Swimming Against The Tide

Swimming in the ocean can be lots of fun, but it can be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. You need a few ingredients for a great experience: technique, strength, and direction. We need the same ingredients for profitable PPC accounts.

Technique

Maybe you have a really good backstroke and breaststroke, but your sidestroke and butterfly leave much to be desired. We’re all accustomed to using the techniques we’re most comfortable with, and tend to develop expertise in those at the expense of the other techniques we don’t like so much. So it is with PPC.

Strength

The more you want to swim, the more strength you’ll need. Yes, if you have incredible technique, you can get by without a lot of strength most of the time. But the ocean is often unpredictable and unforgiving. So it is with PPC. The more you want to advertise, the more money you’ll need. Some companies are so desirable that they don’t need to advertise much, and when they do, a little budget can go a long way. The rest of us need strength training, and budgets to spend.

Direction

If you’re a few hundred meters out and need to swim back to the shoreline, you need to pick an angle that gets you there before your strength and technique run out AND in a way that can cut against the tide. So it is with PPC.

Overcoming The Tide

Every incentive in these ad engines is tilted in the direction of making Google and Facebook as much money as possible. Imagine this as the ocean tide going out at all times. If you aren’t able to swim against the tide, you’ll get pulled out to sea. Many advertisers can clearly remember watching in horror as Google and/or Facebook billed their credit cards over and over without seeing any meaningful results. Why WOULDN’T you pull the plug on something hemorrhaging money? If you just have raw strength but no technique, you run the risk of getting exhausted and drowning. If you have great swimming technique but not much strength, you can still swim well...unless you get exhausted from swimming in the wrong direction. And your strength and technique aren’t worth much if they’re pointed in the wrong direction. It’s when the technique, strength and direction come together that you can confidently swim with a great chance of success. If you’re not sure where you’re headed, some consulting will help.