PPC Management is one of the most effective ways for a business to achieve positive ROI. In this article, we break down what PPC management is, why it’s important, and what kind of processes go with it. We wrap up with some opportunities to automate your PPC management (and why automation is an attractive option).
Defining PPC Management
Let’s start by defining “PPC” as “pay per click”, which refers to the common pricing model of digital advertising publishers constrained by the advertiser’s overall budget. PPC Management is the process of organizing, managing, and optimizing the PPC budget to achieve optimal performance.
This definition is extremely basic, as the practice of managing PPC encompasses a myriad of tasks that result in the efficient spend of the budget toward a company’s goal. These goals are typically related to awareness or ROI. While PPC is one of the best ways to improve ROI, it can take a lot of time, effort, and testing to produce optimal results. This is why many advertisers go the route of hiring a PPC agency and/or leveraging automation (more on this later).
Why PPC Management is Important
Simply put: effective PPC Management can help you reach your business goals. Done properly, PPC Management is a game changer for businesses large and small.
PPC Management Essentials
The PPC management process includes many parts, some of which a business might opt to take on internally. There are many great resources for learning the ropes of PPC management (check out this guide from HubSpot), but sometimes it’s best to bring in a professional to get the most out of your time and advertising investment.
Some common tasks typically included with PPC Management are:
Keyword Research and Analysis
- Researching the keywords that customers are looking for related to your business. These are then evaluated and adjusted based on performance during optimization.
Targeting Channels
- Google and Bing are the top publishers for PPC, but they aren’t the only places where your audience spends time. PPC management might extend to channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Criteo, and many more depending on your unique business needs.
Optimization Tasks
- Are some keywords spending money but not driving any ROI? Is there a headline that is performing way better than others? Is that bid too low for your ads to be seen? Optimization is the essential process of identifying what is working and making changes based on the findings. This may look like excluding keywords in Search ads, pausing an ad in Social, adjusting a keyword bid, etc. Consistent implementation of these tweaks is important as the ppc landscape is dynamic, meaning that there is always room for optimization based on the current factors at play.
Competitor Analysis
- There are many options for competitor research out there that vary by channel. Tools like SpyFu can be used to gain insight into competitor keyword strategy, while Facebook Ad Library can help you scope out the creative strategy of the competitor. Competitor analysis is great for finding inspiration for your own ppc strategy.
A/B Testing
- Always Be Testing! Testing copy, landing pages, creative, etc are all essential to continuous improvement. Testing and learning is the best way to understand what works for your business and how to improve.
How to Automate your PPC Management
As you might imagine, the tasks above can take a considerable amount of time and effort. While there are some tasks that can be outsourced to agencies, there are others that can be easily managed through automation.
One pillar of Marin Software’s offering is automation, saving businesses time and money on essential ppc management tasks.
Here are a few of the ways that Marin’s automation can help you with your ppc management strategy:
Flexible Rules and Dynamic Actions
- Integrate external signals into Marin for smart optimizations that are performed without you lifting a finger.
One-Click Keyword Expansion
- Marin identifies keyword opportunities, and with the tap of your mouse they can be launched in your campaigns. No need to spend time researching the best keywords, Marin does it for you.
Build Campaigns Based on Feeds
- Build out text and shopping ads from your feeds or use our dynamic campaigns tool to pause ads based on inventory. This is a fast and effective way to manage your ppc campaigns.
Bidding
- Marin’s Strategies offer transparency and efficiency while performing optimizations to your ppc campaigns. Algorithmic bidding is available for multiple publishers through Marin.
To learn more about opportunities for automation customized to your business, reach out to us!
