When it comes to the digital space, it’s critical to understand the opportunities for marketing a startup. 

What makes a successful startup? Understanding their demand in the marketplace. 

Failory’s research shows that 90 percent of startups fail, and while there are 20 top reasons, part of those 20 reasons is marketing- to be exact- 14 percent of startups fail due to poor marketing or overspending. 

To break through the crowded digital space, it is important to invest in the right digital marketing efforts from the beginning. A great digital marketing effort that will bring in instant results while continuing to focus on long-term marketing is PPC advertising. 

When it comes to PPC for startups, it is important to understand the basics behind the strategy to understand the full scope. Here’s a short guide from our Denver pay-per-click marketing experts! 

Where is your target audience? 

What problems are you solving for your target audience? Understand that this is what is critical. At the end of the day, marketing is about solving problem/s that consumers are searching for. If you are reaching the older end of your target audience, make sure to solve these problems; however, on the younger end of your target audience, explain the ease and speed of this. 

Google dominates the market shares and is the largest search engine out there, but not every startup's audience is on Google. A majority of your target audience could be using Bing or Yahoo! Depending on their demographics. 

A majority of audiences who use Bing ages range between 45 to 54 years old with an average household income of $100,000. 

Is this your target audience? If it is, it might be beneficial to run PPC ad campaigns on Bing and Google. 

With that, what phrases are they typing into their preferred search engine? There is a drastic difference between each phrase that is used. These phrases are called keywords and are one of the most important elements of a successful campaign. 

Keyword research 

Keyword research is the research of phrases that a startup’s audience will be searching for on search engines and specifically on Google. Keywords are the phrases that consumers are typing into search engines to find products, services, answer their questions, or other notions. 

If a searcher types into Google, “meal kit delivery services.” The results that populate are dependent on a number of factors from SEO optimization to keyword research. A startup should invest in both PPC ads and SEO, but if a startup wants to break through the market faster, PPC ads bring in instant results. 

Keyword research will bring qualified sales and lead generation to a startup’s PPC campaigns because these keywords are based around competitor analytics, target audience and market research, and an understanding of the best keywords based on their CPC and competition. 

Are there keywords here or related ones that would benefit the overall budget? A Denver pay-per-click expert says yes, but add some more in there! 

Use negative keywords

Negative keywords prevent users from seeing your ads when certain words or phrases are used on search engines. For instance, if you are a local meal delivery service, you can filter out some terms people use when looking for similar, but not relevant services. Here are two examples: 

• Free meal kits 
• Weight loss meal kits 

This way, people who search for these negative keywords won't trigger your ads and, thus, you won't have to pay money. This strategy saves startups a lot of money that they can spend on other relevant keyword searches, such as general and specific keywords.

 Start small

A common mistake that startups make is creating a long list of keywords to run multiple campaigns and ad groups. Unfortunately, startup budgets are small, and this approach stretches it out without yielding any returns.

Instead, it is vital to focus on one or two campaigns with a few ad groups to yield results. Additionally, ensure your campaigns revolve around one product and it direct consumers to your landing page or website.

Using location targeting for your PPC ads is essential in ensuring that you advertise where you can deliver. This is where local keywords are important and are optimized for specific PPC ad campaigns!

Therefore, depending on the ad running, it could be a local or national campaign that reaches the correct target audience on a micro or macro level! 

Whether it is a meal delivery service or dog shoes, a startup can implement PPC ads to break through their niche industry and to start to reign as the unicorn who made it. 

Set a budget 

PPC ads can be as expensive or cheap as the budget set in place. Without PPC management or an experienced PPC expert, a startup can find itself spending more money per click than necessary. Even if you only want to spend $10 per day, as long as the ad is properly optimized, this should not be an issue. 

It can be a bit harder, but it can be done. Without a budget or understanding that each click costs money, a startup can find themselves spending a large amount of their overall marketing budget without results. 

Here are a number of online resources and classes that can help any startup learn more about PPC management.

Hire us

When it comes to PPC for startups, it is important to find the right team who can help to manage and implement new strategies time and time again! For more information regarding PPC management or other digital marketing strategies, contact our team today!