PPC campaigns have a number of pitfalls, especially using it as your only online marketing tactic. The pitfalls of PPC campaigns can be overcome with inbound marketing campaigns that will get you high ranking in organic search results.
Paid search is complex
PPC campaigns are complex to set up and run when you do them right. If you are just starting out and are running your own campaigns, they might be on a steep and can be an expensive learning curve. To avoid this, you need a significant budget for advertising. On the other hand, inbound marketing techniques are simple to use. While they require work, the learning curve is less steep than paid search. Once you learn some basic strategies, you can move forward with your marketing strategy.
Paid search is a continuous investment
Using paid search campaigns means that you must pay for every click that you get. Thus the name, PPC. If you stop investing money, you will not get any more clicks. You have to invest every month if you want to see traffic to your site. Inbound marketing does not require continuous investment as paid search does. The investment in inbound allows you to build a permanent marketing asset for your school.
Once you build a large body of content and social media connections, they will continue to work for you even if you do not invest any money. It takes some effort and skill to put together an effective inbound marketing program. But this initial effort continues to pay residual dividends for a long time.
Paid search is expensive
If you want to appear at the top of the SERPs for particular keywords, this can be quite expensive. You have to be willing to pay more money for every click than your competitors. Inbound advertising is less expensive in the long run. If you can dominate the search results for a long-tail keyword like “Business schools in Berlin”, you will not have to pay high rates for clicks from this keyword. Once you have made the initial investment to develop content that ranks high for this keyword, you will only have to do basic overseeing to maintain this ranking. Which means it will be less expensive in the long-term.
People avoid advertising
Enough people who use search engines recognize where the ads are placed in the results page. They are aware that people have paid to show up in those positions. They are more likely to click on results that are organic. Inbound strategies help your site rank high in the SERPs. By providing high-quality content that search engines look for you can get top rankings for your keywords without looking like you paid for it. Instead of seeing you as an advertiser, visitors will see you as a trusted expert offering help in their search for the best education.
Thank you for taking the time to read or blog post on running PPC campaigns vs inbound campaigns. At faethe.marketing we have been helping schools to increase student enrollments since 2010. If you are looking to recruit the best matching students for your programmes with minimal cost and effort, feel free to reach out to us.