In the US alone, advertisers are expected to spend $99.2B on PPC by 2024 according to eMarketer. The channel is as strong as ever, and while other elements of the marketing mix may come and go, PPC remains essential to any marketing strategy. One reason is its unique power to reach in-market consumers.
Search marketing targets customers who are actively searching for your products and services — an incredibly valuable high-intent segment. Reaching these consumers organically through SEO alone is virtually impossible; Wordstream estimates that almost two-thirds of clicks will go to sponsored ads, while on average the top organic listings will only garner 8.9%.
The most successful brands, however, use PPC and SEO together. Paid campaigns can enhance SEO strategies by providing data on which keywords convert best and by creating a way to test keyword design before executing a long-term SEO campaign. Used together, SEO and PPC also build trust and mindshare by landing your brand in both organic and paid results on the SERP.
But that’s just the beginning. PPC campaigns can also support your other marketing investments and deliver a surprising array of business benefits. For example, using PPC for remarketing enables you to reach and engage audiences who have previously interacted with your website. It can also help you capture interest generated by your offline campaigns.
“For every media plan that I’ve ever worked on, there has always been a search strategy. Say you’re running a TV campaign, you want users who then search for your brand or product offering to be able to easily find you online.”
Alice Tonks – Customer Success Manager, Adthena
PPC is a full-funnel channel
In addition to serving as a complementary channel to other marketing investments, paid search is also prized for its ability to support multiple business goals throughout the funnel, from high-level brand awareness to sales.
Finally, unlike display and some other forms of paid advertising, PPC offers a granular level of control when it comes to budget, keywords, placements, and timing. If you’re getting positive results from a campaign, you can scale investment immediately. Conversely, if ads underperform or budgets shrink, you can pause campaigns (and spending) on a dime.
Search intelligence: the key to paid search success
Paid search clearly has a lot to offer online marketers, but the fact that it is so versatile and efficient also makes the marketplace extremely competitive and increasingly expensive. That’s where search intelligence has become an equally vital part of the marketing equation.
With so many brands battling for the same SERP real estate, PPC costs can easily escalate. With search intelligence from Adthena, however, you gain an edge over rivals, see opportunities they can’t and keep your spend as efficient as possible.
With Adthena, you can:
- Precisely benchmark your brand against your competitors by search terms or share of search.
- Identify opportunities and new areas of the market for expansion
- Easily see where you are and aren’t appearing in the market
- Monitor your competitors’ tactics, offers, and ad messaging
- Deep-dive into your competitors’ search strategies and respond effectively
To learn more about how Adthena can help you improve your search performance with data you can’t get elsewhere, request a demo here.