5 myths about AdWords paid marketing

With great power comes great misconceptions.

Google AdWords is a useful platform for attracting traffic and leads, but many businesses are hesitant to give it a try because they’ve heard criticism from their peers.

Today, we’re dispelling some of the common myths about AdWords so you can separate fact from fiction and make informed decisions for your business.

AdWords Myth #1:

“PPC is too expensive for my kind of business.”

We hear this one a lot.

PPC only costs as much as you want it to, and sometimes businesses don’t consider the lifetime value of a customer.

Ask yourself: How much is a customer worth to your business? From the day they make their first purchase through the day they move on, how much revenue do they make for your company? This is your Customer Lifetime Value, and it can inform your bidding strategy to make sure your campaigns are profitable. (Learn more about that here).

Sometimes customers only buy from you once. Other times they might buy monthly, annually, or a few times over the course of 5 years.

For example, if an average customer spends about $200 throughout their time with you and your average cost-per-acquisition (CPA) is $40, you might be in the green depending on your expenses. But if your average CPA gradually increases too much, it’s time to make some changes.

PPC may be too expensive for businesses with lower price points or poorly performing campaigns. But for those who are dedicated to optimization and make hundreds or even thousands of dollars with each conversion, the investment often pays off.

AdWords Myth #2:

“AdWords is useless for tracking offline leads.”

Sure, AdWords is a digital platform. But did you know you can actually track phone calls from AdWords?

With an AdWords phone number extension or “Call” button in your ad, people can call you without even needing to click through to your website. Plus, the calls are logged as conversions so you can track the effectiveness of these features.

It gets better, too. Want to track leads from people who click on your ad and then call the phone number they see on your website? You can set up Dynamic Number Swapping, which automatically swaps out phone numbers on your site with unique Google numbers.

Then, AdWords tracks each call made to the phone number as a conversation and forwards the call to your normal number.

With a third-party tool, you can record the calls for quality assurance. This is especially useful for finding out where you’re losing interested customers, common issues they’re having with your product or service, and other opportunities for customer service improvements.

And here’s where it gets even more impressive: You can import conversion data into your AdWords account after your sales team has closed new business. That means that even if the visitor converts to a customer over a phone call two weeks later, you can bring that data into your metrics and ROI calculations.

AdWords Myth #3:

“My competitors will click on my ad over and over to drive up my costs.”

Is it really in your competitors’ best interest to spend their days clicking on your ads over and over? Probably not.

But even in the small chance it happens, don’t worry. Google’s credibility as an advertising platform is based on their ability to deliver qualified leads. If they’re letting your competitors drive you off their platform, that doesn’t bode well for their business.

That’s why Google invests a ton of time and resources into fraud detection. Their algorithms are built to detect abnormal activity, and if they do discover fraud, they credit you for the empty clicks.

AdWords Myth #4:

“No one actually clicks PPC ads.”

Some people avoid clicking ads, but most don’t. If they really did, ParaCore and thousands of other PPC agencies wouldn’t be in business.

It’s also why Google is still one of the biggest companies in the world. In fact, the majority of Google’s revenue comes from advertising. In 2015, they grossed over $67 billion. People may say they don’t click on ads, but numbers don’t lie.

Plus, many businesses aren’t actually trying to get people to click on their ads. Sometimes, the main goal is to raise brand awareness. In those cases, branded PPC campaigns can be just as effective for getting the word out and starting to move people down the sales funnel.

AdWords Myth #5:

“Google is just trying to spend all my money.”

It’s true that $67 billion is a lot of revenue for Google. It’s also true that your investment can easily disappear if your campaigns aren’t set up correctly.

However, AdWords lets you control exactly how much money you spend. When put it on autopilot or use it the wrong way, your budget will run out quickly. But when you do it right by creating quality ads, using proper conversion tracking, and optimizing regularly, you’re going to profit just as much as Google does.

Want to see the truth for yourself?

We understand the unknown can be scary, but we’re here to give you peace of mind. Schedule a free consultation with ParaCore’s team to discuss the myths about AdWords that you’ve heard and see if it’s right for your business. We’ll even give you $100 in free ad credit, so there’s really nothing to lose. Get started here.