5 Tips to Engage Your Audience in Your PPC Campaigns

5 Tips to Engage Your Audience in Your PPC Campaigns

An engaged prospect is more likely to click on your ad and visit your site. That’s where a killer landing page will convert them from a curious shopper into a motivated buyer.

But engaging your target users in the first place is tough, especially in highly competitive markets.

You need to stand out, grab them by the scruff of their neck, and make them realize your ad is the ONLY one they need to click on.

How do you do that?

Here are 5 tips to help you engage your audience in your PPC campaigns and achieve better results.

Take a closer look at your audience to develop a deeper understanding of your target customers

You can’t bring your ideal customer what they’re looking for if you don’t know that that is. Sounds obvious? It is.

But your current understanding of your audience might not be as deep as it could be.

Yes, you might know you’re looking for buyers in their twenties and thirties with lots of disposable income to spend on gym clothes. But do you know what fabrics they like best? Do you know which manufacturers are the most ethical in sourcing their materials and paying their workers? And do you know what other gear they take to the gym?

Answering any of these questions will give you a deeper insight into your buyers and help you appeal to them further.

And pay attention to the different demographics within your audience. To stick with the gym example, perhaps you could start targeting older shoppers who want to wear more conservative clothing while they work out. Or try stocking smaller gym gear for fitness fanatics who want to get their kids involved.

Define different audience segments and start building PPC campaigns to reach them. Use comprehensive personas to create ads tailored to their pain points, goals, values, etc.

Invest more time into your ad copy to maximize brand appeal

No business can afford to skimp on ad copy in their pay-per-click ads. Words matter. Language matters. Tone matters.

Go back to your audience research and buyer personas. Think about your target demographics. What ad copy seems most appropriate to each segment? What would they consider a turn-on and turn-off?

For example, let’s say you run a yacht hire business. Your ideal customer is unlikely to find “cheap” or “lowest prices guaranteed” attractive — “luxury”, “premium”, or “exclusive” would make a bigger impact.

But if you’re targeting a more mainstream shopper, “save”, “free,” and “discount” can all leap off the page. You MUST honour these promises, though. Prospects may abandon your site if they realize a freebie or discount isn’t what they expect.

Look at your highest-performing competitors’ ads. Study their language and tone. Do they use a humorous style to break the ice and create a friendly persona? Or do they opt for a more formal approach?

Think about how you can improve on their ads with your own, based on your in-depth audience insights.

Experiment with eye-catching images and videos across social media

More than 3.5 billion people worldwide use social media, and 11 newcomers join every second. That’s why every business NEEDS to invest more time and resources into building an active social media presence.

While social PPC is incredibly competitive, using visual content is one of the most effective ways to engage audiences and gain a foothold.

Images and videos stand out more than text-based posts on Facebook and Twitter. But Instagram and TikTok both revolve around visual content, so creating impactful ads on these channels is even more difficult.

Here are a few things to remember when experimenting with images and videos:

• keep videos concise, as users have an almost limitless amount of other posts to check out — you’ll lose 33 percent of viewers after 30 seconds, 45 percent after one minute, and 60 percent after two minutes
• stay on-brand: create ads that reflect your business values and reflect your target customers’ lives

• never be controversial just to get attention — it could backfire and cause lasting reputational damage
• use original images whenever possible to reinforce your professionalism and build credibility

Incentivize users to click through to your site and convert

Engage your audience and motivate them to click on your ads with simple but effective incentives.

For example, free shipping is increasingly important. Around 90 percent of shoppers claim that free shipping meant more to them than fast shipping (particularly around the holidays), and more than 60 percent would not pay more for expedited delivery anyway.

Another option is to offer discounts, even if only 10 or 20 percent. Customers may click on your ad if you stock the same products they can find elsewhere at a slightly lower price.

Speaking of prices, including costs in your PPC ads can increase their appeal. Visually, numbers break up text and help ads stand out.

But only include prices if you know they’re competitive — avoid them if you know other businesses might run ads featuring lower rates near yours.

And include words that inspire a sense of urgency, e.g. “limited”, “must go”, “clearance”. Prospects may be motivated to click through if they feel your offers are time-sensitive.

Take advantage of sitelinks to boost your ads’ appeal

One final quick tip: include sitelinks in ads to boost audience engagement in your PPC campaigns.

These bring extra content to your ads in the form of links to various pages on your site. They can show off different categories, and take customers directly to pages they might be interested in. This can help your ads stand out from those without sitelinks and contribute to a smoother customer experience.

You could include links to Top Sellers, Holiday Sales, Shipping FAQs, What Makes Us Special, or any other page you believe customers will be looking for. Consider what steps you want users to take when your ad appears and help them do so with clearly titled sitelinks.

Follow these 5 tips to engage your audience in your PPC campaigns more effectively.

And if you want to take your paid ads to the next level, our PPC experts are here to help. Contact us today to discover what we can do for you!