Writing Tight for Pay-Per-Click Campaigns

When it comes to getting your prospective customer’s attention in pay-per-click advertising environments, the competition’s fierce and the amount of time you have to state your message is very short.

That’s why your successful pay-per-click campaign must feature tight, compelling headlines and ad copy. Let’s take a look at some of the essential elements of the pay-per-click writing process:

Speak to your customer’s “buy buttons.”

Many pay-per-click ads miss the mark because they feature the wrong messages. Let’s say that your business is a jewelry store. You may be justifiably proud of the fact it’s been owned by your family for three generations. And it may be a legitimate selling point for some of your customers, which is why the fact that you’re family-owned should be featured on your website or highlighted in social media posts.

But even though the fact that you’re a family-owned business is noteworthy, it’s still a selling point that’s likely going to be of secondary consideration to your customers. They are probably more motivated to shop your store because of factors like product selection, your expertise, the quality of your merchandise, your pricing, and the convenience of your location, rather than the fact that you’re family owned.

Remember, your prospects’ primary motivations will be the triggers that make them click your ad, and that’s the first objective of any pay-per-click campaign. So you never want to take up valuable ad copy real estate by mentioning second or third-tier message points when you can use that space to speak to your prospects’ “buy buttons”.

In other words: Your pay-per-click ad should address what your customers want to know, not what you want them to know about your business. If you’ve gone through a customer profiling exercise, you can use your best customer profiles to help you better understand your customers’ motivations. Other sources of insight in this area can include customer surveys, website analytics, and the customer comments that you receive via social media or your website – plus anecdotal input from your sales team.

Use the “next door neighbor” test.

Because of the limited space, pay-per-click headline and ad copywriting is especially challenging for organizations with a complex product or service that is hard to explain in the space of a few characters. This is another reason why it’s important to know your prospects’ buy buttons as we mention in the point above.

Another tactic you can use to tighten up your pay-per-click writing is the “next door neighbor” test. Ask someone unconnected to your business to review your ads and provide a reaction. Unless they happen to work in advertising or marketing communications, you don’t need to solicit their opinion of your copy – you’re looking instead for general comprehension.

If you find that they’re having trouble understanding your ad’s call to action, you may need to head back to the drawing board.

Use clear calls to action.

And speaking of calls to action, it’s important that each ad features both a compelling reason for the customer to take action and a directive for him to do so. Words and phrases like “call today”, “order now”, and “get a quote” are all examples of clear and straightforward calls to action.

You can also try more creative approaches with calls-to-action that also incorporate a reference to your business’s primary product or service, like: “Lose weight this summer”, “Have a great vacation”, “Stop smoking now”.

Use keywords.

Don’t forget to use at least some of the keywords that you selected when setting up your campaign – after all, your prospective customerss use of them in a search engine is what will trigger your ad to be served up in the first place.

The presence of those keywords in your ad will help capture their attention and draw their eye to your ad over those of your competitors.

Experiment

Google Ads provides you with the option to create and group multiple ads that feature different messages and copy. Taking advantage of this feature will not only give you intelligence that helps you fine-tune your pay-per-click campaigns, it will also provide insight you can apply to other advertising platforms as well.

About MindEcology:
We manage crazy-good pay-per-click campaigns. If you’re just getting started or want to get better ROI, let’s talk.