Hi I’m Vi Wickam with Honest SEO Basics from the Get Listed Program and Social Edge/Social Media Training.
I want to let you know today what Google AdWords and Pay Per Click advertising are not good at. These are the things that if this is what you’re looking to accomplish, don’t use AdWords. Don’t use Pay Per Click advertising.
If what you are looking to do is to build your brand over the long-term, and you’re not concerned with getting immediate results… If you’re going to play the game of the tortoise, and not the game of the hare at all- forget about Pay Per Click advertising.
If you don’t have the need for testing, forget about Pay Per Click advertising. If what you want to do is build relationships only, then forget about Pay Per Click advertising.
Those things said, none of us really want to completely disavow the transactional buyer. When somebody is ready to spend their money, you want to them to spend it with you. I want them to spend it with me, too!
But, there’s a balance here. There’s a time to invest money in content marketing, in SEO, in those things that build over time, that create value over time.
In creating landing pages, in putting content out that’s of value to our customers that answers the questions they’re asking- that’s not what Pay Per Click advertising does. That’s not what Google AdWords does.
What Google AdWords does do is when they’re ready to buy, it gives us an opportunity to remind the customer that we’re the one they should buy from. But it doesn’t convince them ahead of time that we’re the one they should buy from.
So, ideally, Pay Per Click is used in combination with other media strategies that build those relationships. Because Pay Per Click advertising will not build the relationship. If I want to have the best return on my Pay Per Click spend, having the customer already know about me is the best way to do it.
For instance, if I’m a photographer and I’m in Fort Collins, Colorado. Somebody searches for “Fort Collins, Colorado Photographers”, and they see Vi Wickam, they’re like “Oh! I remember seeing Vi Wickam on blah blah blah. I remember seeing the videos Vi Wickam about his photography studio. He was so cool! I like him, I’m going to buy from him!”
And that’s where I should be at. Whereas, if they’ve never heard of me and they’re just seeing four different photographers, and they don’t know any of us from adam, it’s a roll of the dice. Whoever is paying the most for that click is likely to be the one that gets the first opportunity of the sale.
But if they do that search and they recognize my name because they’ve heard me in a radio ad, or they’ve seen me on TV, or they’ve seen me on YouTube videos, or on Facebook videos. Or they’ve seen me on the buses around town, or they’ve seen me on billboards…
All of those things are ways to create a relationship with your customer- to let them know who you are before they need you. What AdWords is not good at, what Pay Per Click advertising is not good at, is in making sure that you’re potential customer knows about you before they’re ready to buy.
We all know we’ve already told you what Google AdWords and Pay Per Click marketing are good for, Pay Per Click advertising is fantastic at converting that buyer into your customer.
But it’s way better at doing that if your customer already knows about you and already remembers that you’re the guy, you’re the lady that they want to buy from. You are the business that they’ve been looking for.
They already remember you, and they already have a positive association with you. So that’s more food for thought about Google AdWords and Pay Per Click advertising in the broader scheme of marketing.
Hope you’ve had an awesome day. I hope you’ve learned something from this lesson, and I’ll see you next time!
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