What does this mean?

It simply means that your daily budget is beneath the recommended amount. In other words, the funds you have available won’t be able to match the potential demand for your ads. 

As an example, say your daily click budget is $50, with each click costing roughly $1. 

Currently, you have enough of a campaign budget to pay for 50 clicks. However, if Google determines there’s enough demand for 100 clicks a day, your ad budget won’t be enough to pay for each click, and you’ll see the ‘limited by budget’ campaign status. 

Whenever this happens, Google will have to limit the number of times your ads appear in searches to accommodate your lack of budget. As a result, you may miss out on potential conversions and leads, which is never good. 

Yet, just because one of your campaigns is limited by budget doesn’t mean that you can’t work with it. 

If increasing your daily budget isn’t a possibility, there are still ways to squeeze the most out of your limited budget while still meeting your advertising goals. 

Stay tuned to learn more about Google Ads limited by budget, how to resolve the status, and how to get the most out of your daily ad spend. 

Understanding Google Ads Limited By Budget 

If your daily click budget dips below the recommended amount, this is what will appear next to your PPC (pay-per-click) campaign in your Google Ads account:

The ‘limited by budget’ status appears in red, which lets you know that you’re likely to run out of funds before the day is out. 

That’s Google’s way of telling you that you don’t have the budget to match the demand for ads, which means your ads might not appear during certain times of the day – which may lead to a loss of potential traffic & customers. 

The key word there is ‘might,’ as the ‘limited by budget’ status doesn’t guarantee a loss of traffic, it’s just warning you of the possibility. 

For instance, let’s say you see the most engagement with your ads when they run during the early morning. Due to the ‘limited by budget’ status, Google may restrict how many of your ads run during the morning, which can negatively affect your advertising goals. However, if they limit your ad visibility during the evening instead, you’ll see less of a negative impact. 

The good news is that you can control when Google displays your ads through ad scheduling (more on this in a bit). 

Google’s recommendations for your average daily budget

Whenever you receive the limited-by-budget campaign status, there’ll be a small graph icon next to it (see above). 

By clicking on this icon, you’ll get to see Google’s recommendations for an ideal daily budget, which looks like this:

You’ll see your current budget, Google’s recommended amount, and a few other options for more weekly clicks & conversions. They also provide metrics for the new budget’s weekly cost, the approximated number of clicks, and the number of conversions you should see each week. 

This is a useful tool for determining if you need to change your bid strategy, especially if you’re considerably under budget. 

What if you see the ‘limited by budget’ status but aren’t maxing out your funds?

In some cases, you may see the ‘limited by budget’ status for campaigns that aren’t maxing out your budget or generating lots of traffic. 

Why is that?

Usually, it’s a sign that your keywords are too expensive for your daily budget or you’re maxing out on the number of clicks you can get in one day. 

If your cost-per-click (CPC) is too high for your budget, you may only be able to pay for a few clicks a day. 

As an example, imagine that your daily budget is $50, but your average CPC is $25. As a result, you’ll only be able to pay for two clicks a day. In these types of situations, you can use a keyword planner to find more affordable keywords in your niche, or you could raise your daily budget. 

How Will Google Ads Limited By Budget Affect Your PPC Campaigns?

While there are ways to work with a limited budget on Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords), there are definitely consequences that will affect your PPC campaigns & advertising goals, including the following:

• You’ll see a reduced impression share. If your campaign is limited by budget, you won’t be eligible for as many impressions as you would have otherwise. That means Google will limit your ad exposure during certain times of the day. Or if you’ve tweaked your targeting settings to run at an accelerated rate, you’ll appear in every auction you’re eligible for until you run out of budget. 
• You won’t receive as many clicks. Since you won’t appear in every bid auction, you’re eligible during the day. You’ll miss out on lots of potential clicks, which is never a good thing. 
• Reduced conversion rates. Once your budget runs out, your ads will stop appearing throughout the Google Display Network for the day, which means you’ll miss out on converting new prospects. 

As you can see, running a PPC campaign on a limited budget has quite a few consequences. While it’s not a guarantee that your campaign will fail to meet your goals, Google Ads limited by budget can stop you from realizing the true potential of your PPC ads. 

What Causes the Limited By Budget Status to Appear?

The ‘limited by budget’ status on Google Ads is extremely common, so don’t feel bad if it shows up on one of your campaigns. 

There are quite a few reasons why the status may show up, some of which may surprise you – so let’s look at some of the top causes. 

Your campaign’s scope is too great 

If you’re working with a limited budget, you won’t be able to advertise to the entire planet. Instead, you should narrow your focus to only include the geographic areas that matter the most to your business. 

Advertising to the entirety of the United States will consume a lot of your budget, so use location targeting to only display your ads for the geographic areas that give you the most business. 

It’s also possible that you’re trying to promote too many products & services, and it’s spreading your budget too thin. 

Try pausing some of your ad groups and focusing on one product or service at a time. That way, all your daily resources will go toward promoting a single product/service, which will greatly increase its online visibility. 

As an example, if you stretch your $50 daily budget across 5 ad campaigns, each product will only receive a limited amount of promotion per day (10 clicks each if it’s spread evenly). Yet, if you only push one product at a time, it has the potential to claim all 50 clicks, which significantly increases your chances of finding & converting new prospects. 

Your bids are too high 

It could be that you’ve set your max CPC bids too high. On Google Ads, a bid is how much you’re willing to pay to display one of your ads. As such, ad placements are auctioned off to bidders, with the highest bid winning out and gaining the ad spot. 

Setting your max CPC bid is a crucial part of ensuring that your ads yield profits, so it isn’t something you should take lightly. 

If your bids are too low, you may save money, but you’ll likely lose a majority of your ad auctions. If your bids are too high, you may win lots of ad placements, but they’ll end up tearing through your daily budget. 

If you’re dealing with the ‘limited by budget’ status, you should double-check your max CPC bid to ensure that it’s not too high. Also, you can make bid adjustments that will increase or decrease your bids depending on certain factors, including:

• Time of day 
• Geographic locations
• Device type (mobile device or desktop)
• More

Adjusting your bids according to your metrics (i.e., only displaying ads during certain times of the day) will help you avoid wasting your daily budget. 

Expensive keywords

Keywords that have high search volume are great to target due to the exposure they can provide, but they’re also more expensive. In the PPC world, the more desirable a keyword is, the more it will eat up your daily budget. 

It’s common for Google Ads campaigns to have one or two keywords that suck up a majority of the budget. You can use our keyword planner tool that we linked to previously to discover the average cost for your keywords. 

Resolving/Working with Google Ads Limited By Budget

The ‘limited by budget’ status is by no means the end of the world for an ad campaign. In truth, there are plenty of ways to still make an ad campaign work despite having the dreaded limited budget status.

There are also ways to resolve the status in order to get the most out of your Google Ads campaign. 

Here are the top ways you can either work with the status or resolve it entirely.

Start Simple 

It is okay to start simple with your campaigns, especially if you have a smaller budget. Put your focus on 8 – 10 keywords per campaign. These keywords should be your bread and butter keywords. For example, if you’re a plumber, a straight forward keyword would be Plumber Near Me. This would be a great keyword to sink most of your budget into. 

Increase your daily budget

The first and most obvious way to resolve the situation is to increase your daily budget to cover your ad demand.

However, you should only choose this option if you’re happy with how your campaigns are performing. If things are going smoothly and you have the budget for it, going with Google’s recommendation for an increased budget can be beneficial. 

Pro tip: When increasing your daily budget, keep an eye on your cost-per-conversion (CPC) rate. If it goes too high, you’ll want to decrease your budget while addressing why your conversion rates are so costly. 

Decrease bid sizes

Lowering your max CPC bid can help stretch a limited budget further, yielding more clicks and perhaps even a more desirable CPA (cost-per-acquisition). 

The flip side to this is you’ll have a lower average position. As such, it’s crucial to closely monitor your average SERP rankings when decreasing bid sizes. 

Use strategic ad scheduling 

As mentioned previously, you can alter your ad scheduling settings so that your ads only display during particular times of the day or night.

This will take a bit of research to uncover, but once you find out which times of day grant you the most leads, conversions, and clicks – it’s wise to tweak your ad scheduling settings accordingly. 

Add negative keywords 

Using negative keywords can help you save your precious daily budget, so you should add at least a few of them. 

What are negative keywords?

A negative keyword is a search query that you DON’T want your ads appearing for, thus saving you the money of a wasted click. 

One of the most popular negative keywords to use is ‘free.’ That’s because if someone uses the word ‘free’ in their search query, it means they aren’t interested in paying for a product or service. That means if they do click on one of your ads, you’ll have to pay for the click but likely won’t get anything in return, as they’re after freebies. 

You can use plenty of negative keywords to narrow further the searches you do show up for, which will help you get the most out of your budget. 

Final Thoughts: Google Ads Limited By Budget 

In summary, the ‘limited by budget’ status is no reason to panic, but you should pay attention to it when developing your bid strategy. 

Using strategic ad scheduling, location targeting, negative keywords, and decreased bid sizes are all ways to make the most out of your limited ad budget while still meeting your goals. 

Do you need help developing a winning PPC strategy for your business?

Then don’t wait to check out our five-star PPC management services at The HOTH. We’ll fully manage your PPC campaigns, providing you with consistent traffic, leads, and sales. Our digital marketing gurus are also always available for consulting, so don’t wait to book a call today.      

The post Google Ads Limited by Budget: How it Affects Your PPC Campaigns appeared first on The HOTH.

Local PPC (pay-per-click) refers to paid online advertising focused on a specific local area. This could be a city, state, zip code, neighborhood, or a custom local radius.

It differs from traditional PPC in that you’re targeting a specific location with your ads instead of going international. With standard PPC, potential customers from across the web will get the chance to view your ads, but this isn’t always ideal, especially for startups and smaller companies. 

That’s because international PPC campaigns will pit you against enterprise-level companies from around the world that have astronomical budgets for paid ad campaigns. As a result, your ad groups will likely get blown out of the water, which can be very discouraging. 

That’s why a local PPC strategy is such an effective digital marketing tool for smaller companies and local businesses. 

By geo-targeting specific locations, you’ll significantly reduce the amount of competition you have while simultaneously honing in on your true target audience. 

Of course, local paid search campaigns are like any other digital marketing strategy in that they require intelligent tactics and proper optimization to find sustainable success. 

That’s why we compiled this ultimate guide for devising a winning local PPC ads strategy for your business, so don’t wait to read on to learn how. 

Why Bother with Local PPC? 7 Essential Benefits 

If you’re already humming along with local SEO tactics for your small business, you may wonder why you need to invest in local PPC. 

After all, why spend money on clicks when you can generate them organically for free with local SEO?

First, local SEO may not require spending money upfront, but it’s certainly not free. For a local marketing strategy to work, you’ll likely have to hire an outside agency to help you handle content creation, keyword research, technical adjustments, & analyzing metrics to adjust your tactics accordingly. 

Even if you decide to handle the work by yourself, it’s a massive time investment that will distract you from other things, such as uncovering ways to scale your business. At the very least, you’ll need a few freelancers to help you write articles and create graphics. 

Beyond that, organic SEO takes quite a bit of time to provide a return on investment. 

While local SEO is undoubtedly effective, and you should invest in it along with local PPC, it will take an average of 6 – 12 months to start working. 

What do you do in the meantime?

That’s where local PPC comes into the picture. Local PPC ads can start generating traffic, leads, and sales for you from day one – which is crucial for small businesses in desperate need of new clients. 

In addition to seeing immediate results from local PPC, you’ll also enjoy the 7 following benefits. 

#1: Superior audience targeting 

While it may initially seem counterintuitive, targeting a smaller, local audience will significantly benefit your brand. 

That’s because you won’t have to compete with international enterprise-level companies, and you’ll be able to place your ads in front of a niche audience in your area that’s genuinely interested in what you do.

Let’s consider a quick example to illustrate this. 

