How to Properly Manage PPC Campaigns

One of the primary goals of all marketers is to get their brand noticed. Brand recognition increases traffic and converts customers.

And one of the most effective ways to do that is with PPC ads.

PPC ads, or pay-per-click ads, are a marketing strategy in which advertisers pay every single time a user clicks on one of their ads. Common forms of PPC ads include Google Ads, Meta Ads, and Bing Ads. The goal of the ads is to appear higher up on a search engine results page when a user types in a keyword.

PPC advertising is popular and effective because results tend to be quick, and marketers tend to see a high return on ad spend (ROAS). Its popularity can be seen in numbers – global ad spend was projected to be north of 600 billion dollars in 2023.

However, running successful campaigns requires proper PPC management, including optimizing keyword research, adjusting budgets, and performing competitive analysis.

Here, we will explore optimal PPC management techniques and specific aspects you should oversee throughout the life of your PPC campaigns.

What is PPC management?

Pay-Per-Click or PPC management refers to the strategies you use to oversee and optimize your PPC ad campaigns and includes supervising and managing the following aspects:

• Keyword analysis
• Audience research
• Ad targeting
• Ad creation
• Budget optimization and monitoring
• Landing page optimization
• Performance reporting
• Ongoing campaign optimization and testing

PPC management can be done by an expert dedicated to that role, via PPC management software, or even by hiring a digital marketing agency (or PPC management company) to manage your campaigns and other aspects of your marketing strategies. We’ll discuss this further later on in the article.

Why PPC management is important

Effective PPC management uses keyword analysis and channel strategy development and helps you gain the following advantages:

Improved ROAS and efficiency of PPC campaigns

Careful scrutiny of PPC campaigns allows you to make adjustments to optimize your campaign, effectively allowing you to improve your return on ad spend (ROAS) and to run more efficient campaigns.

The ability to gain complete control over PPC budgets and timing

PPC ads function by requiring advertisers to pay every time a user clicks their ad, right? Knowing that, it makes sense that advertisers would want to be especially conscious of their budgets and their keyword bidding strategies. The most effective way to do that is through PPC management.

Reaching highly targeted audiences and building remarketing audiences throughout the sales funnel

PPC campaigns typically help you reach the ideal audience; by properly managing campaigns, you can gain the insights needed to not only reach your target wherever they are browsing but also use remarketing strategies to meet your audience anywhere they are along their customer journey.

Faster results compared to traditional advertising tactics

Traditional advertising works, but it can take time to see favorable results, and it is challenging to get granular insights. With PPC ads, marketers can begin seeing results as quickly as the next day, with deep insights available after just a few months. Best results rely on PPC campaign management, including overseeing campaigns to see what’s working and what isn’t and adjusting budgets to favor the best ads.

Complementing SEO efforts with PPC campaign data helps you with keyword strategies and drives traffic to your SEO-optimized pages

Most marketers know that there isn’t one silver bullet that gets you all the incredible results you seek in one shot; usually it takes a combination of strategies to bring winning results to your campaigns. Using PPC campaigns in tandem with SEO efforts helps boost relevant keywords, optimize search engine results, and drive targeted traffic to SEO-optimized landing pages.

Extensive tracking and attribution capabilities allow you to accurately measure the impact of PPC campaigns

A PPC management strategy is incomplete without PPC reporting tools which give advertisers deep insights into the results of their campaigns; often, using a tool like Google Analytics helps you analyze the impact of your ad spend and make iterations where necessary, which leads to optimal results.

Opportunities for experimentation and optimization through A/B testing of ad variations

Fine-tuning any marketing strategy is a must, as advertisers learn plenty after publishing a campaign. You can test messaging, copy, ad placement, the efficacy of Bing ads versus Google ads, budget, and ad timing.

A/B testing various elements of your campaign can help you figure out which version works best so you can focus on that ad. Working with a PPC tool that allows for A/B testing and experimentation will drive far better results than just relying on intuition.

How to effectively manage your PPC account

PPC management takes expert skills and the ability to interpret and analyze many pieces of data.

As part of your PPC strategy, here are specific steps you should take to monitor and manage your own PPC campaigns to fully enjoy the advantages listed above.

Keyword analysis

Before you launch your PPC campaign, it’s important to conduct keyword research to ensure you’re bidding on the most relevant keywords (and you must continue to do so after you’ve launched your campaign). Pay-per-click ads can get pricey if you spend too much on unnecessary keywords, so you must examine your data and know which keywords and search terms are most applicable to your target audience.

Part of your keyword analysis will include assessing which negative keywords to include in your ad spend. Negative keywords are search terms and phrases for which you don’t want your ads to show up, and including them in your campaign can save money.

For example, if you are a bakery, you probably use a phrase like “cupcake shop” in your campaign. However, if you do not offer gluten-free items, you likely do not want to show up when people search “gluten-free cupcake shop”, so in your campaign, you would add “-gluten-free cupcake shop” as a negative keyword.

Keyword optimization tools and PPC management software like Google Ads, Semrush, and PPC Entourage can help you.

Audience research

Before spending money on ad campaigns, you want to know who you’re going after. Conducting audience research will help you understand the key demographics of your potential customers and will help you maximize your marketing efforts.

Audience research involves knowing information like age range, gender, and location, as well as behavior across sites. What websites are your target users visiting, and what are they interacting with on social media? By observing these behaviors, you will learn what your potential customers find valuable, what their preferences and interests are, and what they are most likely to engage with.

Google Analytics, Google Adwords Audience Insights, and social media tools like Meta’s Audience Insights can help you gather this information.

Ad targeting

Ad targeting is what happens as a result of conducting audience research. This is how advertisers focus on reaching their desired audience, which is based on demographics, psychographics, consumer behavior, and browsing insights.

