Top Four Reasons Why Nonprofits Should Consider Pay Per Click Campaigns

 

This guest post is by PJ Chambers, President, WebIXI, who’ll present on Using Paid Advertising in Digital Marketing Strategies at #MANOAC18, part of the MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS learning area.

TOP FOUR REASONS WHY NONPROFITS SHOULD CONSIDER PAY PER CLICK CAMPAIGNS:

1. Target Exactly Who You Want

   It doesn’t matter what
   
   demographics
   you are targeting – there is a social media platform where you can find them interacting and giving away valuable data (and probably not even realizing it).

   Remember – if you are not paying to use a service, you are the product they are selling, not the customer.  Every “like,” every interaction, every piece of demographic data a user has given a social media platform can be mined and targeted with a specific ad campaign.

   With these custom audiences, nonprofits can target exactly who they want in their marketing campaigns at a much lower cost per conversion than the traditional forms of marketing.  
   
   

2. Turn Warm Leads into Conversions 

   We’ve all been victims of this. We look at
   
   slowcookers
   on Amazon but we resist the urge to buy. Suddenly, we are seeing ads for
   
   slowcookers
   everywhere we go until we finally give in and purchase one.

   Amazon is using re-marketing techniques – they know when you have visited a specific page on their website but did not convert. Wouldn’t it be nice to know which users looked at tickets to your fundraising gala or info event?  Wouldn’t it be nicer to continue to show ads to those users on other websites they visit until they decide to attend your event? We know they are interested in the event because they were looking at the details on your website. Let’s help them make the decision to purchase!

3. Control Your Costs

   One of the benefits of pay per click campaigns is that nonprofits can set a specific budget and have a good understanding of how well it is being utilized in real time. Is a campaign not performing how you expected?  It is easy enough to pause a campaign, make adjustments and then turn it back on. This is not a print or TV ad – you can (and should) be changing these ads in real time depending on results.

4. Utilize Free Funds

   Does your organization need help with branding? Bringing awareness
   
   for
   your services? Reaching your desired target market? A Google Adwords Campaign could be the answer to all of these questions, and it is not as expensive as you may think.

   Google Grants can offer qualified nonprofits up to $10,000 per month in free campaign spend
   
   funding
   . On average, most nonprofits who have been approved for the grant spend only $300 per month of the $10,000 potential spend. There is a lot of room for improvement!

To learn more about how each of the pay per click platforms and options

work
and how to best utilize them within your nonprofit’s marketing campaigns, make sure to attend PJ’s session at #MANOAC18 coming up on October 4! 

About the Author

As President of WebIXI, PJ is focused on assisting small business owners and nonprofit organizations with website design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and other online marketing campaigns. PJ is a Licensed Consultant with the Standards for Excellence Institute. WebIXI is a long-term associate member of Maryland Nonprofits.