Say that you run a local pizzeria in Dayton, Ohio. First, you use a standard PPC campaign that places your ads in front of an international audience. Well, how many people in Switzerland want to visit your pizzeria in Ohio? Not that many, which is why targeting an audience that big isn’t wise. 

Picture instead that you run local PPC advertising strictly for the city of Dayton. Now everyone who sees your ad will be potential customers who can stop by your restaurant for a slice and soda on their lunch break. 

That’s how effective local PPC campaigns are at targeting the right audience, which other digital marketing channels don’t do quite well. 

For instance, it takes quite a bit of keyword and demographic research to uncover target audiences and customer personas for SEO, PPC, and eCommerce – which are things you don’t have to do nearly as much with local PPC. 

As long as you’ve done enough research to discover which specific areas are bringing in the most business, you’ve got enough data to start a local pay-per-click campaign. 

#2: It raises brand awareness

This perk is especially useful for newer businesses eager to implant their names in the minds of potential customers. 

By using local Google Ads campaigns (formerly Google Adwords), your ads will appear at the very top of the search results, even above the organic results. 

As such, even if some users don’t click on your ad, they’re still seeing your business name and are likely making a mental note of it. The brand awareness factor alone will lead to traffic, leads, and sales – even if they don’t occur immediately.

Your prospects can’t visit your location if they don’t know you exist, so raising brand awareness should be one of your top priorities as a new business, and local PPC ads are a great way to do so.  

The superior positioning you gain from local PPC ads is another reason why it’s such a beneficial tactic for smaller businesses. 

Remember, your ads will appear above the organic results generated by traditional SEO efforts. While you should always strive to rank in the organic search results, too, your local SEO strategy will take some time to gain momentum. 

In the meantime, your local search ads will help fill in the gaps and start working their magic for you from day one. 

#3: It improves conversion rates

Over half of all product searches occur on Google search, not to mention that 68% of all online experiences start with a search engine, even if the intent is to purchase something locally. 

So if you want to boost your sales and improve lead generation, you need visibility on search engines, and you need it fast. 

Local PPC ads will immediately skyrocket your ads to the top of the SERPs (search engine results pages), which will place them in front of all the online shoppers ready to make a purchase. 

That will work wonders for your CRO (conversion rate optimization), and you’ll start landing more sales as a result. 

Of course, local PPC ads are only half the equation. They’ll generate plenty of interested visitors to your website, but beyond that, it’s up to the strength of your landing page, CTA, and product/service. To learn more about these essential factors, check out our extensive guide on CRO. 

#4: Local PPC has trackable metrics 

Another perk of local campaigns is how easy they are to track. In other words, you’ll have plenty of metrics to analyze, which will let you know how effective you’re being with your strategy. 

Other local marketing tactics, like handing out flyers or hanging banner ads, don’t have clear-cut metrics you can view. While you may see an increase in sales here and there, it will be extremely difficult to pinpoint when, where, & why they happened. 

Local PPC is different, as you can check your click-through rates, conversion rates, & total impressions on Google Search Console and other analytical tools. These measurable metrics make it far easier to see what’s working and what isn’t, which will help you refine your strategy even further. 

#5: Fewer competitors 

As stated before, nationwide or international PPC campaigns have incredibly steep competition. They pit you against legacy companies that have deep pockets, large followings, and a ton of influence. 

Local pay-per-click campaigns grant you the ability to drastically scale down the competition, which can help you find your footing with a local audience. 

The more specific you can get with your location, the fewer competitors you’ll likely have. 

#6: It’s beginner-friendly 

Tackling a local SEO strategy by yourself is a huge undertaking that takes a lot of knowledge about search engines, link-building, blogging, website creation, and more. 

That’s why most companies turn to SEO marketing agencies to handle the majority of the workload & strategizing. 

Yet, local PPC campaigns don’t require nearly as much SEO & digital marketing knowledge. Most of the steps are intuitive, and you won’t have to worry about things like link-building and creating content, either. 

It’s another reason why startups should look to local PPC for its immediate benefits instead of only focusing on local SEO. 

#7: It’s highly flexible

Don’t have a massive budget to allocate toward a local PPC campaign?

That’s no problem at all; simply set your budget in stone and choose what you’re willing to spend. If your ads really start to take off, you’ll be able to afford to scale up, which you can do immediately. 

If things start to fall off, you can always scale your efforts back. 

This amazing flexibility is a significant benefit and definitely a reason not to ignore local PPC. 

Implementing a Local PPC Strategy 

Since it’s clear that local PPC is the way to go, it’s time to learn how to utilize it properly. There’s definitely a right and a wrong way to handle a local pay-per-click campaign, so you need to know the best practices to follow. 

Finding success with local PPC ads is all about narrowing your location down to its most compact size, appealing to your audience by speaking their language, and delivering on your offer with an optimized landing page. 

Here are some effective tips to supercharge your local PPC tactics. 

Using single-keyword ad groups 

Ad groups play a prominent role in Google Ads, as they allow you to target multiple keywords at a time for your ads.

Yet, many digital marketers don’t know about the effectiveness of single keyword ad groups, especially for local PPC. 

Why are single-keyword ad groups so special?

They are because of the following:

• They improve the click-through rate and quality score of your local ads 
• They make your ad copy more relevant 
• They’re perfect for targeting smaller audiences 

Single keyword ad groups will narrow your audience to include only the prospects that have the most potential to convert. 

They’ll also provide a sort of hyperfocus for your content, ensuring that it’s extremely relevant to the user query/keyword. 

Use local lingo in your ads 

If you want your audience to feel like you understand them, you need to speak their language. 

Beyond that, speaking like the locals will help you further refine your local keywords. As an example, if your local audience says ‘pop’ instead of ‘soda,’ you’ll want to include that terminology in your ads. 

Otherwise, your local artisan sodas won’t get near as many clicks, as your prospects will be typing ‘local pop’ instead. 

Pro tip: You should include your location in the name of your ad to negate any unqualified traffic from clicking on your ad. After all, if you operate a local bar in Albuquerque, New Mexico – you only want to advertise to thirsty patrons looking to drink inside the city. 

If Albuquerque is in the title, users from other parts of the state will know that you only serve that location. 

Using extensions 

Another great way to increase ad engagement with your audience is to take advantage of Google’s ad extensions. 

What are those?

Extensions are ways that you can spruce up standard text ads on Google. Types of extensions include the following:

• Ad extensions 
• Location extensions 
• Call extensions 

Ad extensions enable you to add extra hyperlinks to your text ad, which can boost engagement. For instance, you may choose to include links to specific product pages or testimonials at the bottom of your ad. 

Location extensions are perfect for business owners that have multiple locations across town. The extension will list your various locations, complete with their distance from the user that generated the search. Upon clicking one of the locations, they’ll immediately get Google Maps directions from their location to your business. 

Call extensions add a hyperlink to your phone number embedded in the ad. Users can either jot down their number or click the link to call you directly. These types of extensions are best if you make most of your sales over the phone. 

Final Thoughts: Local PPC Campaigns 

If you want to start increasing your leads and sales as soon as possible but don’t have the budget to compete on a global scale, local PPC is the way to go. 

It’s newbie-friendly, so you shouldn’t have trouble getting the ball rolling with some local ads. 

By following this guide and also optimizing your landing pages and CTAs (see our guide on CRO that we linked to before), you’ll be fully equipped to start acquiring tons of new clients. 

Need help devising a local PPC or SEO campaign?

Then you need to check out our local SEO packages and our PPC management service today.    

The post Local PPC: How to Optimize Your Ads So the People Come to You appeared first on The HOTH.

Have you been thinking about buying pay-per-click advertising for your business? Many businesses wander down the road of paid ads. In fact, nearly all small businesses advertise and about 45% of small businesses use PPC regularly.   

So, what is PPC? In basic terms, PPC is when an advertiser pays for an advertisement each time it’s clicked.

The ad is displayed prominently in a Google search so more people are likely to see it when searching for specific products or services. The result is that potential customers see your business first. 

While very effective if done right, there’s no question PPC can get complicated quickly. Especially if it’s your first time. 

As more businesses than ever are setting up these ads to compete in the digital marketplace, we wanted to share some important things you need to know before buying PPC. These tips will save you money and time in the long run.  

Ready to succeed? Keep scrolling!

What are The Different Types of PPC Marketing?

Successful ad campaigns require ongoing management and can take time before you begin to see results. Certain risks do come along with PPC like ad placement or a competitive keyword. So, it’s best to choose the right type of ad campaign that fits your goal. 

Here are a few different types of PPC: 

Paid search marketing

Paid search marketing is one of the most commonly used types of PPC. Providers like Google Ads and Bing Ads, show your ads to people who actively search for different keywords.  

You’re able to set up campaigns by writing an ad copy, selecting the right keywords, and choosing a landing page for your website.   

Display ads

Display ads are basically just images such as banners, video ads, and text ads that appear on websites other than SERP to target a particular audience. 

What these types of ads do is link back to your website. They generally return a lower click-through rate than search ads, but they can be more useful if brand awareness is your online marketing goal. In fact, ads can increase brand awareness by 80%. 

Social Media Advertising

Social media advertising involves ads that are placed on social media platforms and are targeted at individual users. Social networks tend to utilize an individual’s information so the ads are fairly relevant and based on interactions within a specific platform. 

There are a few different types of social media ads, such as Facebook Ads, Instagram Stories Ads, and Conversational Ads which are found on Twitter. All of these platforms have different types of ads, but the purpose of them all remains the same. 

Retargeting PPC advertising

Retargeting ads are interesting because they are more targeted by Google’s algorithm and personal to a specific user based on their previous online searches and demographic. 

For example, have you ever noticed that you tend to see ads for a product you’ve just searched for? A user who searches for a product such as an “iPhone” would see more display ads for that product. 

Price comparison website advertising

Price comparison or aggregator sites gather and display prices and special offers. That may sometimes include comparison websites or hotels and travel. People will often click through the offers and buy directly from a merchant or from the price comparison website itself. Actually, 65% of customers click on PPC ads, which increases conversion rates. 

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing uses performance-based payment. Payment is usually aligned with results. You can set up affiliate marketing pretty easily, or even outsource to third-party provider affiliate networks. Affiliate marketing isn’t just for bloggers and YouTubers, about 90% of advertisers say that affiliate marketing is an essential part of their marketing strategy. 

The Difference Between PPI, CPC, and PPC

So, what is the difference between PPC and PPI? 

PPC is a form of paid advertising where you are only charged when someone clicks on your ad. With a PPI or pay-per-impression, you are charged anything a user goes and searches and your ad appears on the results page. Though there’s usually a lower conversion rate that is associated with PPI, the cost is usually less expensive. 

Another question you might ask is if you should use PPC or CPC? 

Let me explain:

As I mentioned, PPC is pay per click, but CPC is cost-per-click. PPC is a pricing model for digital advertising, whereas CPC is more of a metric that measures cost-per-click. The main difference between PPC and CPC is mostly marketing tactics. 

Different ad types have different goals and purposes that are used to target different stages of digital marketing. 

It’s important to understand which ad would best fit your commerce plan, which keywords your targeting, and what stage of the buyer’s journey your audience is at. That way you have more control over which ad your audience is shown. By doing so, you don’t waste time and resources on paid advertising and you can get the most from your money. 

Will PPC Work For Your Business?

If people are searching online for your products or services, PPC literally puts you up there at the moment they’re searching for you.

Think about yourself for a moment. What’s the first thing you do when you want to buy a new running shoe or hire a plumber to fix your leaky sink? 

You search Google for the “best running shoes” or “affordable plumbers.” Next, you’ll read through the search results to find products or services that are top-rated, affordable, and have a bunch of positive reviews.

This is how buyers behave today. It doesn’t matter if your business is local, national, or global, e-commerce or service-based, buying PPC can help you appear in searches first. 

The answer to the question is yes! PPC can work for your business. 

Besides brand awareness and CTR, here are a few other things PPC can achieve:

• Generate more leads
• Improve click-through rates or CTR and quality score
• Give companies more control

The most compelling reason to use PPC ads is that they can help you achieve a large number of marketing goals such as producing more qualified leads for your business. 

