funds to see what works and what doesn’t. But that’s learning things the hard way. We’re better off relying on expert insights and relevant data to inform our efforts.

PPC management is the best practice, capturing all of these elements that marketing greatness is made of. It refers to the process of overseeing and optimizing PPC strategy and budget. The idea is to tailor your campaigns and execute them flawlessly, without breaking the bank.

This proactive approach gives you a real fighting chance even against the big fish in the industry. You can generate a wealth of new customers and ensure a positive return on investment (ROI). In the process, you also have an opportunity to attain one top goal, lead generation.

Here is a complete guide on how to go about hunting the clientele using PPC.

Working out the Angle of Approach

PPC is a large-scale strategic initiative that encapsulates many moving parts.

You can’t expect to cut many corners or growth-hack your way to stellar results. PPC management calls for a hefty investment of your time and financial resources.

There are two main approaches here.

The first one is to employ an in-house team of media buyers and marketing experts. The second one is to outsource PPC management activities to an external agency. Both have pros and cons you would be wise to weigh.

For example, while an in-house approach gives you more control, outsourcing tends to be more cost-effective. Thus, the latter tactic suits organizations that lack internal resources and struggle to hire top talent.

If you mean to opt for outsourcing yourself, do your homework. Advertising agencies aren’t created equal. Before making any commitments, it’s necessary to assess their reputation and track record.

You can’t go wrong collaborating with trusted brands such as Falcon Digital Marketing. They specialize in staple PPC tactics, including lead generations. You don’t have to do the heavy technical lifting and can tackle the strategic aspect of management instead.

Developing Strategic Goals

This brings us to campaign planning, which is the first order of business.

Its focal points are specific areas of your products and services. You want to build segments of your PPC strategy around them.

Here, deciding on overarching PPC goals is imperative—the key to having a clear roadmap in front of you. These goals have to be realistic and rooted in data.

The data points can relate to:

There are no hard rules, but we want to highlight a few objectives.

The first one is increasing the number of purchases. This aspiration drives most e-commerce businesses as well as brands that sell digital products.

The aim is to convert as many site visitors as possible into paying customers.

Some businesses also pursue more intangible goals, such as brand awareness. They can be worth your while, but they are better perceived as a by-product, not a goal of itself.

Besides, you’re probably reading this article because you seek to prioritize lead generation. To hit this goal, you need to convert prospects into qualified leads. These leads can later be nurtured and turned into customers.

The Art of Channel Selection

In the next sections, you’ll see how to bridge the gap between cold prospecting and lead generation.

One of the first steps on that journey is tied to selecting the right marketing channels. You can’t attract customers if you fail to sort out this strategic priority.

The fundamental principle is to use channels that your target audience frequents. In general, the choices boil down to:

First off, Google Ads is second to no other PPC platform. Around 76% of the search engine market belongs to Google. Moreover, people who click on ads are 50% more likely to make a purchase than those who don’t.

So, you can drive a lot of quality traffic using this channel.

Secondly, the Display Network is also worth considering. It’s a sprawling hub for 2 million websites, videos, and apps. You have countless possibilities to deploy ads there, but the main challenge is maintaining cost-effectiveness.

Thirdly, in the area of social media advertising, Facebook Ads are a go-to for marketers. They run on ads on the biggest social network in order to promote their products, websites, and specific pages. It’s almost a no-brainer.

Handling Keyword Research

Next off, you need to carry out keyword research.

The objective is to find the words and phrases your audience uses in search engines. Once you identify them, you can add them to your headlines and ad copy.

To accomplish these goals, you need to harness the power of external and internal data points. Keywords should possess enough volume and attract the optimal amount and type of traffic.

A good place to start is to collect data from your digital real estate. The most valuable sources are landing and product pages. They are teeming with actionable intelligence and allow you to predict PPC conversion rates.

Google is the second valuable repository of insights. Its suggestions are a guiding light for many marketers. However, be aware your interests aren’t necessarily aligned with those of a search engine giant.

Therefore, examine how your own campaigns are doing before anything else. Feel free to experiment both with exact-match and broad-match modifier (BMM) keywords.

Notice you can set ad groups and tie them to specific “money” keywords. In practice, this entails creating ads for each product category and related keywords. The underlying logic is PPC keywords have a strong commercial intent behind them.

Foundations of Campaign Monitoring

PPC monitoring is another essential component of your PPC management game.

It revolves around using proper tools to evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns. The chief prerequisite is to pick the adequate key performance indicators (KPIs), your campaign benchmarks.

Measuring them enables you to establish how successful your campaigns. Not only that but you’re able to add new ad groups, keywords, and campaigns and elevate your performance across the board.

Some common PPC metrics that businesses use are:

Bear in mind the list isn’t definitive and that KPIs aren’t mutually exclusive.

In fact, they are mutually dependent pieces of the same success puzzle. Improving on one front can reinforce your efforts on the other. So, you probably need to monitor at least a few KPIs that reflect your PPC goals.

Just one piece of advice: avoid spreading yourself too thin. Set up Google Analytics or another digital platform and stick to a handful of crucial metrics. Expand the scope in case you’re still missing your mark.

Ongoing Campaign Optimization

PPC management isn’t a set-it-and-then-forget-it kind of proposition.

Everything is in constant flux, shifting and moving. For instance, you should always be on the hunt for top-performing keywords as well as those that are falling shy of your expectations. Monitoring allows you to be more agile and reallocate the budget as you go.

This is a surefire method to minimize wasted resources and ward off headaches.

Furthermore, you want to conduct A/B testing of new and existing ads as well as landing pages. This is something you should do across the entire PPC funnel. The reason is simple.

A/B testing lets you figure out which version of the asset is likely to yield desired results. You remove the guesswork from the decision making-equation and improve KPIs like CTR.

Likewise, you can reverse-engineer tactical elements based on the insights and your goals.

So, polish the ad copy and its essential components (calls to action). Create landing pages geared toward conversion and lead generation.

Remember having one page for every PPC campaign is highly recommended. They should address the needs and pain points of the target audience.

This kind of clever optimization will help you decrease bounce rates and improve conversions in one stroke.

Time to Supercharge Your PPC Management

Getting ahead in the PPC world is a daunting task more often than not.

There’s a lot separating search queries from conversions. The good news is you don’t need an unlimited budget and ton of expertise to push forward. Instead, take your PPC management to the whole new level and embrace a data-driven, holistic approach.

Line up your internal and external resources. Set your goals and design a rock-solid strategy.  Focus on nuts and bolts, such as keywords, copy, and KPIs.

Allocate your marketing dollars smartly and fuel profitable campaigns.

Make sure to fine-tune your approach on the fly according to an ever-flowing stream of insights. Take advantage of tried and tested techniques like split testing to pull it off.

You should be able to better leverage your digital assets (ads, landing pages, and keywords) and get more quality leads.

Check out other entries in our adverting section and arm yourself with even more knowledge. It’s time to get noticed on the most important avenues your potential customers stroll.