Updated on October 7, 2024
With new marketing strategies and innovations discovered seemingly everyday, it’s easy to discredit the tried-and-true marketing processes that we have come to rely on. Pay-per-click (PPC) is one of those hot topics. The reality? PPC is just as important as ever, providing significant advantages in visibility, traffic and market positioning.
Here are five reasons why you still need branded PPC campaigns in 2024.
1. Secure your #1 position
As Google continues to roll out algorithm updates, including the August 15th core update, relying on organic SEO to stay in a #1 spot can be unpredictable. These updates can impact search rankings, making it essential to have a strategy to keep you at the top consistently. One way you can ensure you have top billing? Branded PPC campaigns.
Branded PPC campaigns provide a safety net, protecting your brand from sudden drops in organic visibility and ensure you stay at #1; as long as you continue to pay (and create high-quality, engaging ads).
2. Lightning-fast targeting
Another advantage? Speed. PPCs let you leap frog the step of waiting for your organic campaigns to build momentum. You can position yourself at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) right off the bat.
PPCs also let you respond quickly to trends as they happen. A report from Search Engine Land highlights that 70% of consumers say that the way a brand responds to trends influences their purchasing decisions. PPC gives you the power to respond the day of, if you have the budget.
3. You can lead a horse to water…
And you can make it drink? Not only does branded PPC give you the flexibility to quickly adapt your campaigns to align with trends or specific events, but you can tailor your ads across all targeting options: Location, demographics and interests. It also allows you to target specific audiences almost instantly, giving you the opportunity to reach potential customers when they’re most engaged and likely to purchase.
Think of it like a funnel. Start big by building awareness, then narrowing down the scope of your ads, targeting your customer across their purchasing journey and getting the most out of your ads.
4. Stay on top of the competition
In the digital marketing landscape, competition is fierce. Some brands may look to get a leg-up by bidding on your keywords and creating an ad that captures your audience, redirecting your traffic.
Branded PPC campaigns allow you to beat your competitors to the punch, ensuring that customers searching for your brand are shown your site first. If a competitor bids on your keywords, having your own ads in place means you can divert traffic back to your site, minimizing the risk of losing potential customers to the competition.
5. Make PPC your playground
As the digital marketing landscape continues to evolve at rapid speeds, having flexibility in your marketing strategy is a must. Thankfully, branded PPC campaigns let you experiment with various messaging and creative strategies without significant risk. You can quickly gather data on what resonates with your audience, and tweak your ads in real time.
For example, if a particular ad copy or image underperforms, you can easily switch it out for an updated version and gather data on the results, making it easy to refine your messaging. This flexibility is invaluable, especially as AI is becoming increasingly integrated into PPC strategies.
Innov(AI)tions
Not only can PPC hold your place atop the SERPs, but new innovations, especially with the integration of AI, allow you to track your competitors and streamline your entire marketing strategy.
Automate PPC with AI
AI has embedded itself in the world of marketing strategy, including PPC. It can optimize ad performance based on real-time data and streamline time-consuming tasks such as keyword research, bid management, ad scheduling and asset creation/targeting, letting you focus on content creation and strategy.
We’re especially excited about how AI can enhance asset creation, as it can generate multiple ad variations and test them simultaneously. This, paired with real-time data analysis, can prove to be a powerful tool in the future.
Competitive PPC Analysis
Don’t you wish there was a way to be five steps ahead of your competitors, able to gain insight into their keywords, copy and performance metrics? With competitive PPC analysis, you’re able to do just that—analyze your competitors pay-per-click strategies and reflect upon your own. This allows you to gain insight into their tactics, and gives you the power to refine your own campaign, identify market gaps and ensure your PPC efforts are more effective.
One of the top tools for competitive PPC analysis is the Google Ads auction insights report, which lets you compare with competitors using the same Google Ads auctions you are.
Reach your PPC potential
As you map out your marketing strategy for 2025 and beyond, don’t overlook the magic of branded PPC campaigns. The world of paid search is ever evolving and PPC is proving to be dynamic enough to rise to the challenge, especially with the integration of AI.
Interested in how branded PPC can keep you at #1? We’d love for you to reach out.
