Today, we’re releasing the first in a two-part series to help you plan your paid advertising initiatives. As paid content will continue to grow in its importance in the coming years, we thought an end-of-the-year/prepare-for-2023 checklist would help many of our readers with their upcoming marketing planning. Let’s start by focusing on Pay-Per-Click through Google Ads.
First, understand your profit per purchase
Do you know how much profit there is in your big-ticket items? Let’s assume you’re a caterer with a staff of 2 and that you primarily work during the spring to summer wedding season. You also offer wedding planning and other services as potential upsells.
When it’s all said and done, how much profit (not revenue) will you make from a single event? Do you know your profit on those upsell items as well? Do you have a full grasp of your employee and overhead costs?
You must understand these basic numbers before moving forward on a Google Ads Pay-Per-Click campaign.
Next, calculate your available “wiggle room” per purchase
Now, how much of that profit do you need (as the business owner) for your everyday living expenses? In other words, how much of that profit can you reinvest into marketing services? If you can set aside even $5 per day, that’s a good start.
Essentially, we’re helping you decide on your marketing budget because Google Ads are based on a bidding system. You need to know upfront how much you’re willing (and able) to spend before beginning to plan your paid advertising campaign.
Now, develop your “Buyer Persona” profiles
It doesn’t necessarily matter whether you call these Buyer Personas Target Markets or Ideal Customers.
What is important is that you know exactly who your audience is and what they are looking for from your company.
Questions to ask yourself include:
• What are their pain points?
• Where do they go for information?
• What is their stage of life?
• What solution does your company provide to its pain points?
• What type of content speaks to them?
• How can you get them into your buyer’s journey workflow?
You may be tempted to think “I already know this”, but trust us: it’s helpful to revisit these once in a while (and write them down somehow to refer back to in the future).
Finally, decide who will manage your PPC campaigns
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns need to be proactively managed as you evaluate keywords, ad placement, budgets, click-through rates, and more. This isn’t necessarily a full-time job, but it will take substantial time to manage properly.
Think of it another way: if you simply set a high budget without proactively managing your PPC expenditures, you may end up throwing money out the window that could be reallocated in more effective ways. So, decide who on your staff can handle it or…
Plan your paid advertising with an agency
Many of the above tips and steps are easier when you work with an agency. Our team helps your company not only plan its paid advertising campaigns, we can run them for you. Let us know if you’d like to schedule a time to learn more about our PPC services.
And be sure to check back in two weeks when we release our second part in this series: how to plan your social media paid advertising.