Improving click-through rates in search campaigns is an important goal that marketers usually want from paid online advertising. For example, if your PPC ad has 1,000 impressions but only 1 click, that means it’s a 0.1% CTR. As an important metric, CTR lets you know how relevant your target audience is finding your ad. 

One reason that PPC is great for giving businesses more control is that it is based entirely on budget. It offers a larger level of control than traditional paid advertising. One of the main reasons why businesses use PPC is because you have more control over how your ad budget is spent. 

If Your SEO Is Doing Well, Should You Still Invest in PPC?

Smart business owners understand the importance of search engine optimization, Google Analytics, and keyword research. They research their customers and incorporate relevant keywords throughout their website to enhance Google’s ranking. Some businesses even have mobile apps developed in addition to their search engine marketing strategies. 

These same owners work with agencies like The HOTH to generate high-quality content and set up backlinks from reputable sites. All of these tactics boost their organic SEO, but sometimes it’s not enough.

Around 60% of web traffic from search engine results pages bounces off your website and never returns. For whatever reason, they visited a few pages, clicked a few buttons, or read part of a blog before vanishing into thin air. 

But, here’s a silver lining.

PPC advertising can be used to remarket your products or services to these online visitors. If someone visits your roofing website for a few minutes and never returns, PPC ads for your service will be delivered to them through Google. 

Chances are they visited multiple roofing companies online to get quotes or read about specialties. While they’re mulling over the final hiring decision, your remarketing campaign will continue engaging with them. 

This increases the probability of you being hired for the job!

How Much Should You Pay for PPC?

Even before COVID-19, one of the first questions businesses asked us was about budgets. After all, most businesses don’t have unlimited dollars to spend on ads. They want to know how much of an ad spend will help move the needle.

If done right, your PPC return on investment or ROI will be well worth everything you spent. That’s also a reason to hire experienced professionals to do it for you. Our FREE PPC ROI Calculator can help you determine the correct return on investment. 

Generally, we recommend that businesses set a budget of at least $1,000 per month in ad spend to get enough traffic to start seeing results. Now if you’re a lawyer or a business with a lot of competition, we suggest increasing this budget to $5,000 to $10,000 per month.

Law firm PPC, for example, has a higher CPC than other businesses. A new client more than offsets the initial advertising investment, but having a bigger budget will ensure you get those new leads.

And we can do all of the hard work for you!

Should You Outsource PPC?

One major problem in the PPC world is ad blindness. The PPC industry is well aware of a well-known issue where people simply ignore ads because they know they are ads. Statistics suggest that a majority of ads (80%) are seen, but remain ignored. 

That’s why it’s sometimes best to use an agency such as The HOTH so your ads don’t get ignored and you don’t waste a ton of money, time, and resources on PPC that no one clicks on.

Our PPC Management Services include a dedicated campaign manager who utilizes advanced campaign strategies to help you beat the competition. 

We keep you informed of progress every step of the way. You’ll receive weekly reports from us on expenditures, the average cost-per-click, your site’s click-through rate, a full list of leads, and more!

Our services are also customized according to your industry. Check out some of the SEO and PPC solutions we’ve provided to law firms, contractors, dentists, gyms, and more!

Setting up a PPC advertising campaign seems simple. You log into Google Ads and can have an ad running within 5 to 10 minutes. Why pay someone else to do it for you?

The problem is it’s easy to burn through thousands of dollars of cash through Google. PPC campaigns are a lot of trial and error, and without the right experience you may end up losing a lot of money. 

It all appears straightforward but there are several landmines you need to clear in order to make a successful Google campaign.

The HOTH’s campaign managers are all Google certified. They have gone through rigorous training to learn the ins and outs of Google Ads, and we have experience managing millions of dollars of ad spend.

We’ve become so effective at managing PPC for businesses that Google recognized us as a Google Certified Partner. 

In the end, you can do it yourself. But, why do that when you can focus on what you do best, which is actually running your business? Our experts can help grow your business using Google Ads. 

It’s Time to Start Buying PPC!

As you can see, there is a lot of strategy and expertise that goes into PPC. Hopefully, you can apply some of what we discussed above to your business plan. 

But, if you’re tired of experimenting with it or you’re ready to get started for the first time, you should check out The HOTH’s PPC Management Services. We offer ads for retargeting, lead generation, call-only, and more.

With optimized PPC ads, you’ll see a boost in web traffic, more customer inquiries, and most importantly, higher sales revenues. 

Reach out to us and schedule a call with one of our PPC consultants and get started.

The post Things To Know Before Buying PPC appeared first on The HOTH.

In fact, a staggering 93% of marketers worldwide are using social media for business. In 2022, almost 92% of marketers who work for companies with more than 100 employees in the U.S. are expected to begin using social media with their marketing strategy. 

With that said, the remaining content will explore some of the most popular social media trends for businesses, social media strategies, and everything you can expect to see in the coming months. 

Ready to jump in?

1. Growing Demand for Chatbot Communication

On-demand messaging has shifted to more of a preference for customer and service communication. 

With the emerging chatbot trends, more and more industries are choosing to integrate chatbots into their business to be able to deliver continuous, non-stop customer care. But it’s not just for customer care, in fact, AI is expected to cut customer service costs by 50%, 

In fact, according to Gartner, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be a mainstream customer experience investment in the next couple of years.” With that said, 47% of organizations will use chatbots for customer service and 40% will even deploy virtual assistants. 

Here are a few different types of chatbots that you could see emerging:

• Menu-based chatbots
• Rule-based chatbots
• Keyword recognition chatbots
• Machine learning chatbots
• Voice bots
• Appointment or scheduling bots
• Customer support bots

AI has been reinventing the ways people communicate with businesses and AI is vital for enabling machine learning on e-commerce websites. Going forward, chatbots are predicted to move from simple user-based queries to more advanced predictive analytics-based real-time conversations. 

Actually, the market size of Conversational AI is expected to reach $1.3 billion by 2025. That means its compound annual growth rate is 24%. Additionally, 75-90% of queries are projected to be handled by chatbots by 2024. 

2. Small Networks Will Become Popular for Ads

TikTok isn’t the only “smaller” network catching the attention of brands. Pinterest and even Snapchat are also gaining in popularity. 

According to data shared by Pinterest business, ads on their platform can generate twice the return on ad spend for retail brands, compared to other social media channels. 

While Snapchat isn’t super popular for marketing (compared to Facebook or Instagram) Snapchat advertising statistics show that the potential for ad growth on Snapchat has increased. 

Additionally, Apple made a recent announcement earlier this year that it will block the ability of Facebook to target a significant number of its users. With that said, it is vital for brands to begin looking at other platforms for advertising and new audiences. 

3. Brands Will Adopt More VR and Augmented Reality Technology

This social media trend of 2022 is one of the cooler trends on this list. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) aren’t just for gamers anymore. 

Brands try to offer an exciting, and shoppable experience for their customers and many e-commerce businesses are beginning to adapt to AR-powered shopping. 

Meaning that users would be able to try on products before completing a digital purchase. That will help customers make the best decision for them before buying anything. 

Already, platforms like Snapchat and Facebook messenger allow people to try on hundreds of different filters which can sometimes include updating profile pictures with brand logos or business mascots. 

Top technology experts are beginning to make VR gear more available to people at an affordable price.  That means that you can enjoy an immersive game-like experience. I mean, Facebook already offers a feature called, “Facebook Spaces,” where up to 3 people can engage with each other using a VR device. 

In fact, according to eMarketer, the number of VR users in the US is 57.4 million while the number of AR users is a whopping 90.9 million. It is expected to jump in 2022 in the US to 95.1 million users! 

4. TikTok Will Continue to Grow

While TikTok may not see the same growth as it saw in 2020 during the Pandemic and lockdowns, it doesn’t mean that its growth has stopped. 

In fact, TikTok reached a staggering 1 billion monthly active users in 2021. The company has also been improving the development of its ad platform, making it easier for businesses to create an online presence on the network. 

Here are a few reasons to advertise and expand your brand on TikTok:

• 69% of US teens or Gen-Z are on TikTok
• 90% of users log in every day
• TikTok users spend an average of 89 minutes a day on the app
• 88% of people would like to see more video content from brands in 2022

In addition, the company said that 47% of its users have bought a product because of TikTok and 67% agree that TikTok inspired them to shop even if they weren’t planning to do so. 

Given this amount of growth in recent years, it would be a wise marketing strategy to turn to TikTok as a social media platform, especially if your product or service is geared towards a younger audience. In fact, only 26% of millennials use TikTok. 

5. Reaching New Audiences Will Become a Primary Goal for Brands

When it’s time to build your brand up, you may need to add or change the type of audiences you promote to. Reaching a new group requires precision, research, and expanding on different social media networks. 

According to Hubspot, one of the main goals of most marketers in 2022 will be to reach new audiences. That includes growing relationships with customers and boosting customer service. 

In previous years, these goals were more focused on boosting sales and advertising products. With that said, it’s anticipated that there will be a change in how brands are going to use social media platforms moving forward. 

6. Instagram and Twitter Will Continue to Maintain Popularity

While a lot has been predicted for smaller channels such as TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat, one thing is for sure Twitter and Instagram aren’t going anywhere in 2022. 

Actually, according to HubSpot research, Twitter and Instagram will become even more important in the B2B space. In 2022, 70% of respondents said that they plan to increase their investment in Twitter. 

While 63% of B2B businesses plan to increase their ad spend on Instagram. So, let’s take a second to put this information into perspective. A Hootsuite study shows only 49% of B2B businesses plan to increase their investment on Facebook. 

That means more brands are distancing themselves from Facebook and finding new audiences on other social media platforms. 

7. Twitter Will Shift to a Trustworthy News Portal

While platforms like Facebook are primarily used as entertainment platforms, Twitter has always reserved the spot for serious talks on various topics of interest. 

With that said, Twitter is one platform that has always prioritized news stories among other forms of content. 

However, sometimes the authenticity of those news stories wasn’t completely accurate. Which led to controversies on and about the platform. 

In the coming years, Twitter is actually expected to keep a stricter fact-checking process on tweets and fake news. Twitter tends to allow only 100% authentic reliable news sources. 

Twitter has never topped the social media ranks in terms of popularity, however, it has continued to be an important platform. 

In 2022, Twitter is expected to bring more mainstream news media and tends to increase participation from social media users. 

8. Instagram Likes May Die Down

It may be safe to say that 2022 may be the year when digital marketing professionals who focus on marketing trends will need to shift their focus from likes to social trends and content marketing. 

Marketing campaigns aren’t strangers to social media “likes”, but it seems like 2022 might be the year that we will begin to see the “likes” fad die down. It is well known how the constant fixation on social media validation tends to have a fairly negative impact on individuals. 

That’s why Instagram has begun an experiment where they make the like counts private for some users. Although this isn’t an official update, we may see some form of this implemented onto the platform. 

To be clear, Instagram hasn’t removed likes, it’s simply hiding them from public profiles so only the poster can see how many likes a post or Instagram story has. 

9. Paid Advertising Will Become Necessary 

Social media in 2022 means that paid advertising isn’t an option anymore but a necessity. A Hootsuite survey suggests that 43% of businesses point out the decline of organic reach and the necessity to increase paid advertising budgets will be the major challenge for brands. 

Considering that the average organic reach for a Facebook post is just over 5%. With that said, that’s why it’s so important to get your PPC ads right. 

If you aren’t sure what to do, book a call with one of our experts now, we’re here to help! 

10. Social Audio Will Become More Popular 

Clubhouse was launched in 2020 and since then it has become increasingly popular. In fact, in June of 2021, Facebook followed suit by launching its Live Audio rooms, new features, and podcasts in the U.S. Additionally, LinkedIn launched a test of Audio Rooms in January of 2022. 

Brands are listening and taking notes! In Hootsuite‘s 2022 Social Media Trends Survey more than 74% of businesses say that they’re planning to invest in audio-only content such as podcasts in the next year. 

The same study showed that hosting an audio live stream as a thought leader was one of the most popular strategies. 

