How to get started with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads, with Digital Gearbox and Serious Readers

2 Jun, 2022 | Podcast, Season 7

Today we are talking about Pay Per Click advertising as part of our ongoing series about strategies from growing your audience online.

My guests today are Becky and Michael, from Digital Gearbox, and Josh from Serious Readers, and I’m really looking forward to diving into those conversations.

If you’re on the fence about running ads, or trying to work out how to get started, our first two guests, Becky and Michael, should be able to help. Beck is the Managing Director, and Michael is the Creative Director, of a specialist ad agency called Digital Gearbox. They help their clients place ads on Google and on social media, and they have loads of tips and advice to share.

Following on from those expert insights from Michael and Becky, I wanted to share a different perspective, from the business side of things. Of course it’s all well and good hearing about ad strategy from experts, but it also helps to hear how that’s worked out for people on the ground, and to look at a bit of a case study.

To help me out with that, I spoke to Josh Smith from Serious Readers. He’s the head of their marketing team and was responsible for running their initial ads, and for their partnerships with ad agencies in the past. They’re now working with Digital Gearbox, so you’ll hear a little bit from him about how that is, and how he went about finding an ad agency to work with who met his specific criteria.

Connect with Digital Gearbox

Digital Gearbox website

Digital Gearbox on Instagram

Digital Gearbox on LinkedIn

The PPC Burrito Podcast

    Starting with PPC ads, with or without agency support

    • What types of companies have the most success with advertising
    • The two types of goals you can have with your advertising
    • How to measure the success of your campaign
    • What’s the minimum budget you need to start working with a PPC agency
    • What quick-and-easy campaigns you can start running yourself

    Want to hear all the details? Click the podcast player above to listen in.

    Resources

    Free Account Audit from Digital Gearbox

    Podcast about the Awareness Journey: 5 steps to understand your customer’s problems (and how you can help)

    Katie’s interview on the PPC Burrito podcast: Mental Health in Digital Marketing

    Connect with Serious Readers

    Serious Readers website

    Josh Smith on LinkedIn

    What it’s like to run PPC ads for a small, product-focussed business

    • How a business can transition from print-focussed to digital marketing
    • How to choose ad placements (print and digital) based on your audience profiles
    • What to do if your website isn’t a great place to send ad traffic
    • Top tips for making the most of your limitted time and budget
    • How to avoid getting totally overwhelmed
    • How to find a good ad agency to work with

    Click the podcast player above to hear all the Josh and I had to talk about.

    Resources

    An example of an off-site landing page used by Serious Readers

    Unbounce – a tool for building your own off-site landing pages

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