The first article in our search PPC series.
It’s tempting to view pay-per-click (PPC) as a shortcut — and/or as an end-all in itself — for driving traffic and generating leads. The fact is, while Search PPC is an attractive and effective option for using search engines to kickstart your leadgen pipeline, it needs to be backed up with a solid content marketing strategy in order to mine its full potential.
This article offers some ideas on how to capture and nurture the momentum a Search PPC campaign can put into motion. The idea is to intensify a prospect’s desire to engage further and eventually convert at the right moment. As opposed to settling for quick premature clickthroughs in the customer journey, which rarely turn into bona fide sales opportunities.
Delve more deeply into search intent.
When people are actively entering a search keyword or phrase, they are certainly exhibiting interest in a particular subject and/or product. But what stage of the decision journey is each prospect in? Is your product/service a long lead time sale, as opposed to a more impulsive retail item? Then think about what more your prospects might need to know — and plan your landing page content and CTAs accordingly.
Work to keep the customer journey moving forward.
It takes substantial time and money to build organic website traffic through SEO and content marketing. Additive content is a way to fully leverage the immediate engagement of Search PPC. This provides the opportunity to transform an impulsive clickthrough into a well-nurtured lead, a forward-moving customer journey, and an informed conversion with the potential to initiate a fruitful relationship.
Consider making interim offers to promising prospects.
When your analytics are signaling a certain prospect is heating up, take a look at what content that person has been spending time with on your site. Then consider what could you offer to keep the decision journey on a forward path. A free limited-time trial. An invitation to a webinar. A complimentary initial consultation with a technical expert. These are just a few possibilities that can further pique curiosity and heighten interest in your continuing quest for a conversion.
Review your tracked metrics on an ongoing basis.
Like any another component of your digital marketing program, you’ll want to optimize Search PPC effectiveness by analyzing activity and results — in order to tweak your overall approaches to ad and landing page messaging, segmentation and strategic targeting.