When ad targeting, careful considerations should be made, such as:

• Delivering content consumers will care about
• Making your ads creative and appealing
• Avoiding bombarding your target audience with the same ad everywhere they go
• Using the right ad on the right platform (i.e., Meta versus Microsoft ads)
• Creating custom ads based on personalized customer data
• A/B testing different ad variations to see what is most captivating
• Tracking metrics to ensure you’re targeting correctly

We like this targeted ad from Slack because it is totally relatable for anyone who has ever had a job. At some point, most workers have felt that meetings are a time suck, a feeling that was exacerbated by the pandemic.

Slack is going after people who have felt that way by offering up a seemingly appealing and fun way to communicate that will result in less meetings. It is eye-catching, audience-appropriate , and delivers a value proposition in its message.

Ad creation

Once proper keyword analysis has been done, audience research has been conducted, and ad targeting is in place, the creative work begins. Putting the actual PPC ads together requires testing out various iterations of copy, design, CTAs, and ad placement.

By paying specific attention to the CTA versions used, advertisers can figure out which call-to-action gets the most clicks and use that data to optimize and get the most out of their monthly ad spend.

Sometimes, the difference between “Learn More ” and “Shop Now” is a higher ROAS.

Quip’s Meta ad uses the “Shop Now” CTA while the ad copy urges them to upgrade their brushing game.

Budget optimization and monitoring

When a PPC campaign has been turned on, constant monitoring is required to ensure you’re getting the most bang for your buck. Advertisers want to make sure each keyword they are bidding on falls within their company’s PPC ad spend budget. Their budget optimization strategy may also involve competitive analysis to understand other companies’ terms and phrases and bid on those critical keywords before someone else can get to them.

A tool like Adpulse can help marketers managing multiple campaigns see how much of their budget is allocated toward each campaign and can deliver insights and recommendations to optimize those campaigns.

Landing page optimization

Ideally, PPC ads will lead users to dedicated landing pages that match the messaging and the aesthetic of the ad they just clicked. Driving to a landing page versus a website page provides more value to audiences and helps increase conversions.

In addition to helping deliver more conversions, landing pages help marketing managers understand their customers better and track their journey after clicking on an ad.

That being said, landing page optimization is a must. If ads are adjusted due to A/B testing, budget optimization, or keyword analysis, then changes to a landing page must be made accordingly.

Quip’s landing page clearly demonstrates the product’s benefits and credibility (via reviews on Time, GQ, etc.), and it includes a CTA to purchase the product. The minimalistic approach is direct, not overwhelming, and easy to navigate.

Performance reporting

You’ll want to decide on a reporting cadence with stakeholders interested in your ad campaigns’ results. This may be weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Performance reporting is an important part of PPC management because it gives insight into what is working, helps align short-term and long-term goals with the company’s overall mission, and helps you attribute revenue and sales to specific ads and tactics.

Popular metrics to analyze in performance reporting include impressions, cost-per-click, click-through rate, conversion rate, and quality score. There are many PPC performance measurement tools on the market, including Google Analytics, Google Adwords, Spyfu, Adalysis, and Adespresso.

Ongoing campaign optimization and testing

A PPC campaign can have a long shelf life if it performs well and delivers the desired results. As long as you’re keeping your campaign running, you must continue to optimize and test to keep your ad relevant and to maximize efforts.

As part of your optimization efforts, you’ll want to set long-term goals, continue to monitor ad spend, plan long-term campaigns based on high-quality ads, create more landing pages, and continue keyword optimization strategies.

A/B tests can be valuable at any point in your ad campaign’s lifecycle, especially as consumer needs change.

PPC management – in house or with an agency?

PPC management requires focus, expertise, time, and dedication. Marketers may use an in-house advertising team to handle PPC management or they’ll hire a PPC management agency to get the job done.

A PPC management company is usually a digital marketing agency that specializes in PPC campaign management. They can offer guidance on SEO and search engine tactics, relevant keywords, budget allocation, long-term strategy, and so on. Based on data analysis, especially regarding metrics like cost-per-click and cost-per-acquisition, a PPC management agency can make financially sound recommendations that can save money in the long run.

It is wholly possible to manage PPC campaigns on your own or with an in-house advertising team as long as you’re prepared for plenty of trial and error and potential financial mistakes along the way. PPC management tools will help you be more effective, so invest in the right tech stack before you launch any digital ad campaign.

Budget can be a factor when deciding whether to use a PPC management company or handle it on your own, so be sure to clearly understand your budget allocation before getting started.

Using PPC Management Software like Instapage AdMap™

Instapage is a powerful landing page builder that helps marketers secure more conversions. But it doesn’t just stop at landing pages. Instapage AdMap™ helps PPC marketers to contextually visualize their advertising funnel and create personalized, optimized post-click landing pages that resonate with audiences.

With AdMap, advertisers can align their page experiences and ads with an easy-to-use point-and-click interface. Advertisers use AdMap to:

• Import account details from your ad platform and generate a Postclick Score to evaluate ad-to-page relevancy
• Visualize campaigns, ad groups, and ads within Instapage to figure out where personalized pages may be useful
• Create new pages using the AdMap flow and seamlessly connect each ad in a campaign to a relevant post-click landing page
• Make quick edits and updates to post-click pages that match changes made to ads
• Automatically sync ad mapping updates between the ad network and Instapage
• Deliver a custom experience in real-time to the right audience for each ad in a campaign

No other platform offers this technology, which makes Instapage a popular choice for marketers who want to create a seamless user experience between landing pages and ad campaigns. Plus, advertisers who use AdMap tend to see a higher advertising ROAS than those who don’t. Try it for yourself for free for 14 days.