• Find out what the difference is between a PPC and a display ad campaign
• Learn which strategy is best for the marketing phase you are in
• Find out the pros and cons of both approaches

If you are new to the digital advertising world, you will have learned many acronyms in a short space of time. It seems there is a new term or strategy to learn and it's not slowing down anytime soon. A constant acronym that pops up in the digital advertising lexicon is PPC which stands for Paid Per Click. This is a unit of measuring the success of your campaign and is how you are charged for your advertising through ad networks. However, did you know you can create a PPC campaign? It differs from a traditional ad display campaign. Read on to find out how a PPC campaign can help your business and how it's different from a display ad campaign.

What is a PPC campaign?

A Paid Per Click Campaign (PPC) is an advertising strategy when you pay a fee to a search engine such as Google, to have your website come up when a user types a specific keyword or a phrase. The result page (SERP) will display your ad and your ad will direct potential customers to your site. You are only charged on a PPC basis, meaning if a user clicks on your ad, you are billed by how many people clicked on your ad. 

If you have done the correct amount of research into relevant keywords this strategy can be wildly successful. And as you only pay for the visitors to your site or landing page, the ROI is larger than other strategies. You will have seen PPC campaigns in action usually at the top of your search results with very small letters to it saying ‘Ad’. 

How do I get my PPC ad on the first page of a SERP?

Google does require some money to get your campaign started in the form of a fee for the campaign but that's not really how the strategy works. Google prizes one metric over everything else. Relevancy. You have to make sure the keywords you are targeting are relevant to your company and product's purpose. Google doesn't like it when campaigns are targeting irrelevant keywords and will penalize you for it.

What do I need to know before I get started?

It seems these days that there are so many acronyms and buzzwords that you need to know. It can be off putting and confusing. However the two major things you need to be aware of are CPC and relevance. Here is all you will need to know to make sure your campaign can get the highest ranking possible. 

CPC

Cost per Click (CPC) is the amount of money you pay for each time a user clicks on your ad to view your product. It is recommended that you pay the maximum price you can that is estimated by Google or Bing. However that is not all you are charged for. The actual CPC is calculated by

(Competitors ad rank + Your Quality Score) + 0.01= The amount your CPC is. Your quality score is determined by your web presence and relevancy to the keywords chosen. Also worth noting is that the higher your quality score is the less you are charged per click. 

A few other factors influence your CPC and relevancy score. 

The quality of the advertisement: as well as your key words, you need to make sure your messaging aligns with the keywords you are targeting. This means that your ad text and imaging need to all tie in to a similar message. As previously mentioned your landing page will also need to be relevant to your campaign. Of course this gets easier with time and it is advisable to create ‘buckets’ that have slightly different messaging and different but related keywords. Through this process you will learn which campaigns yield the best results and highest CPC. 

Who are the best advertisers to start a PPC campaign with?

In this article we will keep this list to the top 3 performing advertisers:

Google Ads: in a surprise to pretty much no one, Google is the top search engine for nearly all search engine advertising. This search engine giant owns 90% market share and is likely to be more in the near future. Google also has many articles and ‘how to’ articles to guide you through your campaign set up. This makes it ideal for small businesses to get their campaigns going. However, a large market share means that advertising is competitive which may mean a larger spend on your campaign. 

Bing: this search engine is second to Google, with a much lower user rate. However your ad spend will be lower on Bing so if cost is a factor it’s worth considering. 

Facebook Ads: The social media giant is the best advertising for a PPC campaign. Facebook has second to none demographic targeting due to things like interests, location and behaviours. Facebook does however also have a measurement called CPM or Cost per Mille which is known as cost per thousand impressions. This drawback is due to the fact that it has better targeting options. This will need to be factored into your budget. 

PPC campaigns sound great, why would I use a display campaign?

Display ads are a tried and tested method at building awareness and brand recognition. These ads are also charged on a CPC basis. They are visually demanding and can be placed virtually everywhere that you wish to target. 

The most common types of display ads are:

• Banner Ads: These are ads that are usually at the top of a website or page. 
• Interstitial Ads: These ads appear as web pages before they are directed to the requested page. 
• Rich Media: These ads have video, audio or interactive elements. They are very visually appealing to users and can garner a lot of attention. 
• Video Ads: These are ads such as short videos before a video plays on a network such as YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. These are a favourite for retargeting as video ads do tend to get more impressions. 

The reach and diversity of display ads is huge and changing all the time. While it has been around for about 27 years, the effectiveness of banner ads for brand recognition cannot be denied. However, there are some downsides to display ads as a strategy. While they are great for awareness and brand recognition many users are used to seeing these ads everywhere. This can lead to ‘banner blindness’ and may lead to a lower CPC rate. Ad Blocking software has been developed to stop some of these ads from appearing on your screen. However if you advertise through a reputable network the chances of this are lowered. 

Let’s see what the pros and cons are of PPC vs display Advertsing. 

Here is a table on the pros and cons of PPC advertising vs display advertising

In short, these two strategies are for different stages in your overall campaign.

As you can see display marketing is fantastic for the beginning and end stages of a product's advertising cycle. For PPC to be successful your product or service will need to be established to really make the most of the significant time and effort involved to be successful. There are many providers that can help you with your PPC campaigns to be successful the first time. It will however be a greater financial investment.  However when used together as part of a staged marketing plan they can work very well together to create a fantastic digital presence that will ensure future sales and brand recognition for time to come. 

If you require more information on PPC or display ad campaigns, there are many service providers that can help you set up a campaign. You can have them take care of it for you or you can ask them to provide the assets such as images, logo and copy. From there you can implement your campaign yourself, if you have time.