Why Is Advertising Important? And Why You Can’t Ignore It

Does your business need advertising? You bet it does!

Because you can’t get by with word of mouth alone. Advertising is critical to your business’s long-term success. It can win you new clients, help you keep existing clients, build brand awareness, and enable you to establish a foothold in new markets.

Why Do So Many Businesses Struggle with Advertising?

When someone says the word “advertising”, what do you think of? A TV commercial, maybe, or one of those big billboards by the side of the road.

These traditional forms of advertising certainly have their uses. In fact, they can bring huge benefits. But they also come with some serious drawbacks. Large upfront costs mean that many businesses simply cannot afford to effectively advertise in this way.

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And while these sorts of advertising campaigns can do wonders for brand awareness, you’ll have no real control over just who sees your ads. A snazzy 30 second TV commercial might get seen by millions. But how many of those millions will actually be interested in what you have to offer?

It’s thoughts like this that put many businesses off the idea of advertising. You might think it’s too expensive, too unreliable, and that any potential wins simply won’t be worth the cost and the risk.

The Best Form of Advertising?

There’s a form of advertising that gives you complete control of your budget. And with powerful targeting tools, you’ll be able to ensure that your ads only ever get seen by people who are actively interested in your products or services.

This form of advertising allows you to compete with the major players in your industry on the closest you’ll ever get to a level playing field. You can start to see good results within hours of making your first investment, and you’ll only ever pay when your ads work like you want them to.

We’re talking, of course, about PPC. That stands for pay-per-click, and it happens to be our speciality!

In this post, we’ll outline some of the major benefits of advertising while providing examples of how PPC can help you to achieve these ends. We hope to convince you that your business truly does need advertising, and that PPC is the best form of advertising for you, whoever you are and whatever you do.

The 3 Main Benefits of Advertising

Here’s why you can’t afford to ignore advertising.

With a good strategy, advertising can help you to:

1. Win new customers and retain existing customers
2. Build brand awareness and credibility
3. Establish a foothold in new markets

These are all things that you want to achieve, yes?

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How long does it take for Google Ads to work? Let’s take a look at how advertising – and Google PPC marketing in particular – can help you achieve each of these ends, in turn.

Win New Customers and Retain Existing Customers

It should be obvious how advertising can help you to win new customers. Without advertising, how will people even know that your business exists? An advertising campaign can get your name out there while stressing the benefits you can bring and the problems you can solve.

As for retaining customers – with advertising you can highlight new products in your range, new supplementary services, and even new, formerly unsung benefits.

To explain how PPC will help you win new customers and retain existing customers, we’ll first have to briefly explain how the whole thing works.

When most people think of PPC, they think of search ads. They’re the adverts that appear on the results pages of search engines like Google and Bing. More than 80% of customers begin their buying process with a search engine, so clearly advertising on search engines can bring huge rewards.

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How do search ads work? Think of it as an auction, where you bid on certain keywords. You specify the keywords you want to bid on, and the maximum amount you want to bid.

You can read more about how PPC search ads work here. But long story short, because of the bidding and the budget system:

• Your ads will only get seen by people who are actively looking for your products or services
• You’ll only ever pay when people actually click on your ads – i.e. when your ads work like they should

This powerful targeting is what makes PPC so effective at winning your business new customers. Meanwhile, the tight control you’ll have over your budget makes this form of advertising a lot more cost-effective than other, more traditional forms.

And that’s only half the story. There are many different types of online advertisements to play with, each offering a different set of benefits.

Combine your search ads with high quality display ads and you can show high quality advertisements to over 90% of internet users.

Then there’s the wonders of remarketing, and remarketing lists for search ads. With these advanced techniques, you can show targeted ads to users who have already visited your site. Say someone viewed a product page but didn’t go on to make a purchase. Remarketing allows you to show this individual an advert for that specific product – perhaps with a tasty discount that’s impossible to resist.

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And of course, what works for new customers will work for your existing customers. You could create a whole set of ads specifically for your current clientele, highlighting specific benefits or promoting special offers designed to retain their loyalty.

Build Brand Awareness and Credibility

The traditional forms of advertising we mentioned earlier – things like billboards and ads on TV and in newspapers. They’re all fantastic for brand awareness. They can get seen by thousands, or perhaps millions of people. But like we say, how many of those people will actually be interested in what you have to offer?

So, what is PPC and how does it work? With PPC advertising you can get the best of both worlds. You can get a massive boost to brand awareness while ensuring that only those who are actively interested in your products or services will actually see your adverts.