With that said, the trend has not quite caught as much attention of smaller brands, especially those on a budget because it may not be the most affordable form of content marketing. 

It might only be an audio clip, but there’s still a lot of time, effort, and creativity that goes into creating new content.

11. Local SEM Targeting Will Get More Prevalent 

Local SEM and local targeting have become more popular in 2022 and will continue to grow in the coming years. Local businesses are finding more ways to connect with their target customers by geo-tagging their social media posts. 

In fact, Instagram already lets people look for posts and stories that are in their area. That gives local brands a chance to become more discoverable. 

Additionally, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram give brands the ability to enable target audiences from a specific location through their IP addresses. 

12. Memes 

Memes are everywhere! It’s also really hard to find someone who doesn’t like them. They are one of the most creative short-forms of content creation and it’s really hot in social trends right now. 

In fact, niche memes are a good way for creators to connect with their audience and promote a brand without losing any sense of fun. 

Here are a few ways you can use memes in your marketing:

• Make your memes match your brand voice
• Repurpose existing memes
• Create original memes
• Keep meme types in mind
• Use the best fonts and colors 
• Repost relevant user-generated memes

Here’s an example:

(source: DigitalMarketer) 

13. Influencer Marketing Will Continue to Grow

Influencer marketing is growing at a rapid pace, it’s also expected to keep dominating in 2022. However, the way brands should collaborate with influencers may see changes.

Brands will now collaborate with creator economy and influencers over a series of social media promotion posts rather than just a single post. They may put equal effort into promoting content created by specific influencers. 

Here are a few different types of Influencers:

• Mega-Influencers 
• Macro-Influencers
• Mid-Tier Influencers
• Micro-Influencers 
• Nano-Influencers

In fact, Adam Shapiro from Upfluence believes that influencer marketing will drive online sales by offering an easy shopping experience in the social media landscape. 

Social commerce features are continuing to rise in popularity and online checkouts are becoming more and more available on almost all social media networks. Influencers are vital for converting brand awareness into sales. 

Adam predicts that influencers will lead the way in live social shopping, affiliate marketing, and sharing authentic product recommendations. 

There was a greater focus on networks that provide tools for their creators to better help them monetize and manage their brands or businesses. That will continue in 2022 and become more aggressive with competitors like TikTok, Instagram, Youtube, and Snapchat. 

These Social Media Trends Are Here to Stay

Staying on top of what’s going on with social media is an essential part of building your brand. If you haven’t adapted to any of these trends, it might be time to do so! 

If you need some help with that, schedule a call today!

Also, don’t forget to sign up for free and check out our free SEO tools! 

The post 13 Social Media Trends for 2022 appeared first on The HOTH.

How do you keep coming up with all those witty captions, snappy CTAs, and stunning visuals time after time?

You can refill your creative tank by exploring clever Instagram Ad examples that other businesses, not necessarily from your niche, use. You can also keep an eye on your competitors’ ads and gain insights from their campaigns.

This article will help you with both.

Since most brands prefer omnichannel marketing, many of these Instagram Ads aren’t unique to Instagram — they were or are also running on Facebook.

In-feed Instagram Ads Examples

With captivating Reels and Stories hijacking everyone’s attention, businesses on Instagram are having a hard time expanding brand awareness through in-feed ads. All the more reason why they should get creative and appeal to the emotional side of their target audience.

Coursera

This elegant in-feed ad from Coursera demonstrates how to evoke trust using to-the-point copy and trackable social proof. It speaks directly to Coursera’s target audience and describes the contents of the course without boring them.

Thanks to the featured social proof, the user immediately learns from this ad that this is a top-rated course with more than 20K positive reviews. A natural-looking photo draws additional attention to the ad and makes it more relatable.

Coursera also mentions that there’s a full-access free trial — this is another good-to-know fact that can boost conversions.

Bed Bath & Beyond

Tease and inspire your target audience by showing them what they can achieve with your product or service. BB&B does that by using appealing lifestyle video content in its social media campaigns.

An Instagram ad like this one can easily spark spontaneous purchases because it’s memorable, attractive, and clever. Instead of selling one specific product, why not sell the whole lifestyle? This approach also allows you to showcase your pieces in real life in a more natural context.

Dropbox

This in-feed Instagram ad from Dropbox stands out because it addresses way too familiar problems no one likes to deal with. It also offers an immediate solution and demonstrates how it works.

The intuitive video ad makes the explanation more digestible and removes any potential barriers standing between Dropbox and users who are less tech-savvy and just want their data to be safe.

Soylent

How do you make sure that your target audience fully understands the advantages of your product? Witty Instagram captions aren’t always enough — you may need to educate them with in-depth blog content.

Soylent seems to have found a perfect formula for their nourishing drinks and engaging social media posts and ads that drive website traffic.

Soylent’s team promotes their new blog posts with valuable tips and insights through in-feed Instagram ads to reach new potential customers. They go the extra mile in making sure that their audience understands what’s in Soylent products and why.

Soylent intentionally uses pure, minimalist design in its ads to maintain the overall brand aesthetic. The brand’s mission is to spread awareness about complete nutrition and sustainability, and we can clearly see that in Soylent’s Instagram campaigns.

Instagram Stories Ads Examples

Instagram Stories are all the rage these days — brands are ready to invest thousands of dollars in video production or even hire professional content makers to get their 24 hours of fame.

So, it’s not enough to just share a vertical video ad or product photo and be done with it. Instagram Stories Ads have to cut through the noise and make a user pause and reflect on the offer. Let’s find out how to do it without breaking the bank.

OfferZen

We all know how dull and uninspiring B2B ads can get, but yours don’t have to be that way. Take a look at this playful Instagram Stories ad with a custom illustration.

This is a catchy and entertaining Story that can certainly spark curiosity. It has no clutter, special effects, or popping stickers, but it does stand out and get the message across.

Sephora

The power of curated content cannot be underestimated. Sephora knows that and uses Instagram Story ads to pique their target audience’s interest by sharing secret tips and personalized recommendations with them.

Even the emoji choice here isn’t random — that’s how Sephora emphasizes that it offers an inclusive range of products for diverse hair types.

Fifth Third Bank

This ad is another example of how brands can tackle serious topics in a playful and friendly way. Instead of bombarding its potential customers with complex details, Fifth Third Bank puts them at the forefront and talks about things that genuinely interest them, such as how to make paydays more flexible.

Another good thing about this Instagram Stories ad is that this chat doesn’t pretend to be real — it’s just a good illustration of the benefits Fifth Third Bank offers.

KitchenAid

Your ads in Instagram Stories are guaranteed to be less salesy if you focus on the results your customers get and not on the product itself. KitchenAid does exactly that — for example, the company promotes its espresso machines by showing how much more pleasant mornings can get if you have one of them around.

This type of Instagram ad is very concise and eye-grabbing, especially if you can pack your whole story into a 15-second piece. However, it’ll require some money and effort to produce smooth and professional videos for social media.

Instagram Influencer Ads Examples

Authenticity is what customers want on Instagram, and what businesses try to live up to (most fail). You can share your brand’s values through hand-picked paid partnerships, collaborations, tagged publications, and other types of influencer content that truly resonates with your mission. Here’s how big brands approach this task.

Nike

The sportswear brand has once again changed the game and moved far beyond typical influencer ads. Nike partners with the boldest athletes who aren’t afraid to take a stance or confront outdated norms. As a result, their Instagram influencer ads turn out to be truly captivating and authentic.

By adding a social component to your influencer campaigns, you can also tap into customers’ emotions and show them that your brand is not another soulless money-making machine but a company with a clear mission and philosophy.

Of course, in this case, you will also need to show that your actions match your words. Nike does that by constantly working on sustainable solutions and helping nonprofits, schools, individual athletes, and local communities.

United Airlines

This airline partnered with the Golden State Warriors, one of the top basketball teams in the NBA, to demonstrate that even celebrities can’t miss the chance to benefit from their attractive loyalty program.

This influencer content looks and feels natural, relaxed, and in no way pompous — the ad features top Warriors players simply boarding the plane. We don’t see any pretentious words or overly luxurious details some big brands still tend to throw in, and that’s what makes this campaign so distinct and attractive.

Malt-O-Meal

If you want to find influencers that truly speak to your target group, check who your potential customers are following. Malt-O-Meal, a cereal brand, collaborates with bloggers who write about motherhood and lifestyle, and it’s a perfect message-audience fit.

To nail your next Instagram influencer ad, spend extra time finding niche bloggers and local stars who have a genuine following. This way, you’ll make sure that your paid partnership post will actually be noticed and read.

Guess

The iconic clothing brand collaborates with models, singers, actors, and creators all over the world and, in fact, uses Instagram influencer ads more than any other type of ad.

This is also an interesting approach since it makes branded content more unique and captivating. Working with many influencers also allows you to reach new audiences faster — it’s an expensive path but certainly worth considering. Finally, it’s a fantastic chance to show your product in action.

Instagram Shopping Ads Examples

Making promotional content look less promotional is a challenging task, but we’ve found a few ways for you to make your Instagram Shopping ads more engaging and interesting.

Birchbox

It’s hard to imagine someone who doesn’t love expertly-curated kits and beautiful sets — they’re usually fun to use and look at, not to mention a nicer price. Plus, the hardest work, choosing, has been done for you. Birchbox applies the same personalization principle to their Instagram ads.

The company offers convenient travel kits with selected products even minimalists can’t live without. An ad like this can be extremely effective when targeted at solo travelers who prefer to explore the world without carrying tons of luggage with them.

Bellroy

Having a stunning image is important, but sometimes, it also makes sense to let a witty caption be the star of the show. Here’s an Instagram ad example proving that.

In this ad, Bellroy lets its brand personality shine through, and it turns out to be way more captivating than typical dry product descriptions.

Reebok

Reebok’s team chooses passionate, energetic real-life photos for their Instagram Shopping ads. The images help them convey the essence of the brand through every sponsored post.

Thanks to that, we don’t even have to imagine how those new training shoes will withstand hardcore workout sessions — we can clearly see it in the ad. If you want to follow this practice, try using a carousel ad to increase engagement.

Instagram Explore Ads Examples

The “Explore” section on Instagram is quite busy on its own, so sponsored publications there have to be especially eye-catching.

Asos

The retailer uses retargeting to “catch” forgetful buyers when they’re unwinding by scrolling through their feed with recommendations.

It’s a steal-worthy trick because the “Explore” section is usually full of entertaining or dreamy content that automatically puts users in a good mood.

Yves Saint Laurent

YSL runs highly visual campaigns that always stand out in the “Explore” feed. For example, this stunning animation with burning letters is impossible to miss.

Of course, it is tough to compete with big brands with unlimited budgets, but you can still adopt a similar approach and pour more creativity into your Instagram Explore ads because, chances are, your competitors aren’t doing that yet.

How to Find More Relevant Instagram Ads Examples and Learn From Them

Here are the main reasons why you should be monitoring your competitors’ ads:

• Get inspired by their captions, visuals, and animations, and never run out of creative ideas.
• Double-check to make sure that you target the right audience and use the right tone of voice.
• Understand what kinds of CTAs work best for your competitors and use that knowledge for your own campaigns.
• Find the best ad types for your niche without wasting your own money on extra experiments and A/B testing.
• Learn from their mistakes and try to fill the gaps in their strategy to attract the audience they’re targeting.
• Understand how to ensure that your Instagram ads are like no others.

The best place to check out the ads that competing brands create is the Meta Ad Library. You can also access it directly from your competitors’ ads on Instagram.

Whenever you see an ad you’re interested in, click on the three-dot icon in the top right corner. Then, click on “About this account.”

By clicking “Active Ads,” you can access their ad library, where you’ll find all their past and active Instagram campaigns.

You can also find ad spy tools for any social media platform; some of them are available as Chrome extensions. You can use them to track your competitors’ ads on other channels, such as TikTok or YouTube.

However, the official Meta library remains the safest and most reliable way to do that, especially considering that it costs you nothing and covers most of your needs.

