Pay-Per-Call Advertising: How Red Rocket Turned $6.03 into $13,624

The media world constantly changes, and new options for marketing appear every year as people experiment and find new ways to manipulate media to their advantage.  People love the Internet for its outstanding results, so it’s no wonder that more and more marketing efforts turn to the Web to find prospects.  A strong Web presence often means a noticeable increase in profits.

Even with a website, it’s a constant battle to get people to the site, since you’ve got to find a way to cut through the clutter of every other site trying to get people’s attention.  Think about the last time you searched for something online.  Do you remember seeing the “sponsored links” or sites listed at the top or along the right side of the search results?  You’d think those companies are going to get more hits than others.  Well, have you ever wondered how those companies got their website listed at the top of the page?

I’ll tell you how they wind up on top: They use an established tool to drive customers to their site called pay-per-click, a form of advertising that only costs when someone clicks on the supplied link.  That link sends the person to the company’s website.  But, what do you do if you don’t have a website or if you’d prefer to talk to someone in person?

Even if you haven’t gotten your company a spot on the Web, you can still use the Internet to get those prospects closer to your product.  How?  By using pay-per-call advertising which gives the prospect a toll-free number that transfers to the company’s office.  It’s becoming so popular that the Kelsey Group, a company that researches Yellow Pages, electronic directories and local media, believe the pay-per-call market could reach $3.7 billion by 2010.

Now, you probably think this sounds too good to be true, and you’re probably wondering how effective pay-per-call really is.  Well, in all honesty, Red Rocket’s marketing test lab wondered the same thing, so we set up a few ads of our own to see what kind of response rate we’d get.  After a couple of weeks, we got incredible results.

Would you believe me if I told you we turned $6.03 into $13,624?  We did.  You see, we bid a relatively paltry sum – only $2.01 – for our pay-per-call ads, and we got a total of three calls in the first couple of days.  One of those calls our sales staff converted into a $13,624 contract.  We’ll be the first to admit the return on our investment made us do a double take, but we now know we have another option for our clients.

Admittedly, there are plenty of variables behind that return.  For instance, the content we use in our ad probably had influence on the client.  We’ve said it hundreds of times to our clients: you can’t expect to get people interested in your product if your copy isn’t compelling.  Had the ad copy been poorly written, the client probably would have turned and ran.

That copy, however, was strong enough to entice the client to call.  Now that we had them on the phone, we had to make the sale.  It’s entirely possible that, if the sales rep who took the call was having a bad day, the prospect wouldn’t have agreed to a contract, let alone the proposal.  It’s even possible that, had a different sales representative fielded that call, the client may have passed, too.

But, even more important than the copy and the skill of the sales rep is whether or not the prospect can find the ad.  When you go to your favorite search engine and look for something, you’ll see some sponsor sites at the top and sometimes down the right side, and if you did the search again later, you’ll see those listings have changed.  Why?  Because of the bid amount.

When you set up the bid, you’re essentially putting a price tag on each lead that comes through.  If a competitor bids even $0.01 more than you, their ad shows up before yours.  Basically, it’s just like a silent auction, where you can see your competitor’s bids.  If you have the money to bid higher, then you can get your ad favored before the competition.

Now, this is where pay-per-call might get complex.  When you place a bid, you’re bidding on keywords you think prospects might search for online.  Let’s say you sell orthopedic pet beds, and you want to set up a pay-per-call campaign.  You could put a bid on “orthopedic pet beds,” but what if someone searches for orthopedic dog beds instead?  You wouldn’t show up, so you’ve got to choose wisely when setting up the ads.

If you’ve got the ads set up well, the prospect will find it, and if the copy is well-written, that person will click on the ad.  When they do, they’re redirected to another page that details your company.  This is a good spot for a boilerplate that’ll inform and explain more about your company in a clear and professional manner.  Once that prospect gets on the phone, you’ve got someone you can make a sales pitch to.

The advantage of pay-per-call advertising is a company doesn’t have to have a website and also gets to talk to a prospect.  But, here’s the nice part: setting it up is easy.  Setting up a pay-per-call ad has only four steps, starting with creating the ad.  Next, you decide on your geographic areas – local, regional or national.  Third, choose the categories you want your ad to show up in, and finally, you decide on your bid amount.  Not too tough, right?

We said it earlier: There are a lot of variables in setting up a pay-per-call campaign, and some people may not get the same kind of return on their investment that we did.  You can certainly take the task into your own hands and hope you can get similar results to ours.  The other option, of course, is to find a marketing company that knows how to do a thorough keyword analysis – like Red Rocket.

You see, Red Rocket, Northern Colorado’s fastest growing internet  marketing agency, understands all aspects of successful marketing.  We’ve done the research behind it, so our clients can rest easily, knowing they’ve hired a company that will get results.  When you’re ready to take your marketing to the next level, look no farther than Red Rocket.