Securing qualified leads is the fountainhead that fuels enterprise. Ideally, all other business activities play supporting roles to this objective. The significance of this concept can’t be overstated.

Many digital marketing professionals couple slippery jargon with a diverse bag of tricks to justify their pay grade. But at the end of the day, staying in business comes down to two fundamental abilities: getting leads and closing deals.

Consider the following generalized agency functions:

• Branding segments the market
• Design and development builds the house 
• SEO grows organic visibility
• Content creation baits the hook
• Social media broadcasts the message
• Ads generate leads and get potential customers into the sales funnel

In the business world, money is akin to oxygen – you won’t survive long without it. The purpose of this post is to discuss how PPC marketing can help generate leads. 

If your business is struggling to stay afloat in the crowded waters of the competitive marketplace, it may be time to rethink your lead generation strategy. Particularly if your business has a long sales cycle that utilizes funnels.

Bear in mind that PPC is a deep well. Learning how to manage an effective PPC campaign takes time, and quite often, professional help.

What is PPC?

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a form of online advertising used to drive traffic to websites. As the name suggests, the advertiser pays a publisher when the ad is clicked. Pay-per-click is used to drive web traffic through search engines and social media platforms. 

The cost of a PPC campaign is set by advertisers who bid on the supposed value of a click in relation to a specific keyword, platform, and audience type. In a Search Campaign, Ad placement depends on the bid amount.

It’s easy to be wary of online advertising because, on the surface, it sounds expensive. But remember, no marketing channel is free. Content creation, social media campaigns, and SEO all cost money.

Think about how your marketing budget is being allocated and put effort into optimizing it. It’s easy to get caught up in the battles while the war is being lost. Ensure that the money you spend is a calculated risk so that it comes back to you in abundance.

PPC & Lead Generation

PPC ads are all about relevance. They allow businesses to show a highly targeted ad at the exact moment a search takes place. For this reason, PPC campaigns are most often used to increase sales through lead generation, but can also be used for email capture and promoting brand awareness.

Consider this: 66% of buyer-intent keywords are paid clicks. The distinction of buyer-intent is important. Most content marketing is good for building brand awareness and even highly coveted organic rankings. But ads are most effective when targetted keywords indicate purchase intent. Of all the marketing channels, PPC is best positioned to capitalize on buyer intent.

Online advertising is good for getting potential customers into various stages of your sales funnel. Obviously, selling to a warm audience takes far less energy than warming up a cold audience. How you go about it will largely depend on your business model and your sales cycle.

An effective PPC campaign requires smart keyword research, landing page optimization, data collection and interpretation, and the ability to make strategic adjustments along the way. It isn’t easy to pull off, but a successful PPC campaign can generate enough qualified leads to keep business booming.

Most of all, using a PPC campaign for generating leads requires a clear intent. Your goal needs to be clearly defined at the onset in order to maximize the potential of this powerful marketing channel.

6 Benefits of Using PPC for Lead Generation

• Attract a warmed up audience that’s looking for what you offer
• Gain immediate keyword rankings and site traffic
• Optimize and bid on the different stages of your sales funnel
• Use data to cater your message to the needs of your audience
• Track you Return On Investment (ROI) with accuracy
• Grow your database of leads and market to them with other methods

The Takeaway

It’s recommended that you start thinking about your overall digital marketing strategy as you would a financial portfolio. Some actions support calculated long-term growth while others pursue aggressive short-term growth. 

A strategy involving SEO takes time, which makes it more similar to a 401k. Whereas PPC marketing is more akin to day trading –  the goal is to make money now.

Ultimately, all actions should directly or indirectly support growth.

Before throwing all of your eggs into one basket and assuming that’s the surefire path to success, it’s wise to assess both the long and short of what you’re trying to accomplish. 

Aim for future success while simultaneously addressing the more immediate need of staying in business. PPC advertising is a great way to begin attracting qualified leads based on specific, sophisticated targeting.

Contact Astute for expert guidance on how to best navigate the jungle of online advertising.