If you want to know what your target audience thinks of your competitors and their ads, consider using social media listening tools as well.

Make sure that all your ads rock

Before diving into social media ads, take care of your Google Ads — or let someone else take care of them. We offer transparent PPC management services that can give you consistent leads and sales and allow you to draw breath and switch to more exciting tasks.

We’ll provide you with your own Google-certified paid traffic expert who will analyze and improve your strategy and help you grow revenue. Book a call now to give your marketing a push!

The post 10+ Effective Instagram Ads Examples and Tips on How to Track Your Competitors’ Ads appeared first on The HOTH.

What: The golffather is an online Golf Accessory store who have been running their own social ads for quite some time. Once we did an audit we found some great opportunities to help them grow their brand. 

Many of the campaigns were focused on link clicks, which is GREAT for driving traffic but Facebook solely serves these ads to users who are most likely to do what… you guessed it click the link.


Where as when setting a conversion objective like Lead Generation or Purchases tells Facebook to serve the ads to people who are most likely to become a lead or purchase. 

In the initial audit we found one of the highest spending campaigns were to sell a product but focused on link clicks.

Goal: Their main goal was to generate more leads for their email list since they made the highest ROI off their email marketing campaigns. Inside their email marketing campaigns they would focus on value driven emails and promotional materials to snipe in the deals. It was the perfect duo, we deliver the leads and they snipe the sales. 

Solution: We decided they needed a solid direct response marketing campaign to help them generate more email subscribers. 

Our focus was extremely specific when creating the offer. 

It has to be simple, something a user didn’t have to think twice about and make them say within seconds, Yes, I Want That! 

For this campaign, we decided to split two offers technically. 

The First Offer: “Get 3xed Air Miles With Golf Purchases When You Join Our Email List” 

The Second Offer:  “Join Our Email List For Special Offers On Golf Tech” 

Results: 

Within the first 7 days of the campaign we saw the offer start to take off and get traction. 

We generated leads for less than $3. This was a great CPL for them with their stats on the backend and close rate of their email marketing campaigns.

The Golfather winning creative. 

In the beginning the “Join Our Email List” was converting best but as we scaled the “Get 3xed Air Mile” offer one, but just by a few cents when it came to the CPL. 

Now why would we test multiple offers from the get go? Great question, we typically stick to one offer but since this was a brand/niche that would appeal to a mass amount of people we knew our ads wouldn’t fatigue while testing multiple offers. 

So for this one we kept the audience’s the same and just focused on testing offers over audiences initially. 

The next major round of testing will be audiences. 

How did we do it? 

Our social ads product is built on 5 main components that we inject in every single campaign. 

1. Competitor Research & Ad Design: This is how each ad, word inside of our ad copy, and offer will really stand out.
   
   For the Golfather we knew there was a large amount of competition in the golf world and we had to make a small brand stand out above some of the biggest names in the world.
   
   We did this through extensive research of the largest brands, types of ads they ran, and crafted our campaigns based on that research.
2. Split Testing: For any campaign,  no matter the platform this is critical. We start split testing right away with 5 different images, 3 different forms of copy, 2 different offers and 2 different audiences.
   
   
3. Performance Optimization: Once the campaign starts to get traction, meaning consistent leads then we’re able to start optimizing our ads based on key metrics including Cost Per Lead, Click Through Rate, Frequency, and other key metrics.
4. Scaling: Finally, to take up from the initial 100+ leads at beginning of the campaign to 450+ we had to scale the winning creative. When scaling Slow & Steady wins the race. We do this with budget changes, cutting out bad creative, and other split testing methods to maintain a solid cost per lead.

Pro Tip: When scaling you should only increase your daily Ad Set budget by 20% to not rock the algorithm to much. Allowing you to maintain your cost per lead or cost per conversion.

What About IOS 14? 

By utilzing lead generation, Facebook’s lead ad forms which we utilizie for all HOTH Social Ads campaigns, we’re able to get accurate reporting plus we can now take this data, create a remarketing audience and remarket to them without losing our mobile users. 

Want to learn more about IOS 14? Click on our latest blog here to learn more!

Latest update on Golfather 

Over the last month we have been able to scale our winning creative and continue soaking up a TON of leads nationwide. Our cost per lead has risen but that is expected when scaling and offers fatigue. For them next we will be focusing on winning creative and offer testing.

If you’re looking for help with growing your lead generation at a local, national, or worldwide offer click here to speak with a Social Ads Expert. 

The post From Hundreds Of Link Clicks To Hundreds Of Leads In Less Than 30 Days  appeared first on The HOTH.

Google wants its users to see only valuable, helpful ads that lead to relevant, helpful landing pages. That’s why the company came up with Quality Score, an indicator showing advertisers how they can make their ads more clickable, relevant, and profitable.

And Google rewards advertisers that get QS right with lower CPCs, higher placements, and more. So obviously, you want to improve your Google Ads Quality Score and target your potential customers with laser precision. 

And this article will give you step-by-step instructions on how to achieve that, including real-life examples. We’ll look at some well-performing ads and effective landing pages and discuss how to get a good Quality Score.

What is Quality Score?

Quality Score is a metric designed to reflect the quality and relevance of your ads, keywords, and landing pages to the average user. 

You can use it to improve your targeting, create more relevant ads and landing pages, and, as a result, improve your ad rank without increasing your bids.

Quality Score is measured on a scale from 1 to 10 and displayed for each of your keywords. Google uses historical performance data from other advertisers and compares it to your ads’ performance to calculate Quality Score. The score includes three main factors: expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience.

Think of Quality Score as a guidepost rather than a performance indicator that has to be pushed as high as possible. In other words, you want to optimize what Quality Score says it measures, but not obsess too much over the metric itself.

What Does Quality Score Mean?

For many keywords, there are hundreds of advertisers competing for the top spots on the results pages. Naturally, Google has to decide whose ads will show up higher, and which will be lower priority. 

Simply prioritizing the highest bidder was the first approach, but they canned it after issues with illegitimate advertising and even spam. After all, a big budget doesn’t guarantee high-quality and relevant ads.

That’s why Google developed Quality Score. It’s Google’s way of assessing ads and establishing their clickability and whether they match search intent. It’s in the company’s best interest to incentivize advertisers to improve the quality of their ads so consumers don’t lose trust in their platform.

Plus, if more people click on your ad, Google earns more money from that, so it’s a win-win situation.

Why Is Quality Score So Important?

A high Quality Score doesn’t guarantee that your ad will generate tons of sales, but it does put a certain stamp of approval on your ad and its targeting. 

At the same time, a low Quality Score doesn’t mean your campaign failed — it’s just a sign that you need to organize your ads differently, improve your ad copy, or something along those lines.

Quality Score influences Ad Rank, a metric Google uses to determine your ad position and whether your ads will show at all. Ad rank basically multiplies your bid with your quality score (and does the same for all competing advertisers), and the winners get the top spots.

This is how much Quality Score can increase or decrease the impact of your bids: 

Understanding Google Ads quality standards will help you outsmart your competitors, even if they have deeper pockets. You can win a higher position and save money by making your campaigns more relevant and useful to your target audience.

If your ads meet your potential customers’ needs and thus make Google happy, your life as an advertiser becomes easier:

1. Your actual cost-per-click will be lower than your maximum bid because you’ll only have to pay what’s required to hold your ad position and any potential ad extensions.
2. Your ads attract users with an expressed buying intent instead of random people.
3. You improve your landing page quality and make it more intuitive, to-the-point, and sales-oriented, which will help you convert traffic from other sources, too.

If you aren’t sure if Google Ads is worth it, keep on reading to understand how you can succeed where others trip up.

How to Improve Your Google Quality Score

There are three main components to Google’s Quality Score. Expected click-through rate (CTR) shows how likely your ad is to get clicked when displayed for that search term. Ad relevance reflects how closely your ad matches the search intent. Landing page experience demonstrates how relevant and useful your landing page is to users who click your ad.

If any of these Quality Score parameters have a status “Below average” or “Average,” they require your attention. Now, let’s talk about how you can positively influence each Google Quality Score metric.

#1. Optimize your ad to improve your expected click-through rate (CTR)

The goal is to make an eye-catching ad that immediately makes the user think, “that’s exactly what I was looking for.” To achieve that, you need to polish your ad copy and work on your keywords as well. Here’s how to do that.

Revise your ad copy and make your ad mirror the intent of your keywords

Make sure it accurately captures your offer and sparks curiosity. Include words related to your keyword. Use active verbs, address the user, and be specific — add important facts, numbers, achievements, or stats to make your business appear more credible, or mention that it’s a limited-time offer to add a sense of urgency. Also, check if your landing page URL is specific to the search query and clearly lets users know where the click will take them.

Prioritize long-tail keywords

Go for more specific, lower-search-volume relevant keywords to attract users who’re already inclined to purchase and know exactly what they want — for example, instead of “running shoes,” try “cushioned running shoes for bad knees.” Test different keyword placements in your copy to find the best-performing formula.

Emphasize your USP

Make it obvious to your target audience why your offer is better than the competition. Try to highlight your unique benefits instead of repeating what every other ad is saying.

Make your CTAs more emotive and attention-grabbing

Add power to your CTAs by replacing weak nouns with active verbs. Instead of “Cooking training,” try “Learn to make 10 French dishes in a week.” Avoid using calls-to-action to describe your offer — that’s what ad copy is for. In your CTAs, you need to speak to your audience directly and show them that they’re one click away from achieving their goal.

Let’s take a look at an ad that checks all the boxes:

In this example, we see how social proof, a strong CTA, a concise description, and a limited-time offer can drastically improve ad quality by making it more credible, relevant, and desirable.

#2. Improve ad relevance by targeting the right keywords (with the right ads)

Buyers don’t think in plain keywords — they’re looking for something specific when they type something into Google. Your ads should get as close to what they’re searching for as possible. The closer you can get, the more likely they are to click on your ad.

Analyze search intent to get a better ad relevance score

Search intent is the industry lingo for “what a Google user is looking for when they search.” A good place to start is to search the keyword yourself and look at the top results, questions, and related searches. You can also use SERP analysis tools to understand what terms and tone of voice high-ranking landing pages use — their SEO tactics can help your PPC strategy.

Don’t forget to use negative keywords

Negative keywords can help you protect your budget and prevent you from targeting the wrong audience. For example, if you’re looking for potential customers, you don’t want to show up for searches for “Toyota dealership jobs.”

Excluding ambiguous search terms can also be helpful if you want to separate your campaigns, meaning, avoid cross-campaign matches.

Organize your ads by splitting them into smaller groups

Don’t squeeze 15–20 keywords into one ad group. It might be easier to set up your campaign that way, but you’ll end up diluting your ads’ impact and lowering their Quality Score.

Instead, group keywords by a single theme, and write unique ad copy that matches the search intent of each keyword.

Avoid broad-match keywords and use either phrase match or exact match when creating your single-theme ad group (STAG).

You need to be highly specific in your ad copy, so don’t target too many search terms at once. Just think of how you create individual product pages on your website. You need an ad that represents each product or potential interest in your product.

#3. Optimize your landing page experience

To ensure a high Quality Score, you need to think about what happens after a user clicks your ad. If they land on your page and don’t see anything resembling your initial offer, they get frustrated and leave. What’s even worse, they also lose faith in your brand, so it’ll be harder for you to land the sale in the future.

Thankfully, you can prevent this by optimizing your landing page for each specific search query and making it more conversion-friendly.

