Pay per click campaigns are one of the best marketing tools that you and your company have at your disposal.

They allow you to push your advertisements out to the online world and only pay for those that actually act on your ads by clicking them. That leads to a better return on investment for your small business and/or startup.

If you’re new to the PPC world, then you might not be entirely aware of how to go about building a strategy.

Here are several PPC campaign management best practices that you should be using as you build your new brand.

1. Audit Every Year

At the end of every year, there should be a time where you prioritize auditing your pay per click efforts and campaigns.

This is the time where you learn what tactics have worked and what campaigns need to be either improved or thrown to the wayside.

One of the clearest ways to audit your campaigns is by measuring the return on investment for each technique. Be sure to read this article to find out more about how to calculate the ROI on your pay per click initiatives.

The budget from the campaigns that performed poorly can either be poured into the more of a budget for the successful campaigns or used to launch new ones.

Remember, the marketing industry is one of the trendiest industries in the entire corporate world. Don’t ever put too many eggs in one basket, because that “basket” could be irrelevant in only a few months.

2. Keywords, Keywords, Keywords

The importance of keywords in your pay per click campaigns (or any digital marketing campaign, for that matter) can’t be understated.

In fact, the biggest difference between digital marketing and offline marketing is that keywords dictate whether or not your target audience will ever see your ad.

With the right keywords in place, your ad can be pushed out to anyone that searches for a keyword that applies to your product or service.

You can use this to direct people to your product pages, a blog post on your site, or any other form of relevant content.

Using keywords will help you see higher lead generation, sales conversion rate, and will be instrumental in building customer loyalty to your brand. People will feel as if they “discovered” your brand when in reality, your hard work discovered them.

Be sure to use keyword researching tools to find the keywords within your niche that have a low keyword density and high search volume.

3. Try New Outlets Often

Again, the previously-mentioned thought process of “never putting too many eggs in one basket” can’t be stressed enough.

That certainly applies to the number of different platforms that you’re placing your PPC ads onto.

If you’re witnessing a high amount of clicks on one site, then be sure to invest a bit more stock into it, while branching out to other outlets.

These outlets can be things such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, Google Ads, or Bing Ads. There are many more to choose from, but those are some of the best networks to get started on.

Be adventurous! Try to build a passion for investing in your PPC campaigns and trying new avenues to reach different clientele.

4. Figure Out Who Your Target Buyer Actually Is

Many companies make the mistake of building an entire marketing plan without ever stopping to define their buyer personas to help them hone in on who they want to talk to.

Not doing so will most likely lead to marketing campaigns (such as your PPCs) that are directed at the wrong audience. You might as well place your entire marketing budget in a pile and set the money on fire. Because you’ll be burning through cash.

Be sure to take the time to define who your target buyer actually is. Who are they? What do they do for a living? What are the biggest needs in their life? How do they search for their products? What do they look for in the companies they buy from?

Asking all of these questions will help you define your audience and modify your entire PPC strategies accordingly.

For example, if your company sells sewing machines, then your buyer persona might be Mary, who mainly uses Facebook to keep up with her kids.

From that, you would design your PPC campaigns on Facebook (with proper keywords) to get your ads in front of as many “Marys” as possible.

5. Make Them Mobile-Friendly

Did you know that more people use their smartphones than desktops to visit the internet these days? It’s the first time in history that has happened.

However, that trend is only going to continue to grow due to things like Siri, phone apps, and increasing smartphone technology.

That means that your PPC ads need to be geared towards mobile users. If they aren’t then you’ll be missing out on more than half the users of the digital space

Simply put, if a mobile user sees an ad that doesn’t contort to the size of their phone screen, they’ll shrug it off and scroll down or exit out of the ad.

Use These PPC Campaign Management Best Practices Today!

Now that you’ve seen several steps towards proper PPC campaign management, it’s time to integrate these tips into your marketing strategies.

Take your time to define your target buyer, then gear up your PPC endeavors to get in front of those buyers as often as possible.