Using PPC marketing to hit your marketing goals

PPC is an internet marketing model in which the advertisers pay a certain fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Since the inception of this concept in 2002, it has been dynamic all the time. Although there is no certainty that we can rely on some areas only, we have come up with some cool 2021 PPC trends that we are expecting to see:

1. Automation

    Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are some of the most used in the industry and they are making their roots deeper with efficient automation techniques. ML has been evolving in recent days exponentially. Instead of wasting time on researching loads of data, now ML automated tools consume huge data to provide processed analytics from the input data fed into it. Apart from ML, AI is a cutting-edge tool to automate several processes involved like ads testing and other manual works. Replacing conventional manual efforts with integrating ML and AI is going to be used for various purposes including-

• Removal of bad ads by a comparative study of all the ads
• Identification of best ads and prioritize to generate more revenue
• Analytics of user pattern helps customized ad creation
• Calculation of the best bidding approach for all the goals
• Generate and create ad copies and ad data for maximum clicks
• Prediction of CTR for ads in future
• Calculation of probability for conversion from a specific user
• Identify any performance issue related to the account and provide possible solutions
• Optimization of ads based on certain events. These events can be anything like revenue generation falls below a certain defined limit.

There are AI tools for creating and analyzing the reports. A Google partner tool Adzooma can generate your marketing ad report you just need to connect your google account with the tool. You can generate reports based on your desired format and metrics.

2. Video Ads

    As the world is moving to next-generation internet access, the audience is moving towards video content more than articles. Better speed and streamline have made it easily accessible to all. Marketers should understand through video ads they can deliver more ideas in a very short period. In 2021, we will see more video platforms implementing video ads to generate more revenue. As demand for video ads will increase, more and more marketers will start to work for video ads for their products. Google has introduced an interesting video ad feature Bumper Machine. This tool uses ML to scan a longer video of up to 90 seconds and split that to create 6-second bumper ads to be played throughout Youtube videos. The bumper machine gives flexibility to the marketer to set up skippable or non-skippable in-stream ads. The introduction of short videos apps like Tik-Tok and Instagram Reels have added more attraction of users towards videos.

3. Virtual Reality Ads

    Apart from videos, most people utilize add-on gadgets to get a virtual reality experience of the videos. Customization of ads to provide the same VR experience of the product will catch the trend in the coming days. For this purpose, more research needs to be done on what parts of the screen the user is concentrated on while experiencing the VR. This seems more exciting and fun as a user can get the actual simulation of the product like they are using it even before they have purchased it. This leaves a strong imprint on the brain.

4. Voice Recognition

    There are more mobile users over the internet compared to computer users. The use of voice search is increasing day by day since it is easier to search with voice. While searching with voice tends to provide more details rather than typing just a keyword in the search engine. For example, if you are searching for with keyboard you will type “scarf” while in voice search you can right more relevant information like “Where can I get a woollen scarf?”. The shift from a single word to a set of phrases will have a major impact on PPC.

    As the market base for voice searches are increasing, it is time to reap the benefit of your PPC. To start optimizing your PPC as per voice search you can study the search reports of google ad by filtering the search terms starting with “Ok Google”, “Hey Siri” and “Alexa”. You can use the data to optimize your profits by collecting and analyzing long keywords of voice searches. Also, you can use call extensions on your PPC which will enable searchers to directly call you through voice search.

5. Personalized & Targeted Ads

    Just like video ads and voice recognition, you need to keep an active watch constantly to explore any of the new possible opportunity. You need to understand that people feel connected if they are treated as a unique individual rather than the herd. The personalized touch has increased over time and people are more attracted to the ads which are related to their latest searched and have relevance to them.

    For more personalized and targeted ad, you need to research more and more on behaviour and pattern of internet usage trail left by the searchers. There see several tools which can be used to identify our audience. Once we identify the audience enhanced targeting should be planned so that they generate revenue. Targeting users are going to be more precise in the coming days so use most of it wisely.

6. Responsive Search Ads

    A responsive search ad is adaptive and shows more relevant texts and messages to your customer. It lets you improve your campaign performance as it adapts your ad content to align with potential customers’ searches. The more headlines and description you provide, it has more opportunity to match the ad content with the customers’ search. You may provide the description and headlines in any order. Later, Google Ad assembles these descriptions and headlines and tries to form separate meaningful responsive ads and ensures they are not redundant.

7. Smart Segmentation

    Now marketers have understood that it is a waste of energy to invest in those who are already purchasing the products. For in-app purchases, they are now creating two segments of users based on their purchase activity and likelihood. And they follow a very simple decision tree-

• If the user is buying something or is a potential buyer, do not show him the ads and let him use the app smoothly.
• If the user is not interested in buying and just being entertained, place ads at various levels of the app. 

This smart segmentation is now getting popular in several gaming and streaming applications. It is indeed working pretty good in generating more revenue in the coming days. Google launched AdMob which provides better analytics and reporting to improve your app further. This smart app based on ML notifies you if there is detects an abnormal change in the metrics.

8. New Platforms

    Apart from super giants Google and Microsoft, Amazon has also entered the race in 2012. Earlier amazon was dependent on Google and Facebook ads to drive users towards amazon product. Now, it has its own working marketing PPC model and is one the largest platforms available. There see several other opportunities available in the market now like LinkedIn, Quora, AdRoll, Bing. You should be ready to identify the opportunity for generating revenue. Just as an example, there are about 11 Billion queries searched on Bing and Microsoft claims that it connects you with close to 50 Million searchers that Google can’t connect with.

9. Paid Social

    Paid social is a form of advertising where the ads are sponsored to be displayed on social media channels. Instead of deploying ads on the websites and wait for organic customers to come and explore the ads, it is one of the tools that rigorously target an ad on social media platforms. Since social media users are increasing and are real people. That’s why this form of advertisement is going to remain in trend. For a paid social model of PPC, you need to work on native tools for social media as each of social media have their own native ad management portals. Using their ad portal, you can manage, create and publish your ads to a specific group of people.

10. Remarketing

    It is an effective way to drag your customers who have browsed through your site and left after searching few products. It is more reliable than any other form of advertising model. The reason is simple, the user is on the verge of making the transaction and he is browsing through similar sites that offer the product he is looking for. The ad is served across the internet to the specific user who had a footprint on your website. So looping him back to your website through remarketing is a great tactic to surround him with the thought of let’s give this a try. 

With these PPC trending techniques and models, you should focus to optimize your Pay-Per-Click marketing campaign in 2021.