6 Ways to Improve Brand Recognition with PPC Campaigns

Pay-per-click or PPC campaigns are mostly used to increase sales and generate leads for businesses. This is usually done by driving traffic to your website from ads displayed in the search results. However, when done right, PPC can also be used to build awareness around your company and increase brand recognition.

Increased recognition helps you create a strong identity for your business and sustain loyal customers. It sets you apart from your competitors and helps you attract the right audience. Brand recognition can also help with building trust between your brand and the customers.

This study, which was conducted by Google and Ipsos MediaCT, states that search ads can increase brand recognition. Pay-Per-Click advertising is directly related to brand recognition through the following:

1. Paid search has the ability to reach users who are open to being informed. They are actively looking for new brands that can add value to their lives. Once you reach them through PPC and they find something that they like about your brand, then your name will be etched on their minds.
2. PPC allows you to target a specific group of individuals to market to. You can create different audience segments so the ads will be more personalized for each one. This is applicable to most social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
3. Pay-Per-Click can help you see how many impressions you are getting from your ad, which gives you a clear idea of how many people are aware of your brand.
4. These campaigns can help you break into a new market, and introducing yourself through a PPC ad can help them become aware of your brand.

PPC is widely used in search engine advertising. Advertisers bid on keywords and ad placements to appear at the top spot of search engines. These ads will pop up on the first page of the search engine when people search for similar keywords used in the ad.

What Are the Different Types of PPC Advertising?

There is more to PPC advertising than just Google ads and Facebook sponsored posts. Here are a few more types of pay-per-click advertising that you can use for your business:

1. Display ads appear on Google partner sites. These websites were approved by Google to run and display AdSense advertisements. It differs from search ads in a way that these usually display images with a small percentage of text in them. These ads are great if you want to target people that you think might turn into leads.
2. Most ads on Google Shopping fall into the PPC advertising category. Google shows products that are related to what people are searching for. The items are placed in the “Shopping” tab on Google and are shown through a carousel format. You can promote your products here to let your target audience see how much your items are.
3. Sponsored promotions on Gmail, which is an email service that’s developed by Google, are also a type of PPC advertising. This allows advertisers to reach their customers through their inboxes. These ads appear at the top of the user’s inbox.
4. Instream ads on YouTube are those types of videos that pop up when users are watching a video. It comes in the form of non-skippable videos or as a small sidebar ad.
5. Social ads are the ones that people see on social media. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter, ads that appear on these platforms are considered pay-per-click advertisements.
6. Search ads are the most used type of PPC advertisement. These ads appear at the top of the page and usually contain a headline, the link to the company’s website, and a meta description of the products and/or services that they offer.

Focus on Solving People’s Pain Points

Help your audience remember your brand by adding how you can help them overcome their pain points. Study your products or services and see how they can improve your customers’ lives.

Include these in your PPC campaigns and highlight what it can do to solve their struggles. Your main goal for these ads is to increase brand recognition and focus on problem-solving. People are always on the hunt for products and services that will make their lives easier.

This steers clear from the usual hard-selling, which sets you apart from your competitors. Your viewers might not be ready to convert just yet, but at least your ad and brand will resonate with them.

Make Use of Audience Segmentation and Targeting

Your PPC campaigns should be directed at your target audience. Before even starting the campaign, you should make it a point to identify your market. Be concise with it so you know who to advertise to.

Here are a few tips to define and segment your market:

1. Take a look at your competitors and who their audience is. Dig deeper and see what their interests are.
2. Conduct market research to know your audience’s age, gender, location, income and education level, occupation, and interests.
3. Make it more precise by including the psychographics such as their attitude, personality, values, behavior, and lifestyle.
4. Understand their purchasing behaviors.
5. Collect data by sending out customer surveys.
6. Target a niche audience and avoid being too general with your targeting.

Being specific with the people that you target will help increase brand recognition. Individuals that are not interested in your products and services will just keep on scrolling. However, audiences who are actually interested in what you have to offer will consider clicking on the ad and might eventually turn into leads.

Use Long-Tail Keywords on Your Ads

Gone are the days where one or two words are used as keywords. If you want your brand to be noticed, then using long-tail keywords on your PPC campaigns is the way to go.

Long-tail keywords are made up of three to four phrases or words that are related to your brand, products, or services. Using long-tail and niche keywords will help you target the right people. These keywords usually have less competition, making the bidding costs for it lower.

You can tailor your long-tail keyword by taking the color, make, size, model, and materials of your product and include those in your keywords. For example, instead of using the keywords “Clothes for women”, you can use “Short black dresses for women” instead. While this might reach fewer people, it will be shown to a specific set of customers that are looking for the exact same thing.

Create Expert-Level Content

First impressions last, which means that you should pay attention to the content that you are putting into your ads. You should back up your claims so that people trust you. Make them see that you know what you are talking about and that you are an expert in your field.

Your PPC ads should have a high-quality and catchy image with well-written text. It should be free of grammatical errors, as people can easily judge your brand through this. If they like what they are seeing on the ad copy, then chances are they will remember your brand and might even be compelled to click on it.

Pick the Right Channels to Use

Consider knowing what channels your target market frequent so you know where to advertise. Your goals should also be in line with where you are posting these advertisements. Since we are talking about increasing brand recognition, you should look for platforms that will help you garner lots of views.

Facebook has about 2.80 billion active users, so you can be sure that you can reach a good amount of your target market on the channel. Additionally, Facebook also allows you to find the right demographic by indicating who you want to target. You can target them through their location, age, gender, interests and hobbies, page likes, and behavior.

YouTube is a great platform for introducing PPC video ads. This is a great way to tell your brand’s story through a short but informative video. Again, you are looking to increase your brand recognition and not sell your products and services, so you want to focus on leaving a good impression on your viewers. YouTube ads can last from 6 seconds to 3 minutes long.

Instagram is great for targeting a younger audience. If your target market heavily relies on mobile, then go for Instagram when posting PPC ads.

For B2B companies, LinkedIn is your best bet for promoting brand recognition through PPC advertisements. Business owners and marketers thrive on this channel, and it would make sense to reach them through a platform such as this.

Measure your Data

Take a look at your conversions and see what people tend to click on. This way, you will know what works and what doesn’t so you’d know what to do for your next campaign. You can analyze the data by segments and identify different trends and conclusions.

Additionally, you can also take a closer look at your offline sales (if you have a physical store). See if your foot traffic increases and if more people are coming in because of your PPC ads. Conduct a survey and ask them where they’ve heard about your brand so you can include this in the measurement of your data.

Conclusion

PPC is a powerful tool for brand recognition, and you should use it whether you are running a start-up or an established business. Targeting the right audience is a vital marketing move.

Paid ads can definitely make up for what organic campaigns cannot accomplish. Grab the chance to let the world know about your brand by putting out relevant and engaging PPC campaigns that help tell your brand’s story.