Digital marketing, and PPC in particular, is a fast-growing industry that plays an important role in the lives of entrepreneurs and shoppers across the globe. Companies in diverse markets, both small and large, utilize paid ads to effectively promote their products and services.
To survive in today’s competitive environment, constantly grow your clientele, reach the full potential of your business, and always stay one step ahead of your rivals, you need to stay on top of the latest PPC trends and innovations.
Whether you are a website owner wishing to launch cost-effective ads or a digital marketer seeking to better serve your clients, our list of five key PPC trends of 2020 will be of great use to you.
1. Artificial Intelligence
AI is already used in many industries to automate routine operations and free up more time for creative processes. Digital marketing is no exception.
In paying less attention to recurring tasks, PPC experts can focus on research, testing, communication with clients, finding the most promising approaches, and accurately predicting the outcomes of their promotional efforts.
For example, AI can count the expected number of clicks before you even launch your ads. You can avoid learning by trial and error and spend your promotional budget more wisely.
In the future, AI tools will capture more data and evaluate it with greater accuracy. PPC experts will be able to accurately estimate the consequences of each step taken and launch win-win strategies.
Also, advances are expected in the scanning of user behavior. AI will learn to analyze not only clicks but also the language and characteristics of prospective customers who come across your ads.
2. Narrowly Focused Landing Pages
In the era of Internet marketing, it has become increasingly challenging to cut through all the information noise and deliver your messages to interested customers. Apart from your PPC ads, people get numerous commercial offers through email, social media and other promotional channels. The only way to capture their attention is to offer specific services that accurately reflect buyer intent.
This can be done by launching narrowly focused landing pages. For example, a company providing pre-settlement loans to personal injury victims can create landing pages for car accident lawsuit loans, medical malpractice lawsuit loans, workers’ compensation lawsuit loans, etc. Plaintiffs who enter problem-specific queries into a search bar are more likely to choose problem-focused pages over pages offering pre-settlement loans in general.
Having tailored your landing pages to the interests of more narrow consumer groups, you will enjoy the following benefits:
- A robust influx of traffic and conversions. People are prone to buy services that accurately reflect their needs. Give users what they want and enjoy their favor.
- Economy. Google encourages companies to create specific offers by establishing a lower cost per click for narrowly targeted ads. The mindset is that targeted promotion delivers the most value to users, helping them bypass irrelevant businesses and saving them time.
3. Responsive Search Ads
Google’s Responsive Search Ads have become extremely popular after the feature’s launch in 2019. It automatically adjusts ad widths to users’ screens, applies four description types, and selects the most suitable headings among 15 available options.
Each business can create customized ads without spending a lot of time on their designs. Smart AI-based technology finds the keys to your audience’s hearts by scanning their preferences and interests, helping you reach them in the most effective ways while boosting click-through rates and conversions.
After a striking debut in 2019, Responsive Search Ads promise to gain even greater popularity in 2020, and will likely become more intuitive.
4. Amazon Paid Ads
Previously, Google and Facebook were considered to be the main advertising platforms for businesses selling their services online. But today, Amazon is actively overshadowing them, expanding its influence by placing ads both on its own website and across the web.
Even though Google and Facebook are mega-powerful platforms with rich traffic, Amazon is more often used for shopping. People visit the marketplace with the intent to buy something, while
Facebook is mainly used for communication, and Google for information search.
In 2020, more PPC specialists will utilize Amazon to create cost-efficient ads and increase conversions.
5. Automation & Account Management
Today we have the following examples of automation in PPC:
- Optimization. AI-driven audits help digital marketers detect bugs and promptly correct them, find room for improvement and determine the most effective tactics for a particular business.
- Account management. You can set a recurring algorithm for your daily tasks so they perform automatically without your oversight.
PPC specialists constantly strive to minimize routine, step away from manual account management and devote all their time to creative processes. In the future, they will continue to leverage the benefits of automation and AI for bid management, calculation of performance metrics and establishing target markets.
Summary
The volume of information and promotional content on the web will continue to grow in 2020. Digital marketers will have to cultivate extraordinary skills to help their clients achieve success and stand out from the competition.
To reach their target audience, PPC specialists should develop a unique brand voice, arm themselves will advanced automation technologies, apply accurate and comprehensive reporting, and use analytical tools to facilitate decision-making and planning.
It will be almost impossible to handle all daily tasks manually. AI will become a faithful assistant for those who wish to achieve the best results in the shortest possible time.
Of course, you will not be able to just sit back while machines accomplish all your PPC goals. The sophisticated human mind is still needed to properly configure automation tools and drive promotional campaigns in the right direction. Since your knowledge and skills will still matter in 2020, keep on learning and monitoring the latest PPC trends with the Clever team.