This checklist will help you improve your landing page experience, your QS, and boost your sales:

• Make sure that your landing page fully matches your ad: Link to a dedicated landing page created specifically for that type of keyword instead of sending them to learn more about your company.
• Keep your messaging and CTAs consistent: Avoid confusion by making sure that your ad and your page have exactly the same keywords and CTAs and use the same language.
• Make your page easily scannable and remove distractions: Make the buyer’s journey smoother by removing unnecessary links, buttons, and other elements to help them focus on your key offer.
• Use heatmaps and other analytics tools to spot the problems: See what makes your visitors rage-click or piques their interest and how their eyes travel across your page.
• Improve your landing page load time: Compress your images, use the WebP image format, trim unnecessary CSS and JavaScript, reduce the size of third-party scripts, and switch to a popular CDN to take advantage of faster load times abroad.
• Show how you secure customer data: From providing safe online payments to implementing an honest privacy policy, show your website visitors that you want to keep them safe.
• Check if your landing page looks great on mobile devices: Run a mobile-friendly test and find out how to enable your website visitors to shop spontaneously and on the go.
• Demonstrate your legitimacy through social proof: Overcome customer hesitation and show how many users have already purchased from you and what they think about your brand.
• Run a UX audit: Find where your visitors stumble or get lost and how to make your page more digestible and accessible.

Here’s an example of a landing page that has it all. Let’s start with the ad itself (it showed up for the keyword “meal kit delivery service):

The ad is informative and relevant to what we were looking for. It features a special offer and lists Gobble’s unique options, such as meal customization. The USP makes the ad stand out and targets consumers who don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen.

Once the user clicks the ad, they’re sent to an intuitive landing page supporting the ad’s promise. The user can access all the necessary information and make their first order without even having to scroll down.

This landing page respects customers’ time and attention — even the social proof is placed above the fold. The rest of the page is just as intuitive, concise, and loaded with appealing and original content.

The page is visually clean and distraction-free, and it presents the offer without overwhelming the reader with unnecessary information. The CTAs are also consistent throughout the page — another detail that contributes to the frictionless landing page user experience.

Getting a High Quality Score Can Be Tricky — We’re Here to Help

If you want to stop worrying about your Quality Score and conversion rates and focus on what you’re good at, try our PPC management services. We’ll help you generate consistent leads and sales and beat the competition. Here’s how it works.

Firstly, we create a customized strategy for your business. Then, we design your campaigns and pre-optimize them to ensure high-quality traffic from day one. The improvements don’t stop after the launch — we regularly optimize campaign performance as we go to make sure that you won’t spend money on low-quality keywords. Also, we deliver weekly reports to keep you in the know.

Book a call to start working with your personal PPC expert and supercharge your ad campaigns. Also, check out our case studies to see how we’ve already helped other businesses get more leads and sales, while simultaneously reducing advertising costs.

The post Google Ads Quality Score: How to Improve Your Ads and Start Spending Less appeared first on The HOTH.

Why’s that?

It’s because your search ad will jump to the top of page one of Google’s SERPs – all without having to rise in the rankings organically through SEO. 

However, writing effective Google Ads can take some practice, especially since you need to fit your ad copy into a limited space while also trying to stand out from your fellow advertising competitors.

In this article, we’re going to break down 10 simple yet highly effective tips to help you drastically improve your ad copy.

When you implement them, you’ll see your click-through rates (CTR) go up while your costs go down!

Read on to discover our insider advice for writing amazing Google AdWords copy.

1. Use Keywords To Mirror The Search Query

One of the most common mistakes that we see with PPC accounts is with message match, which is the process of matching your ad content to a specific search query – or the link that directs visitors to your landing page.

When a user enters a search query into a search engine like Google, they’re giving you a glimpse into their mind. From the query or keyword, you can determine:

• If the user is looking for a product or a service. (i.e., ‘best running shoes’ would be a product, while ‘​​masseuse new england’ is looking for a service)
• If there is buyer intent. (i.e., ‘sneakers deal’ shows an intent to make a purchase)
• If the user is looking for information. (i.e., ‘what are’ or ‘what is’ keywords)

As such, the keywords you choose to include in your ads are extremely important. You’ll want to conduct some thorough keyword research so you can match your target audience’s searcher intent as closely as possible. 

In this regard, keyword research is just as crucial for paid ads as it is for organic SEO. 

That’s why the first step to creating a Google Ads campaign is using specific keywords in your copy that mirror your target audience’s search query.

Google Ads allows you to get extremely specific for which queries you want your ad to show up for, so you want to use this to your advantage.

Understanding ad groups 

You’ll likely want to create an ad group for each Google ads campaign you create. 

What’s an ad group?

It’s a group of ads that contains similar targets or search terms. Each ad group needs to have a series of related keywords to use. 

If you use too many keywords in one ad group, it will be difficult to use them all in an ad while still writing relevant copy. As a result, your Quality Score will go down – and you’ll show up on fewer SERPs related to your niche. 

Most industry experts agree the sweet spot lies within 1 – 5 tightly grouped keywords. That gives enough room for keyword insertion while still leaving space to get creative with your copywriting. 

Editor’s note on keyword research 

If you need some help with keyword research, check out these easy strategies. In no time, you’ll have a list of high-quality keywords related to your niche. 

Pro tip: Keep it very simple with the usage of keywords in the ads. It’s best not to get poetic here, as being on the nose is far better. 

You’ll want to add your keywords to a few key spots in the ad. In your Google Ad copy, insert keywords into the headline, description, and display URL. That ensures your ad addresses what your audience wants and persuades them to click on it.

Understanding match types 

For the keyword ‘lawn mowing service’, we can match the following queries

Broad match (loose matching): Ads may show on searches that relate to your keyword such as “lawn aeration prices”.

Notation for inputting keywords– lawn mowing services (without any brackets or inside quotations).

Phrase match (moderate matching): Ads may show on searches that include the meaning of your keyword such as “lawn mowing service near me,” “hire company to mow lawn,” or “landscaping service to cut grass.”

Notation for inputting keywords– “lawn mowing services” (keyword in quotations).

Exact match (tight matching): Ads may show on searches that are the same meaning as your keyword such as, “lawn mowing service” or “grass cut service”

Notation for inputting keywords– [lawn mowing services] (keyword within square brackets).

2. Structure Your Ad Copy Around The Searcher’s Desired End Goal

Now that you have a list of search queries for your text ads – it’s time to get down to business with writing the Google Adwords copy. 

You won’t have much wiggle room here, as a Google Ad takes up very little space on a SERP. As such, being concise is the name of the game here. Here’s a list of the character limits for writing text ads:

• Headline 1: 30 characters
• Headline 2: 30 characters
• Headline 3: 30 characters
• Description 1: 90 characters
• Description 2: 90 characters
• Path (2): 15 characters for each one

30 characters is not a lot of room when trying to use keywords and make the headline relevant – nor is 90 characters for the description. 

To keep things concise when writing your Google Ads text, consider your target audience’s end goal. 

In other words, what do they ultimately want to accomplish by searching for your keyword online, and how can your product or service help them do this? 

Advertisers often get lost in the weeds with what their product is – advertising the product itself vs. the end result. For example, they’ll boast about the elite features of a product but never clue the audience in on why they need it to solve their problems. 

Let’s say your company is selling an oscillating fan. It has 10 different speeds, adjustable height, and can even connect to your WiFi. 

In the Google ad, you roar about its amazing capabilities – yet miss the main selling point. (i.e., ‘The Most Advanced Fan Ever’ as a headline)

Here’s a much better version of that same headline ‘Beat the Heat with Our Fan.’ It’s concise and fully addresses the customer’s end goal. They want to get out of the heat, and that’s what you just promised with your headline. 

And note that Google’s response to Responsive Search Ads means that you get to use more headlines and descriptions, so you don’t need to pick just one. Here’s a great resource on this.

Remember, don’t get caught up in all the fancy details of your product – that’s what the landing page will provide later. 

3. Back Up Your Claims With Specific Numbers

Do you have a statistic you can include with your Google Search ad? If so, do it! 

Numbers are easy for our minds to digest, and they add credibility to your advertisement. For example, if you’ve saved money for clients in the past, get specific and put a number on it. 

To illustrate, which one of these performing ads has more power in your opinion?

• Ad A: Through our digital marketing services, we’ve helped countless clients increase their revenue significantly. 
• Ad B: Thanks to our digital marketing expertise, we were able to help our clients earn over $1,000,000 in revenue so far. 

Ad B is more persuasive because it puts an actual number to the claim. The company is letting you know that they’ve helped clients earn millions, and they have the figures to prove it. Including specific numbers will always be more persuasive to customers, so you should include them wherever you can. 

Beyond that, there’s merit to getting even more specific. That’s because exact figures like 2,512 can improve ad performance over round numbers like 2,500+ because we associate precise details with authenticity.

Therefore, if you’re going to use numerical claims in your Google Adwords copy, opt for writing out the specific number, not just a generalized version of it.

For example, you might say:

• 3,987 customers’ lives have changed
• $7,945 saved this month
• 587 proven case studies

Do some digging to discover the statistics for your company so you can put them in a new ad. Specific numbers and statistics can help you increase your conversion rate – so don’t forget to include them in your copy wherever possible.

4. Keep It Personal By Writing ‘You’

A common mistake that we see in writing ads is the advertiser talking about themselves. In other words, they harp on and on about their products, awards, and successes. (i.e., we were rated the top real estate firm in Los Angeles three years in a row!’)

Yet, the truth is that searcher isn’t there to learn about you – they are there to solve THEIR problem, so you should speak to them specifically. 

The example above is a poor ad because it doesn’t let customers know what their real estate services will do for them. Instead, it lists an award that they’ve received, which doesn’t tell you anything about what they can do for you. 

When it comes to writing successful Google ads text, it’s all about ‘you’ (well, them).

Remember how we mentioned that great ad copy focuses on your customer’s needs?

This is achieved by personalizing your ads and referring directly to the reader (you, your), rather than talking about yourself as a company (I, we, our).

If you want to draw attention to the results page, make your ad copy directly address the reader in an enticing way. Instead of listing an award, the real estate agency listed above might try something like this, ‘Selling Your Home Stress-Free.’ 

Now the ad addresses the reader directly and lets them know they can help sell their home without any stress. 

That’s far more appealing to a prospect than listing your awards. That doesn’t mean your awards don’t have any merit – just that they’re best left for your landing pages. You only have so much space to work with, so your ad snippet needs to address the reader and get straight to the point. 

5. Keep Things Current

When writing your ads, try to keep your copy as up-to-date as possible. That’s because users are attracted to ads that contain recent information. The last thing you want is for your ad to feel too dated – as that will lead to users glossing over it. 

How do you make ad copy ‘current?’

There are lots of ways, and they usually involve adding a few tweaks to existing ads. 

One of the easiest ways to do so is to include how many clients you’ve serviced within the month or year. Here’s an example to visualize it:

• Debt Relief Services: 500 clients helped in March 

That lets users know that your services are up-to-date and that you’re finding recent success. Including current information in your Google Ads can lead to better conversion and click-through rates, so it’s well worth the effort. 

6. Optimize Your Headline and Description

There’s a real art to Google Ad copy – and it’s primarily a balancing act. In other words, you need to strike the perfect balance between optimizing the ad for keywords as well as including relevant information designed to convert. 

It can be a bit tricky to find this happy medium, especially since you only have 30 characters for the headline and 90 for the description. 

To help, here’s a list of elements to include in your ad copy:

• Your target keyword
• Address customer pain point
• Provide a solution 

As long as you have all three included in your ad, you should be good to go. It’s up to you if you want to include statistics or current information during the ‘provide a solution’ phase. As a rule of thumb, though, your ad should have all three of the elements listed above. 

Let’s consider an example so you can see these elements in action. A small business called ‘Theme Lion’ creates eCommerce landing pages for merchants. Their keyword is ‘ecommerce theme,’ and they want to sell to online business owners. Here’s an example of an ad using all three elements:

• Theme Lion | Custom Ecommerce Themes. Can’t find a layout for your online store? Call us for five-star themes tailored to you. 

Voila, the company now has an optimized Google Ad that checks all the boxes listed above. It includes the target keyword, addresses a customer pain point (not being able to find a suitable ecommerce theme), and then poses a solution. 

That’s all it takes to write a succinct online ad that will generate clicks for you. Yet, in order for it to also convert, you’ll need to continue this type of persuasive copy on your landing pages. 

7. Leverage Loss Aversion with Countdown Timers

Nobody enjoys the fear of missing out (FOMO). It’s what leads many of us to engage in social events that we wouldn’t normally – all in hopes of experiencing something we don’t want to miss. 

