Is PPC Better for Small Businesses than Traditional Advertising?

People are increasingly choosing the Internet as their preferred method of finding products or services they are looking for, rather than more traditional sources like radio, television or even print media. So, it makes sense that the Internet is becoming a more popular platform when it comes to advertising, too. As online searching becomes more widely used by consumers, PPC, or pay-per-click advertising, is becoming the new norm for marketing.

PPC is the most effective way to get your business seen by the right people when they’re looking for the products or services specific to your business and location. This shift from traditional media to the Internet as a marketing platform poses incredible advertising opportunities for local businesses, especially for those smaller budgets not large enough for traditional advertising.

Here’s why PPC advertising is better for local businesses than traditional advertising.

When it comes to building your audience and gaining new customers, PPC is the advertising method that will best target your ideal prospects. Instead of putting your ad in front of all people like TV, radio and print ads do, PPC ads only show up in relevant searches for those who might be interested in your business. This means that if people are searching for products or services related to what you do, your ad will pop up, putting it in a position where you’re more likely to get a response.

There are several factors that can be customized to ensure that your PPC ads show up in the best searches, including location, keywords and time (by the day, week or hour). You have the power to change all these elements so that you show up in the most relevant searches and have a higher chance of people clicking on your ad.

This “pull” strategy utilized by PPC advertising brings interested customers to you right when they are looking to buy. Traditional advertising, on the other hand, employs a “push” strategy to broadcast your product or service to a much larger, less specific—and possibly uninterested—audience in the hopes of catching the attention of a few people. While you aren’t advertising to an audience as wide as TV or print reaches, you are showing up to people who are more likely to buy in, which is a better use of your marketing dollars.

PPC is cheaper than traditional advertising. Period. For starters, you have total control over how much you spend because you choose your monthly budget. If you find that you want to adjust how much you are spending on your PPC campaign, you can easily change your budget. Additionally, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, and you don’t pay multiple times if the same person clicks on your ad more than once.

Your other marketing option is to go with traditional advertising, which doesn’t offer the flexibility that PPC does. The cost of traditional advertising is fixed determined on the ad space you are taking up. Regardless of how many people see or hear your ad, you must still pay the same amount. Plus, it isn’t guaranteed that the people seeing your ad are actually in need of your product or service, whereas PPC ads show up in relevant searches. With this flexibility in adjusting your PPC budget, it’s easy to see why traditional advertising is more expensive.

When it comes to tracking an ad campaign’s performance, PPC has very specific and measurable metrics to see if you are getting a return on your advertising investment. With tools like Google AdWords, you can see which ads are performing the best and adjust your weaker ads accordingly. This proactive management gives you a greater overall ROI.

Traditional advertising is much more difficult to track—and adjust—to determine where your leads are coming from and whether you’re getting a worthwhile return on your investment. Adjustments to traditional advertising can’t be made as quickly, leaving you in a constantly reactive position where you can only make changes once you’ve seen the negative effects.

With the Internet continuing to rise as a popular medium, PPC is clearly a form of advertising that is well worth your time and money. If you haven’t already invested in a PPC campaign, now is the time to add it to your marketing strategy.