PPC Should Not Be the Only Marketing Channel You Are Using

Pay per click (PPC) advertising is a favorite channel among business owners and marketers alike…and with good reason. A key component of any successful marketing plan, PPC enables you to get in front of prospective customers by displaying text ads when they search for specific keyword phrases relevant to your business on Google, Yahoo or Bing. Best of all, you only pay when someone clicks. However, there’s a common misconception that plagues businesses of all sizes in all industries. Many business owners, particularly those of small- to medium-sized companies, blindly employ PPC as their onlymarketing channel. They pour money into an endless PPC campaign, neglecting the many other aspects of marketing that comprise a winning strategy. The Common Mistake Business owners are smart, proud, and savvy. Many even have a solid understanding of how to market their products or services. But in the midst of building, running, and growing a business, it’s nearly impossible for them to implement a balanced marketing plan. So they choose a tactic, invest in it, and move on to the next thing on their list. Numerous clients have come to us in the same situation: They were spending $5k-10k per month on PPC advertising, and that was their lone marketing effort. As a result, their web traffic was diminishing, and sales were declining year-over-year. In some cases, their PPC campaign was not set-up by an expert and they were targeting many ineffective keyword phrases. PPC’s Place in a Marketing Plan PPC is effective when used correctly and in the right capacity. In our sales funnel that we use with clients, it belongs in the middle. Take a look:

You’ll notice that if you were to invest only in PPC, you would be ignoring the entire bottom portion of the sales funnel, where efforts such as content marketing often drive higher conversion rates at a lower cost. You would also be missing several main components in the middle portion of the funnel such as email marketing and remarketing. Furthermore, the stagnation of an exclusively PPC marketing plan leaves no chance of ever seeing the ROI needed to invest in the larger initiatives at the top of the funnel, such as TV, radio, print, and public relations. PPC’s Shortcomings There are three main reasons why you shouldn’t rely solely on PPC:

PPC will only generate so much traffic. At some point, the numbers level off.
PPC is relatively expensive, and clicks don’t always mean sales.
It’s difficult to establish longevity and year-over-year growth in a PPC campaign that is set on autopilot.

Questions to Ask Yourself We have established that PPC is only a small piece of marketing. Now you’re probably wondering, “What exactly should I be doing instead?” The answer is different for everyone, but here are a few questions that will help you determine where your immediate needs are.

Is your website flawed or outdated? Do you need a redesign?
Are you capturing your organic search leads before seeking paid search leads?
Are you creating content for your blog, social media, and email list?
Are you currently leveraging your email contacts to drive return customers and referrals?
What marketing assets do you currently have, and how can you maximize them?
What return are your current PPC efforts yielding?

Repurposing Your Marketing Budget The good news is that a large, faltering PPC budget can be converted into a winning marketing budget that incorporates content marketing, email marketing, social media, PPC, and more. In situations like this, we’ll typically reduce PPC to roughly 20-30% of your overall budget, first shifting the focus to higher-converting organic search efforts. If you’re spending more on PPC than you should be, it’s not hard to repurpose those marketing dollars and start seeing true results—you just need a reliable agency like Raindrop Marketing to help create and execute your new marketing plan.Contact us today and we’ll review your current efforts and future goals together.