Paid search isn’t just for driving web traffic to online businesses. Paid search is a successful marketing strategy for getting more foot traffic into your physical retail location.
Paid Search is successful because it creates a highly targeted audience and measurable results. For example, if you sell women’s footwear, people who have previously searched for women’s footwear will see your ads. It’s almost foolproof, but you have to do a bit of work to discover appropriate keywords and properly set up your ads.
Drive Foot Traffic to Your Retail Location
Despite the increase in online shopping, in-store shopping still owns the majority of retail sales for several reasons, including:
- Ability to try on clothing or shoes before purchasing
- Save on shipping costs
- The instant gratification of being able to walk out with the items
- Easier returns
- Avoids having to enter personal information online
But this doesn’t mean consumers aren’t doing their research online. So how do you get consumers to go from researching online to travelling to your store and making the purchase?
Use these paid search tips to increase foot traffic to your business:
- Include your business address in your ads using the Location Ad Extension.
- Promote sales in your ads
- Offer an instant-messaging option so consumers can ask questions or book appointments (you can do this using the Message Extension)
- Run your ads during business hours
- Use geofencing to target mobile users within a certain proximity to your business (or near your competitors)
- Use the Google Storefront and Inventory Ads to let consumers know what you have in stock.
Drive Web Traffic To Your E-Commerce Shop
If you have an online shop, you also want to get sales from your website. The key to growing sales through your e-commerce shop isn’t just to get website traffic. It’s to get targeted traffic. That’s why paid search ads are so important. When set up correctly, ads can target people already determined to buy.
Doing proper keyword research and understanding your audience’s search habits is essential. You can learn more about keywords here.
But there are a few other things you can do to ensure your paid ads convert for you, too:
- Use Ad Extensions to improve your ads and get more detailed
- Give consumers a reason to act quickly – i.e., sale ends today!
- Offer returns and refunds to make decision-making easier
- Ensure your ad copy (the words in your ad) speaks to your ideal consumer
- Set up multiple ads for different products and audiences
- Set up retargeting ads to reach those who have already visited your website (not only are these cheaper, they convert at a higher rate, too!)
- Optimize your website for mobile and tablet use
What about the Funnel?
Depending on how much time you’ve spent researching marketing for your retail business, you may have come across “The Funnel.” The Funnel is a term that typically refers to the steps a consumer takes before purchasing your business.
It begins with Awareness, moves to Desire, then Interest, and ends with Action or a Purchase.
During the Awareness phase, consumers are typically busy doing research, reading free content like blogs, and educating themselves about the products they are looking to buy. Next, in the Desire and Interest phases, consumers move to targeted engagements with the brand by either reading reviews, engaging on social media, or seeking referrals from friends and family. Finally, when consumers are in the Action phase, Paid Search Ads can attract them to your business when they are ready to purchase.
There are several stages that consumers go through when they are interested in purchasing a product or service, and Paid Search is critical to closing the funnel and converting – whether the goal is an online sale or foot traffic to your local store.
Analyzing Results of Your Paid Search Campaign
No advertising campaign can be deemed successful without examining the results. There are three key metrics to track:
- Impressions (how many times people see your ad)
- Clicks (the number of people who clicked on your ad after viewing it)
- Conversions (the number of people who followed through with an action, i.e. a purchase)
If your ad is not as successful as you had hoped, these metrics can tell you where you need to make adjustments. You can evaluate the ads themselves, the landing pages or even your checkout process. Someone along the way, you’ll learn why your campaign is successful or not.
For example, if you have a good number of impressions but low clicks, you need to revisit your keywords and ad targeting to ensure the right people see your ad. You may also want to have a copywriter review the ad copy to ensure your message gets across.
If you have a high click-through rate but low conversions, the issue likely lies with your landing page – optimizing your landing pages and checkout pages may be in order and, again, review your copy.
If you’re struggling to set up a successful paid search campaign or Google Ads and Ad Extensions just have you feeling more overwhelmed than excited, book a free consultation and let’s see if we can help you increase your traffic and sales.