The good news is you can use FOMO to enhance your Google Ads with countdown timers. 

Google recently added a countdown timer feature to its ads. To use it, add this snippet to your headline or description ‘{=.’

Doing so will bring up the countdown timer popup. It allows you to set specific times for the end of the countdown and how many days before it starts.

This is a fantastic feature that you should use on ads that have time-sensitive components. An example would be a special retail sale that only happens once a year. Without the timer, your customers may not know that it’s only for a limited time. 

The simple addition of a timer counting down will trigger loss aversion in your prospects or the FOMO. They’ll see the precious seconds ticking down and will want to take advantage of your great prices while they still can. 

In addition to sales like Black Friday, you can also use countdown timers for other reasons – such as a timer for a product that’s about to go OOP (out-of-production). Starting a sales timer will elicit a sense of urgency in your customers – and they’ll want to buy the product before it disappears. 

You can also use countdown timers for selling services, too. Do you have a special package you’re running at your spa for a limited time? If so, include a countdown timer for it! The more urgent you can make your ad appear on Google, the better it is for your click-through and conversion rates. 

8. Include a Call-To-Action (CTA)

Last but definitely not least, every ad needs a strong and persuasive call to action. 

After all, a prime reason for placing a Google Ad in the first place is to get people to take a particular action. It could be as simple as signing up for a newsletter or as in-depth as calling for a consultation on home renovations. 

It may sound crazy, but you have to be very clear about what you want the searcher to actually do next.

Where will they go when they click on the ad? Does your landing page continue sending them down the funnel? What is the next step?

According to Google, keywords such as “purchase,” “order,” or “browse” clarifies what the following steps the target audience should take.

Just remember that your CTA must tie in with your searcher’s end goal, and your ad’s URL must deliver relevant content. Whether they’re looking for products, services, or information, your CTA should be in line with their goals. 

Concluding Thoughts: 8 Tips To Write Amazing Google Adwords Copy

By implementing these 8 tips to write successful Google Ads text, you’ll be well on your way to reaching more potential customers than ever before. Remember to do thorough keyword research, focus on the end goal of the customer, and include a CTA in your ads. 

Do you need help running PPC ad campaigns?

At HOTH PPC, we specialize in creating profitable PPC campaigns for our clients. That means you can focus on running your business while we design winning ads that will convert. 

If you’d like additional help setting up your Google AdWord campaigns or improving conversions, don’t wait to schedule a PPC strategy session with us today! 

The post 8 Tips To Write Amazing Google AdWords Copy appeared first on The HOTH.

Or maybe you’re frustrated that your old lead nurturing tactics don’t seem to hold up in 2022 and want to update ASAP… Wherever you’re at with your marketing strategy, we’ve got the cheat sheet for a fool-proof lead nurturing campaign.

Algorithms are constantly changing. In fact, experts estimate that Google alone updates its algorithms 500 to 600 times every year. 

What’s more, people are constantly changing too, and the channels that they paid attention to last year may seem boring today. 

So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to know that the best lead nurturing strategy in 2022 isn’t the same as the best strategy in 2021. Staying on top of your leads means staying up to date with the most current lead nurturing tactics and trends. And lucky for you, this guide breaks it down into digestible and actionable steps.

Here’s what to expect:

• What is lead nurturing?
• The benefits of a good lead nurturing strategy
• Why content marketing is the ultimate way to nurture leads
• 7 steps to a successful lead nurturing campaign
• Our top 10 lead nurturing tactics

What is lead nurturing?

In its most basic sense:

Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with your customers and adding value to your product, with the aim to increase the likelihood of a purchase. 

But for further context, think of lead nurturing campaigns as breadcrumbs leading towards a purchase. Each breadcrumb serves to keep the lead interested, build trust and authority, and assure potential customers that you can solve their problem. This can take the form of several channels working together, with email, pop-up forms, and calls-to-action that are all presented to the customer at just the right time. 

Think back to the fact we mentioned at the start of the article.

“Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads”.

When your marketing efforts generate a lead, it doesn’t mean that that lead is ready to click the checkout button and convert into a sale. Prospective buyers have questions, and lead nurturing is your opportunity to answer them and edge that lead through the buyer’s journey towards a decision. 

The benefits of a good lead nurturing strategy

Before you start shaping your lead nurturing campaign, it’s important to bear in mind the potential benefits that could be waiting for you on the other side.

A well-executed lead nurturing strategy can expect to benefit from:

• Leads that are 50% more sales-ready at a 33% lower cost.
• A 47% higher average order value.
• A 60 to 70% chance of converting repeat customers.

On top of that, it helps to further establish your brand’s authority in your industry. Consistently pushing out valuable content positions you as a thought leader, and consequently someone that customers are more likely to trust to solve their problem. 

When a customer sees you as an authority in your industry, you’re more likely to be at the top of mind for opinions and recommendations.

And with this study from Google finding that consumers are doing more research before purchases, using your marketing campaigns to position yourself as a brand authority will prevent you losing out to a competitor.

Oh, and there’s the small fact that only 35% of B2B marketers are currently implementing a lead nurturing strategy – giving you an immediate advantage.

Why content marketing is the ultimate way to nurture leads

A significant part of nurturing leads is assuring them that you have the solution they need to successfully achieve their goals. And when it comes to building trust and authority, there’s no better solution than content marketing.

Content creation places your brand in front of potential customers in a way that doesn’t feel forced. It’s not pushing a hard sale for your products and services, it’s providing them with genuinely valuable and useful information for free. The trust this instills in your authority makes conversion much easier down the line. 

Furthermore, content also promotes lasting relationships based on meaningful communications, which can prove more valuable in the long term than the immediate one-time sales from traditional ads. 

Content marketing, in many of its forms, comes into play at each and every part of a good lead nurturing campaign’s sale’s funnel. Keep reading to find out how to further incorporate content marketing and optimize your lead nurturing strategy for success.

7 steps to a successful lead nurturing campaign

Now that we’re up to speed on why a lead nurturing strategy should be a key factor in your digital marketing efforts, you’re probably wondering how to get started. 

Lead nurturing is a lengthy process that requires consistent effort. However, with these steps we hope to make building a successful lead nurturing campaign as comprehensible and attainable as possible.

1. Use multiple channels (including social media and email marketing)

A core pillar of lead nurturing strategies is to make sure you place the right content and CTAs in front of your prospective customers at exactly the right times.

In the past, lead nurturing campaigns have relied almost exclusively on an email drip campaign alone. But today, with spam filters, changing data protection laws, and a general disinterest for blatant sales emails, it’s just getting harder and harder to nurture your leads via a few emails.

Not only does this mean you have to get smarter with your email marketing (stay tuned for more tips on this later in the article!), but also taking your lead nurturing campaign to multiple channels. When you are pushing out tailored digital marketing materials across email, social media (from TikTok to LinkedIn), and even SMS, there’s more chance that you will catch the attention of your audience – while strengthening brand awareness and authority in the process. 

2. Get the help of marketing automation

Lead nurturing can be both repetitive and overwhelming.

First, you have to send out emails, social media posts, and website actions that consistently nudge your leads through the warmer and warmer ends of the buyer’s journey.

Second, you have to organize the campaigns to work together in synergy, appearing to the prospect at just the right time.

Luckily, this makes lead nurturing campaigns the perfect candidate for marketing automation. 

Marketing automation takes into account every aspect of a buyer’s persona, including what they interact with. It then compiles this data for every one of your individual leads to know exactly the kind of solutions and media that specific lead will react best to. 

In short, marketing automation understands your leads more than you will ever have the time to – so it makes sense to include it in your lead nurturing strategy from day one.

3. Follow up with your leads immediately

It may sound obvious, but not enough companies pay attention to it…

The quicker you follow up with your leads, the hotter they are. 

This tactic borrowed from sales reps can be suitable for both B2C and B2B leads, depending on the nature of your business. 

If you’re looking for an easy way to sweep up the low-hanging sales-ready leads before assessing the remaining leads that need to be nurtured with a targeted campaign, don’t underestimate the power of a timely follow-up email or phone call. 

Unlike cold outreach, quick follow-ups are more likely to catch the prospect at a time where they are considering investing in a product or service like yours. 

4. Get personal by segmenting your email list

Earlier we defined lead nurturing as relationship building, and how can you expect to grow a relationship without making personal connections?

Segmenting your email list is a key step towards sending your leads hyper-personalized emails that help them feel heard and understood. 

One popular method for segmenting an email list is to create lists of leads based on the products they were browsing when they signed up for your emails. This way, you know that you are sending them further information, deals, and CTAs based on products they are actually interested in. 

5. Use lead scoring

If you’re new to the concept of lead scoring, think of it as a way to prioritize your prospects, identifying the quality leads so that you waste less time and resources. 

Lead scoring ranks all of your leads based on how valuable they may be to your business, usually based on their browsing behavior, interactions with social media, and conversions. The lead score can then be interpreted to let you know which leads are ready for a prompt sales follow-up, and which need to be nurtured for longer.

6. Retargeting

A Retargeting strategy can often play a large part in a marketing teams’ lead generation budget, mostly due to its substantial use of paid ads. 

Retargeting is when a customer leaves your website, and is then shown an advertisement for your site on another website or on social media. It serves to remind the prospect of the products they were looking at, and hopefully nudge them back to your site and towards a decision.

7. Consider the buyer’s journey

When you consider the traditional sales funnel, marketing leads usually are positioned at the top of the sales funnel and the sales leads appear further down.

Digital marketing often segregates marketing from sales, however aligning the two in the buyer’s journey is a necessary part of both keeping a lead warm and ensuring it is sale-ready.

In terms of your workflow, this may mean identifying the key moments in the buyer’s journey where the lead changes hands between the marketing team and the sales team. Then setting shared goals and expectations across both teams.

Our top lead nurturing tactics

Now that we’ve covered the steps involved in establishing a successful lead nurturing campaign, it’s only right that we include some helpful tips that will help you truly excel in your nurturing efforts. 

Personalize emails, ads, and social media

When it comes to inbound marketing, personalization is a vastly valuable tool. When you speak directly to a prospective customer, addressing details like their name, their interests, and location, it makes them feel more like a person and less like a number. In fact, recent data has shown that email campaigns with a personalized subject line have an increased your open rate of 50%

You can do this in your email communications, whether that be in your newsletters, announcements, or follow-up emails.

And you can also add personal touches via your targeted messages on social media, retargeted ads, and strategic content on your website. All of which helps to build trust with prospects and set you apart from competitors.

Craft valuable content

Just as personalized communications help to build trust between you and your prospects, the more finely-tuned your content is to individual customers and their needs – the more you’ll see your sales rate increase.

You can do this by using data gathered through your marketing automation, segmented email list, or simply buyer personas. Crafting relevant content designed around their pain points, burning questions, needs, and demands. You can also target certain demographics on your email list with a specific tone of voice and length of content that best suits them.

Provide tactical freebies

No, we don’t mean giving away your product for free! But, it’s important to note that lead nurturing can be a long process that requires patience and endurance, and providing prospective customers with a little bit of value for free can result in a big pay off. 

A freebie like an eBook, video content, infographics, consultations, or research can all go some way to help your customer achieve their desired goal. Consequently, customers are aware that you do in fact have the answer to their problems, and further value is added to your products. Furthermore, the fact that you are willing to give away some of your valuable expertise for free only further solidifies their trust in your authority. 

Know where to put your calls-to-action

In any piece of content, whether that be on your website, webinars, a social media post, or in an email, calls-to-action serve to catch your customer’s attention with something you offer that they might be looking for. So, make sure you’re not leaving them out of your lead nurturing campaigns!

Calls-to-action should appear throughout your blog posts, social media posts, videos, captions and stories, demos, landing pages, emails – or just anywhere that you are touching base with a customer!

Use surveys to pre-qualify leads

Surveys can make for a useful tactic for new leads at the start of the buyer’s journey, helping you to customize lead nurturing and personalize communications. Just make sure that you only approach the prospect with relevant questions that allude to value rather than a hard pitch of your product. Then be certain that your follow-up actions fully reflect their answers.

