When to Use an Aggressive PPC Bidding Strategy
Generally, people are conservative with their pay per click advertising campaigns. It makes sense; you want your budget to go as far as possible. But, there are times when a more aggressive approach is needed:
Breaking Into a Niche Market
Say you're selling secure cloud services to small medical practices. With standard daily budgeting practices, it could take months for enough people in your niche to see your ad, since few people will be making relevant searches. A more aggressive campaign puts you in front of more eyes, sooner. By going aggressive at the start, you can get the data you need to refine your campaign and pursue only the most effective strategies.
Breaking Into a Highly Competitive Market
If there is big competition for your desired keywords, you'll need to market more aggressively to get seen. Just be sure to monitor results so that you can see, for sure, what is effective and what is not. One of the benefits of starting with high bids and lots of eyes is that you can very quickly determine which keywords, ad text and landing pages work best for you and adjust your campaign accordingly.
When You Want Rapid Growth
Many start-ups aim for a blast of rapid growth so that VC commitments can be satisfied. Bidding high enough to keep you in the top three results can result in higher click-through rates and faster growth. Just make sure that, in these cases, your ads are very carefully targeted and your landing pages effective. Otherwise, you may just be throwing cash away with every click.
Achieving the Halo Effect
When you start a campaign with a high bid, this can lead to a higher click through rate. This higher CTR can boost your ad's quality score quickly. A high QS means that your ad will show up even higher in the results. And, the benefit remains even after you have reduced your budget, even if your CTR falls with it. You could wind up placing higher than companies who have a higher cost per click that you do. For best results, aim for the top three results, watch the campaigns carefully, and adjust the cost of any ad that costs more than you would ultimately like to budget.
There is no one effective strategy for running a PPC campaign. The only rule is this: whether you choose the prudent route or an aggressive burst, know what you are doing and why. By carefully crafting a keyword list, effective ad copy and a convincing call to action, you can best make your advertising dollars work for you.
Got your PPC campaign running but not sure if it's working? Check out PPC Analysis is About More Than Just Keywords to see how you can analyze your data.
