If digital marketing is the art of getting your business noticed online, it follows that you’ll have to sweat blood and tears just to get your brand in front of people… Or do you? Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is one approach that can work wonders without a lot of manual effort – if you know how to use it correctly.
PPC for recruiters can deliver a real boost to your company’s reach, extending far beyond networks like your candidate database and LinkedIn following. You could think of it as placing a digital billboard in a space where people are more likely to see it. We’ll explain how PPC for recruiters works and how to use it most effectively.
How Does PPC Work?
Pay-per-click advertising is where you create digital ads based on specific keywords, which point people to your company website or a landing page that you’ve optimised for this purpose. Each time one of your one of your ads is clicked, you pay a fee. Essentially, it’s a way of buying visits to your site, rather than attempting to earn those visits organically (such as through SEO).
You may be most familiar with pay-per-click advertising through one of its most popular haunts, sponsored links in search engine results. In PPC campaigns for search engines, you can bid for your ad’s placement high up in a search engine’s results. Landing on this prime online real estate means you can be seen by potentially huge numbers of prospects.
For example, if you bid on the keywords “Hire Doctors in London,” your ad can show up in the very top spot on the Google results page, making it a very powerful marketing tool.
Optimised Landing Pages are Essential
Before you launch a pay-per-click advertising campaign, creating an optimised landing page will be necessary for capturing all those clicks and then tracking where they end up (as leads or conversions). If you don’t have a landing page fit for purpose, you’re likely wasting a whole lot of money sending people to your website, where they can’t actually get in touch with you.
Google paid ads, for example, are particularly useful for lead generation, especially for marketing to prospective clients. However, such campaigns work best with a landing page that allows prospects to arrive at your website and easily perform an action, e.g. submitting their contact information.
To create effective landing pages for PPC campaigns, start with an eye-grabbing headline that quickly engages visitors to your website.
Follow this with a strong value proposition that highlights the specific benefits – what’s in it for the candidate and client? Using direct language and bullet points is best.
No landing page is complete without a prominent call-to-action (CTA), to create a sense of urgency. Don’t forget to use high-quality visuals that are consistent with your brand identity.
Additionally, ensure your landing pages are optimised for mobile with responsive design, so they can load quickly and be easily navigable.
The form should be simple – ask for only essential information with clear labels and a single CTA. We recommend you also include trust elements like a privacy policy link, GDPR compliance, and a clear opt-in tick-box, to build trust and comply with regulations. Now you have all the elements of an effective landing page!
How Does PPC Compare to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)?
You could regard PPC as an investment that supports your SEO strategy. Here are the key differences between the two and how they complement each other.
Keyword Research
Like SEO, effective keyword research is necessary to make PPC work. With that foundation in place, you can use PPC ads to target people with specific ads, just as you would use SEO keywords to create new blogs and website content.
Cost
Unlike SEO, however, pay-per-click advertising doesn’t come free (the hint is in the name). It’s wise to allocate a budget for PPC campaigns of a minimum $1,500 AUD or £750 per month. By working with a marketer (internal or outsourced) with PPC expertise , it’s easier to ensure you’re not over- or under-spending on PPC campaigns. With a bid strategy and daily or campaign limits in place, you can sensibly manage your spending levers.
Precise Targeting
PPC’s ability to perform impressively specific audience targeting is unmatched. You can drill down into audience segments based on their age, location, job type and qualifications – all critical data points for a successful recruitment marketing campaign.
Speed
Whilst SEO is an excellent channel for establishing brand awareness and authority over the long term, PPC can get your website to receive traffic almost instantly. By using other networks for PPC, such as social network ads (LinkedIn, Facebook) or display / programmatic advertising (Google ads on specific websites), you can reach audiences quickly for highly targeted and time-based campaigns.
Tips for Effective PPC Campaigns
Research Audiences and Keywords Thoroughly
Think of PPC as throwing a dart or shooting an arrow – if you can’t envision your target, you may as well drive around shouting out job ads from a megaphone. The key to PPC success is creating realistic audience personas and making savvy use of keywords that are bound to get noticed quickly.
Use Suitable Channels
Yes, you could theoretically pay for ads on TikTok to target candidates over the age of 55 with actuarial and director experience. Does that mean those ads will reach their target and compel them to click? Probably not. Go where your audience is – that means using PPC campaigns within channels that your audience will be regularly using.
PPC on Facebook, for example, is suitable for manual and blue-collar job types and industries, but not so much for professionals like accountants. We’re less inclined to recommend LinkedIn for PPC campaigns these days, as their PPC rates have increased over time, and it’s become more difficult to generate leads. PPC on LinkedIn does, however, remain useful for increasing brand awareness and promoting events such as webinars and meet-ups, to encourage more registrations.
Include Calls-to-Action (CTAs)
Ultimately, an ad is asking people to do something. PPC campaigns aimed at prospective candidates or clients should invite them to perform a desired action – whether that be submitting their email address, registering their profile, or applying for a specific position.
Use Retargeting
Retargeting gets your ad shown to people who have previously visited your website. By showing them relevant ads as they browse other sites, you can remind them of your brand and give them a nudge to revisit your website to complete a specific action. Make sure you have retargeting set up for up to 30 days – this can allow you to follow up with potential clients and candidates after the initial PPC campaign.
We Specialise in PPC for Recruiters – Talk to Us!
Paid advertising can deliver strong marketing ROI with a minimal upfront outlay. Engaging with a recruitment marketing agency that has PPC expertise can help you boost your brand and get strong leads in a variety of settings. Whether you’re trying to engage more candidates for a specific project or looking to capture clients in a candidate-short market, PPC can do the hard work for you.
To learn more about how PPC can support your marketing strategy, get in touch with our friendly team for a free chat. We’d love to help!