So, it’s not just increased brand awareness. It’s increased brand awareness where it counts!

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With search ads, it once again comes down to the bidding system. Because you get to choose the keywords you bid on, with an intelligent keywords strategy you can create specific ads to target:

• People who aren’t quite sure what they want, and are looking for solutions
• People who have an idea of what they want, but are comparing options
• People who know exactly what they want, and they’re seeking the best possible offer

Display ads may be even more effective at boosting brand awareness. Google claims that display ads can reach more than 90% of global internet users across more than two million sites. The potential audience is huge, and you can target the people that matter with high-quality ads for a tiny fraction of what you’d pay for a traditional TV, newspaper or billboard ad.

And that’s to say nothing of the possibilities offered by more advanced techniques. For example, with custom intent audiences you can target people with display ads based on critical information drawn from vital marketing data. So once again, you’re not just looking at more brand awareness. You’re looking at more brand awareness among people who are more likely to want to buy from you.

Establish a Foothold in New Markets

Finally, advertising is a cornerstone of business and market development. It can help you reach completely new customers in completely new markets.

Let’s return once more to those traditional forms of advertising. If you want to establish a foothold in a new market with newspaper advertising, obviously you’ll simply pay to place an ad in the local paper of whatever new area you’re targeting. Similarly, you can place a billboard on the major high streets of your new target area.

But again, in both cases, you’ll encounter the same problem we’ve already mentioned: You’ll reach a lot of people, but not necessarily the right people.

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PPC makes this sort of business development a lot easier. With powerful targeting and reporting tools, it can provide a brilliantly cost-effective shortcut to identifying new target groups in new areas. You can then reach these groups with ads that specifically address their needs. And once again, you’ll only ever pay when people actually click on your ads.

PPC can also help with market penetration. Your marketing data will provide essential information concerning just what matters to your target customers. You can then tailor your ads to help improve your market share, whether that’s through adjusting your pricing strategy or offering something extra.

Last but not least, the insights offered by PPC can help with business diversification, which could be an essential part of your long-term growth and stability.

Conclusion – Ignore Advertising at Your Peril

So, what if you choose not to advertise?

Well, not only will you miss out on all the benefits and opportunities we’ve outlined in this post, but you’ll also have very little control of your brand’s message and reputation.

Advertising can do more than sell the benefits of your products or services. They can also help to cast your business in the best possible light.

Head here to find some examples of when advertising has worked wonders for businesses’ credibility. We’ve also included some examples of where things have backfired. Advertising is a double-edged sword, and it’s vital that you get things right!

So ignore advertising at your peril. But if you’re going to do it, do it right.

In this post, we’ve highlighted how PPC is one of the most cost-effective and powerful forms of advertising for any business. If you need a little more convincing, head here to learn about 18 immediate benefits of PPC advertising.

These are the sort of benefits you can potentially enjoy within hours of setting up your first campaign.

Is Google PPC worth it? Maximising ROI in Google Paid Search for advertisers requires a strategic approach that encompasses targeting, data-driven decision-making, and continuous optimisation. As the leading PPC agency in the UK, we are committed to providing actionable insights and expert guidance to help advertisers achieve exceptional results. With a focus on Google Ads, Google Shopping, YouTube Ads, and more, our comprehensive services aim to elevate PPC campaigns to new heights. Contact us today for a free Google Ads PPC audit and take the first step towards unlocking the full potential of your PPC.

To truly capitalise on the opportunities presented by Google Ads, it’s crucial to adopt a strategic approach that not only aims at immediate gains but also ensures a sustainable increase in ROI over time. Leveraging Google Ads effectively requires an in-depth understanding of your target audience, the competitive landscape, and the nuances of various ad formats, including search, display, and video ads. By focusing on key performance indicators (KPIs), such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and cost per acquisition (CPA), and employing advanced targeting techniques, advertisers can significantly enhance their campaign’s efficiency. Moreover, continuous A/B testing of ad copy, creative elements, and landing pages, coupled with rigorous data analysis, allows for the fine-tuning of campaigns to achieve optimal performance.

At PPC Geeks, we specialise in crafting bespoke Google Ads strategies that are tailored to meet the unique goals and challenges of your business. Our expertise in managing comprehensive PPC campaigns ensures that your advertising investment delivers the highest possible return. Let us guide you through the intricacies of Google Ads to maximize your ROI and propel your business forward. Contact us now to explore how we can help you in maximising ROI with Google Ads for unparalleled success.

Find out how about how we can help you and your business grow today.