This also means knowing what to do with the leads that come your way – based on their survey answers. For instance, if a lead lands on your website organically and answers the survey to say they are visiting “for research”, you should know that it is not an appropriate time to invite them to a product demo. Instead, consider inviting them to join your mailing list to get notified about future announcements and offers. 

In summary

When it comes to the lead nurturing process, the main thing to remember is that no one lead is the same. Every human has different needs, interests, browsing preferences, and behaviors. And as a consequence, every lead comes with a different requirement and budget in order to convert it into paying customers.

In 2022, lead nurturing is a multi-levelled process that requires an omnichannel presence. Your content marketing efforts need to meet the prospect at every step of their buying journey, and find them at every platform that they frequently check. Which is why marketing automation has become such a popular and effective solution for the sales cycle, with its deep understanding of personas, data, and characteristics.

Summary of effective lead nurturing tactics

To wrap up, let’s recap the main points presented in this article.

• Multi-channel targeting is essential.

It’s getting harder to convert leads by email marketing alone. Strive to meet customers in other areas of the internet that they like to browse and interact.

• Marketing automation understands your leads more than you have time to.

No team of marketers or salespeople have the time to pin down a persona for every lead on your list – but the AI involved in marketing automation does!

• Personalize as much of your content and communications as possible.

Personalization has long been a buzzword for nurturing emails, but it can extend as far as social media, retargeted ads, and strategic website content.

• Use lead scoring to identify qualified leads and structure your workflow.

Lead scoring helps you identify the leads that are ready for a follow-up and those that will require a targeted nurturing campaign.

• Understand that lead nurturing requires you to align sales and marketing in the buyer’s journey.

Despite marketing and sales having different approaches to converting and making sales, they are both required to work in synergy throughout a successful lead nurturing process.

Interested in learning more about lead nurturing, or driving in new traffic to get some leads to nurture? Give us a call. We’re here to help. 

The post Lead Nurturing 101: How To Nurture Leads appeared first on The HOTH.

Of course you do!

The good news is that there’s an easy way to do this. You can invest in paid advertising like search ads or ads on social media.

But a lot of businesses are wary about getting started with paid advertising (or expanding their ad budget). After all, a small business doesn’t have a big budget to waste.

Is paid advertising really worth it? Where should you advertise? And how do you create effective paid ads, anyway?

We’re here to answer those questions and more. This article introduces paid advertising, the major types of ads, and how you can get the most for your ad spend.

What is Paid Advertising?

Paid advertising can take many forms, but it typically involves paying a publisher or ad platform for every time someone views or clicks your ad.

What is PPC?

Unlike paid media, which refers to all types of advertising from newspapers to the web, when marketers talk about paid advertising, they usually mean digital PPC ads.

PPC stands for pay-per-click. Pay-per-click advertising is just what it sounds like: you pay for every click you get. You can usually sign up for the ad platform — like Google Ads or Facebook Ads — for free. Whenever a user clicks your ad, you pay a set amount.

PPC ads are one of the easiest and most effective ways to drive traffic to your website and convert prospects into customers.

What Are the Benefits of Paid Advertising?

Paid advertising is easy to start, but it costs money and it takes time to master. So why should you bother with it? There are many good reasons.

Paid advertising has a good ROI

Paid ads work. 74% of brands and 79% of agencies say that PPC is a huge driver for their business.

And you don’t have to pay a lot to get started. Paid advertising works with any budget — you can spend $50 per month or $50,000.

Your individual results will depend on how well you optimize your ad campaigns, as well as other factors, but it’s possible to see an excellent return on investment. For an idea of what ROI you can expect, check out our free PPC ROI calculator.

Advertising builds brand awareness

Ads are great for putting your brand in front of more eyeballs. Paid advertising can expand your reach, connecting you with people who have never heard of you and that you can’t reach with other forms of marketing.

PPC is easy to track and analyze

Sometimes it’s hard to know if your marketing efforts are paying off. Not so with PPC. It’s easy to track, evaluate, and optimize ads.

This helps you calculate advertising ROI, and you can also learn about your audience. For example, you might find that ads based on a particular keyword earn the most conversions. You now know the keyword resonates with potential customers and can use it in SEO and other campaigns.

Unmatched targeting

You can exclusively target hot prospects as they’re searching for keywords directly related to specific products or services you offer. Or, you can target someone with an online profile similar to your existing customer base.

Digital paid advertising offers targeting options in real time that no traditional media can match.

What Are Some Examples of Paid Advertising?

These days, paid ads are everywhere — on the search engines we use, the websites we read, the videos we watch, and more.

If you’re looking to get into paid advertising, you have a lot of options. These are some of the most common.

Search ads

When you type a search term into Google or Bing, what comes up first? In most cases, it’s not an organic search result, but an ad.

By targeting certain keywords, your ads can show at the top of relevant SERPs (search engine results pages) as well. Google Ads is the clear market leader, but Bing, Yahoo, and some smaller search engines offer search ads as well.

Because of their powerful targeting options, search ads are the most popular paid advertising format.

Display ads

Display ads are visual ads combining images or videos and text. They display on a variety of websites and can be aimed at building brand awareness or driving traffic to a website.

The usual way to advertise with display ads is to sign up for a platform like Google Ads. Your ads will then be displayed on the many websites within the Google network.

Social media ads

Social media platforms are an important place to promote your business. 51% of consumers say their purchasing decisions are influenced by social media.

The details vary from one platform to the next, but all of the major social media sites offer paid advertising.

Retargeting

You’ve probably experienced it — you look at a product website only to have ads for that product follow you around the internet for weeks.

This type of ad campaign is called retargeting, and you can do it too. Many ad platforms offer retargeting — including Facebook Ads and Google Ads. Some retargeting ads are based on website visitors, while others target visitors to your social media page or people on your contact list.

Influencer marketing

Working with influencers can also be a type of paid advertising. This typically involves paying influencers to create sponsored content about your business.

Affiliate marketing

An affiliate (also called an affiliate marketer) is someone who promotes your brand on their website, social media, or email list. The affiliate gets paid when their promotion leads to a sale.

For example, maybe the affiliate runs a successful blog. They write a blog post about your product that links to your website. Every time someone clicks the link and subsequently makes a purchase, the affiliate marketer gets a commission.

What Are the Best Paid Advertising Networks?

Not sure where to go to get started with paid advertising? Try one of these top ad platforms.

Google Ads

Google Ads is famous for its search ads because they offer a unique chance to appear above organic search results for important search terms.

But that’s not all it has to offer.

Other ad formats include:

• Display ads
• Video ads (ads shown on YouTube and other video websites)
• App ads (ads to drive app installs, engagements, and signups)
• Shopping ads (ads to promote online and local inventory at the top of the SERP)
• Local ads (ads to entice people to physical stores and venues)

Facebook Ads

Google and Facebook are currently the most popular PPC networks.

Facebook Ads appear around the Facebook network, including in Facebook and Instagram feeds, Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Messenger, and more. Some ads appear outside of Facebook-owned apps on websites in the Facebook Audience Network.

Microsoft Ads

The Microsoft Ads network lets you create search ads on Bing, Yahoo, and AOL, as well as ads that appear on other sites in the Microsoft network.

Microsoft doesn’t have the reach that Google does, but one upside of that is the lower competition and, often, lower cost-per-click for similar keywords.

Other social media ads

Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, and other social media platforms all offer ads.

Which one will work best for your business depends on your audience. For example, a B2B brand might do well on LinkedIn, whereas one aimed at younger consumers could consider TikTok.

9 Top Online Advertising Best Practices

Paid advertising has the potential to earn an impressive ROI — but you have to do it right. Follow these nine best practices for the best results.

1. Define your goal

Before you even decide which ad platform to use, you should know what you want to accomplish with your ads.

For example, are you more interested in expanding your reach or getting the most cost-effective conversions?

To drive sales, you might choose search or shopping ads, while display or video ads could be used to build brand awareness. The content and targeting of your ads will also be determined by your goals.

2. Know your ad types

Each ad platform offers a variety of ad types, some more well-known than others. For example, you’ve probably seen the standard Google search ad with a link to the brand’s website.

But what if your goal isn’t to bring people to your website but to get them to call your business? In that case, you can use a call-only ad. These ads display to mobile users and let them click your ad to call you directly from the search page.

Before you start creating advertising campaigns on any platform, it’s important to understand the available ad formats. If you don’t do your research, you might end up using an ad type that doesn’t fit your goals.

3. Create hyper-targeted audiences

When asked about their biggest digital advertising challenge in 2021, 24.6% of advertisers said it was “finding proper targeting.”

Targeting may not be easy, but it’s essential. Accurate targeting increases the chances that your ad will resonate with its audience, which in turn increases the chances that viewers of the ad will click on it and even convert.

Hyper-targeting means that each ad is highly customized to a specific audience. If your business sells outdoor gear, you don’t just show the same search ad copy to everyone — you show one ad to young cycling enthusiasts and a different one to middle-aged skiers.

To get expert help with targeting and other top PPC challenges, try our PPC management services.

4. Build optimized landing pages

Most types of paid ads will link to your website. The page you link to is as important as the copy on the ad.

To understand why, imagine this: someone typed “cost of custom neon sign” into Google. The first ad on the SERP is for your custom neon sign business.

But when they click the ad, they land on your homepage, which doesn’t answer their question. So they click away. If that ad had linked to a dedicated landing page for neon signs, or even a pricing page, you might have gained a new customer.

Create enough landing pages so each ad group has a page perfectly customized to it.

5. Feature high-quality images or video

For ad types that feature images or video, make sure they’re high-quality and engaging. They should be relevant to the ad and its target audience.

Consider the size of the image — if the ad is going to be small, don’t try to fit too much into one picture.

6. Choose keywords wisely

For search ads and other keyword-based ads, doing keyword research the right way is crucial.

Don’t forget long-tail keywords. 

Long-tail keywords are highly specific phrases that are usually a few words long. For example, “herbal tea” is a short-tail keyword. “Best herbal tea for high blood pressure” is long-tail.

Long-tail keywords aren’t as competitive as short-tail keywords (meaning you’ll probably pay less for a click), but they’re very relevant to the people that search them.

Use negative keywords. 

A negative keyword is a keyword that prevents your ad from being shown to people who search that word.

An example of a useful negative keyword is “free.” If you don’t have a free version of your product, you don’t want your ads to show for searches of “free time-tracking app.”

Once your ads are up and running, you’ll probably discover that some of your keywords perform a lot better than others. You can add the bad ones to your list of negative keywords.

7. Pick the right bidding strategy

PPC advertising typically involves bidding. That means you decide how much you’re willing to pay to get a click on your ad.

If your bid is low compared to competitors, your ad won’t get shown much. But if you bid high, you might end up paying more for clicks than you need to.

The bidding strategies available are different for each platform. Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads offer both automatic and manual bidding strategies. For example, you can tell Facebook Ads to go for the lowest cost-per-click or to prioritize high-value conversions.

Review the bidding strategies on each platform and choose one that aligns with your goals.

8. Set up conversion tracking

The more you can track, the more you can optimize.

Most ad platforms will provide information on metrics like impressions and click-through rate. But to get the most from your advertising, you also need to track conversions on your website. This lets you know which ads are leading to which conversion actions.

You can do this by installing tags or “pixels” on your website so that you can see your conversions and their source in Google Analytics or the ad platform’s analytics.

9. Keep experimenting and optimizing

Paid ads aren’t something to set and forget.

Monitor your ad performance and continue to tweak your ads. Don’t be afraid to try new things or run A/B tests to see what ads get the best results.

Leverage Paid Advertising to Grow Your Business Faster

Paid advertising is a great way to expand your reach, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to your website. But the learning curve for each platform is steep, and monitoring and optimizing your ads is time-consuming.

We can help. Schedule a call with a paid advertising expert today.

The post What is Paid Advertising? + 9 Best Practices appeared first on The HOTH.