At enCOMPASS Agency, we often tell our clients that, for sheer bang for buck, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), also known as “Pay Per Click” (PPC) advertising is one of the most valuable tools in the digital marketing toolbox. But of course, that all hinges on SEM being done wisely and strategically. Whether you’re launching a brand-new campaign or simply looking to audit your current PPC endeavors, we have a few basic tips that can help you maximize your ROI.
7 Guidelines for More Effective SEM
1) Define your marketing goals.
Before you actually get into the nuts and bolts of planning a SEM campaign, it’s helpful to take a step back and consider what you hope to achieve through your advertising investment.
Are you looking to boost brand awareness? Increase conversions? Generate Leads? What specific benchmarks do you hope to hit, and how will you monitor your success? These aren’t just philosophical quandaries. Answering these questions will help guide later decisions about the type of PPC campaign you choose, the keywords you target, and beyond.
2) Choose the right keywords.
Entire volumes could be written about proper keyword selection, and have. For now, we’ll just note the supreme importance of choosing keywords that are aligned with how people actually search for information on the Web.
Take into account your goals, as defined in the previous step; the keywords you choose may vary based on whether you’re seeking top-of-funnel awareness-building (more general queries) or conversions from qualified leads (more precise). Also remember that, with voice search increasingly popular, long-tail, conversational keywords are often the most valuable.
3) Develop strong creative.
Having great keywords is one thing, but it won’t take you far if your actual ad copy is dull or unpersuasive. As such, it’s worth taking some time to develop really strong, compelling ad copy.
As a rule of thumb, the best ad copy:
- Is succinct;
- Is simple to read;
- Gets right to the point;
- Conveys benefits or posits solutions to the customer’s problem; and
- Includes a compelling call to action, enticing the reader to take further action by clicking.
Of course, an experienced digital marketing agency can help you by developing robust, effective ad copy and testing it consistently.
4) Target your audience.
One of the reasons why SEM is so effective in the first place is that it allows so many options for targeting your audience. Basically, targeting ensures that your ads are seen only by the people who you want to see your ads, qualified leads who are more likely to convert.
There are a number of targeting options to choose from, ranging from type of device to geographic location and beyond. Performing A/B testing to see which demographic filters work best can be a judicious way to target your audience and boost your PPC ROI.
5) Set a budget.
In addition to intelligent targeting, it’s also important to ensure smart budgeting. While it’s true that PPC is very scalable, many companies make the mistake of starting with too low a budget. They are convinced that it is smarter to start with a smaller budget and then scale up; indeed, one of the best things about PPC is that it is so easily scalable, which can provide some reassurance to PPC novices. However, by starting with too low a budget you prohibit your campaign from getting in front of enough searchers to produce the desired results. Be sure to start off with a competitive budget, not just a representative budget.
As your campaign progresses, be sure you carefully monitor your performance to see which keywords get the best results. Those are likely the keywords that will be worth prioritizing in your budget. Once you have this dialed in you can scale into a more prominent budget for best resutls.
6) Keep an eye on your performance.
Indeed, one of the most essential guidelines we can offer is to keep tabs on your PPC campaign, allowing real data and metrics to guide your efforts. Rather than take a set-it-and-forget-it approach, carefully monitor core data points such as your click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost per conversion rates.
SEM is meant to be a fairly fluid, malleable process. If you notice any area where your campaign isn’t performing well, whether it’s due to ad copy or the wrong keyword choice, you can always make on-the-fly adjustments to improve your ROI.
7) Try new things.
As you monitor your performance, don’t be afraid to think outside the box, testing new keywords, copy ideas and ad extensions to see how they impact your results. Sometimes, simply rewording your call to action or redesigning your landing page can bring you closer to meeting your marketing goals.
Your digital marketing agency can play an important role here, refreshing your SEM campaign with some new strategies and ideas while using data and metrics as guardrails.
Ready to Chat About Search Engine Marketing?
That’s certainly what we try to do for our clients here at enCOMPASS Agency. Whether you’re looking to launch a new SEM campaign or need an experienced pro to evaluate your current efforts, we welcome you to reach out. We’re convinced that PPC can make a valuable addition to virtually any marketing campaign, and we’d love to tell you why. Contact our team whenever you’re ready to chat.
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