If you’re exploring ways to build brand awareness around your clinic, then you might want to consider a Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising strategy that includes Facebook, Google AdWords and the wider Google Display Network.

Why use PPC advertising to build brand awareness

As the term suggests, ‘brand awareness’ is about making potential customers aware that a brand exists and helping to place it at the top of their mind when they think about that particular type of business. Ultimately, the aim would be to have a greater brand awareness around your practice than around your competitors’ practices.

Brand awareness is important because the majority of people will need multiple ‘touchpoints’, i.e. moments of contact, with a business before they will make a purchase. The most widely thrown around figure is nine touchpoints but, in our experience, it can be more. People use social media and the internet so frequently that businesses generally have to work harder than ever before to stand out from their competitors.

Facebook advertising, Google AdWords, and advertising on the Google Display Network are all unobtrusive but powerful ways to put your business in the forefront of people’s minds on a regular basis. You can ensure that your ads appear in potential patients’ Facebook newsfeeds, in their Google searches, and even on the websites they visit.

This helps to create an impression of your practice as being visible, accessible, credible, and established, even if you’re only just starting out.

A study by Google and Ipsos MediaCT found that just seeing adverts for a business in search results, without even clicking through from the ad to the website, can increase ‘top-of-mind’ brand awareness by 80%. This means that when asked to name a brand for a specific keyword, people are 80% more likely to name a business that they have seen in an online ad.

A direct result of this is that, when people are ready to buy, they are more likely to turn to the brand that they can recall.

Tying your PPC advertising into your business goals

Before you invest in any PPC advertising – and we’ll look at some of the pros and cons of the different platforms below – it’s important to think about your immediate and long-term business goals. To do this, try asking the following key questions:

  • What do you want to achieve with PPC advertising?
  • Do you want to build your grow your presence in the marketplace?
  • Is building brand awareness more important right now than promoting specific services, or do you want to grow a particular service-focused income stream?

Once you know how PPC advertising ties into your goals, you can identify the best option – or combination of options – for your practice.

Google AdWords

Google AdWords is the pay per click (PPC) advertising that people see in prominent positions on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) when they carry out a search. You can spot a Google ad by the small ‘Ad’ icon at the beginning of the listing.

In our experience, incorporating Google AdWords into any digital marketing strategy usually pays dividends. Because a Google ad appears in response to a search for a specific keyword, you know that the people seeing the ads are already actively searching for what you have to offer and are, therefore, receptive to adverts that appear to deliver a solution to their search.

In addition, you can target Google ads by keyword (and filter out negative keywords), location, demographics, interests and much more. As we explored in a recent blog, it’s even possible to increase local awareness of your business by placing ads within Google Maps and within other local search features. This means that there’s a lot you can proactively do to make sure that your ads are seen by the people who are most likely to convert into paying customers.

Facebook advertising

Many businesses also choose to advertise on Facebook. The social media platform offers exceptional audience targeting options that can help to narrow down who sees each ad to highly targeted individuals.

PPC advertising on Facebook is cost effective and can be adapted to even the smallest of monthly budgets. There are also a wide number of advertising options and a lot of online advice and information about what formats and content would be best for different goals.

It is worth recognising that, unlike with Google ads, people who see your ads on Facebook may not be actively searching for your services at this moment in time. At Cosmetic Digital, we see Facebook ads as being something akin to television advertising – albeit more targeted – because the ads sit within the content that people have actively come to view.

That being said, Facebook ads are an excellent way to create brand awareness and attract new likers to your Facebook page who reflect your target audience.

Google Display Network

The Google Display Network comprises more than two million websites that have agreed, via tools such as Google AdSense, to feature advertising relevant to their audience. It’s estimated that the Google Display Network can reach 90% of people on the internet.

Using Google Display advertising, you can create text, image, video or interactive ads and place them on websites that are relevant to what you’re selling and visited by your target audience. This lets you capitalise on traffic to other domains and build brand awareness.

You can either browse the Google Display Network to choose where your ads are shown or task Google with suggesting the most appropriate sites for you to approve. This means that you have the final say on where your ads appear, which is especially important to medical cosmetic practices subject to extensive advertising legislation.

In addition, you have targeting options that let you show your ads to people who have visited your website in the past, people who are visiting websites related to your business, and much more.

The majority of us see Google Display Network ads on an almost daily basis. We might look at an item of clothing on an online retailer’s website and then see it appear on other websites we visit for several weeks afterwards. This form of advertising works by keeping your brand ever-present and at the top of people’s minds long after they’ve clicked away from your website.

Keep an eye on your PPC data

It’s hard to imagine any business that wouldn’t benefit from PPC advertising. As we’ve seen, it’s a fantastic option to build brand awareness across multiple online platforms and can help to give you a strong digital presence while you build your slower-to-be-seen organic SEO.

In addition to the extensive targeting options, Facebook advertising, Google AdWords and the Google Display Network all give you to invaluable real-time data about how people are interacting with your ads and the associated web pages. This means that you can review and revise your ads on an ongoing basis to ensure the best results. In addition, you can build an effective advertising campaign around your budget and target your ads for the best return on your investment (ROI).

Not sure where to start with creating brand awareness through Facebook, Google AdWords or the Google Display Network? As a Google Certified Partner, we can help you to craft the best campaign for your business – call us at Cosmetic Digital on 0115 9140 640 to start a conversation.